Background
He was born on June 2, 1820 in Mispillion Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, United States. He was the son of William and Margaret (Smith) Saulsbury
(Originally published in 1860. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)
Originally published in 1860. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
https://www.amazon.com/Speech-Willard-Saulsbury-Delaware-state/dp/1429750332?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1429750332
(Originally published in 1862. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)
Originally published in 1862. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
https://www.amazon.com/Speech-Hon-Willard-Saulsbury-Delaware/dp/1429750340?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1429750340
(Originally published in 1866. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)
Originally published in 1866. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
https://www.amazon.com/Speech-Saulsbury-Delaware-amending-Constitution/dp/142974913X?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=142974913X
He was born on June 2, 1820 in Mispillion Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, United States. He was the son of William and Margaret (Smith) Saulsbury
He attended local schools, Delaware College at Newark, and Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. , then studied law under James L. Bartol, later chief justice of Maryland, and Martin W. Bates, later United States senator.
Admitted to the bar in 1845, he opened an office at Georgetown, Del. , entered politics, and soon acquired a local reputation as an orator.
In 1850 Saulsbury was appointed attorney-general of Delaware. His five years of service (1850 - 55) gave him state-wide acquaintance and reputation, and in 1856 he was chosen a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Cincinnati which nominated James Buchanan for the presidency.
Two years later he was elected to the United States Senate, entering that body in 1859, on the eve of the Civil War. On Jan. 29, 1862, he spoke against the resolution to expel Senator Bright of Indiana for alleged treason and on Feb. 7, 1863, he proposed a referendum on compensated emancipation in Missouri.
In the following year he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago and in the ensuing winter he was reelected to the Senate. During his service there he was a member of the committees on commerce, mines and mining, patents, and pensions. A candidate for reelection in 1871, he was opposed by his brothers Gove and Eli, and threw his support to the latter.
Two years later, in November 1873, he was appointed by his brother-in-law, Governor Ponder, chancellor of the state, and he held that position for the remainder of his life.
(Originally published in 1860. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)
(Originally published in 1862. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)
(Originally published in 1866. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)
He was a member of the Episcopal Church.
Saulsbury was a vehement critic of President Abraham Lincoln's administration.
He supported the resolutions of J. J. Crittenden for taking the sense of the people on proposals which would virtually have restored the compromises of 1820 and 1850. He was exceedingly critical of arrests in Delaware for alleged disloyalty to the Union and he opposed interference by military and naval forces in elections and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. He defended slavery.
Quotations: He declared, apropos of the President's message, that Delaware "having been the first to adopt the Constitution, will be the last to do any act or countenance any act calculated to lead to the separation of the states" (Ibid. , 36 Cong. , 2 Sess. , p. 14)
On May 11, 1850, he married Annie Milby Ponder. A daughter and two sons were born of this marriage; one son, John P. , became secretary of state of Delaware, and the other, Willard, a United States senator.