Background
William Bissell was born on April 25, 1811, at Hartwick, New York, United States.
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physician politician statesman
William Bissell was born on April 25, 1811, at Hartwick, New York, United States.
Coming of poor parents, William secured a fair common school education, graduated from Jefferson Medical School, Philadelphia, in 1834. Later he then attended a law school in Lexington, Kentucky, in preparation for a political career.
Bissell took up the practise of medicine in Monroe County, Illinois. Known for his ability as a public speaker, he was induced to become a candidate on the Democratic ticket, for a seat in the lower house of the state legislature, and although the county was considered a Whig stronghold he was elected. The experience of two years proving agreeable, he then decided to prepare for a political career. As a lawyer at Belleville, Illinois, he quickly took rank among the best in that circuit and was elected prosecuting attorney. It was said to be a hopeless task "to defend where he was prosecuting. " Though modest and courteous in manner, he was capable of arousing the passions by his choice language, his keen humor, and his cutting satire.
Bissell’s legal career was interrupted by the Mexican War. Enlisting as a private, he was elected captain and then colonel of the 2nd Illinois, a regiment which was highly rated for its service at the battle of Buena Vista on February 23, 1847. On his return Bissell was elected a representative in Congress, without opposition, in 1848 and again in 1850. Because of a speech during his first term he gained a national reputation. In reply to a Virginia member who claimed that it was a Mississippi regiment which saved the day at Buena Vista, Bissell declared that at the critical moment this regiment was not within a mile and a half of the scene of action. For this assertion he was challenged to a duel by Jefferson Davis, colonel of the Mississippi regiment. The challenge was accepted, but President Zachary Taylor brought about an adjustment.
In opposition to the Southern leadership of the national Democratic party, Bissell announced himself as an independent candidate for Congress in 1852 and was elected. Unable to take part in debate because of illness due to exposure in the army and a partial paralytic stroke, which forced him to go on crutches for the remainder of his life, he was now about to abandon politics. But in the first Republican convention at Bloomington, Illinois, wherein were Abraham Lincoln, John M. Palmer, Gustav Koerner, and other well-known representatives from the several political parties, Bissell was the unanimous choice for governor. In the election, he led the state ticket to victory, receiving a plurality of 4, 729 votes over the Democratic nominee.
The Democrats, however, were in control in both houses of the legislature and united in their opposition to any policy proposed by the Governor. He was bitterly attacked at the opening of the session by John A. Logan on the ground that as a challenger or one who had accepted a challenge to a duel he had sworn falsely in taking the oath of office. In reply, Bissell stated that whatever occurred was outside the jurisdiction of the State of Illinois and therefore did not interfere with his taking the oath. Governor and legislature came to grips over his demand for a law providing for the redistricting of the state based on the census of 1855. The Democrats determined to keep their ascendancy by a bill which gerrymandered the state. Having passed both houses, the measure was sent to Bissell, who refused to sign it. Numbers of Republicans having withdrawn, the bill could not be passed over his veto, and the legislature was forced to adjourn without action on a large number of appropriation measures and on several hundred bills. Some ten months before the expiration of his term of office, Bissell's death occurred, due to an attack of pneumonia, and thus it was not granted him to see the cause victorious for which he had so nobly fought.
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Bissell was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses and as an Independent Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1855); he was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs (Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses). But later he was elected as governor on the Republican ticket.
In 1839 Bissell married Emily James, who died the following year, and in 1841 he married Elizabeth Kane.