Sound Currency. Speech of Hon. William Walter Phelps, of New Jersey, in the House of Representatives, April 1, 1874 ...
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William Walter Phelps was an American lawyer, businessman, congressman and diplomat.
Background
He was born on August 24, 1839 in Dundaff, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. He was a descendant of William Phelps, an English emigrant who came with his brother George to America in 1630 and who settled in Connecticut in 1635. John Jay Phelps, his father, left Connecticut to live for a short time in Pennsylvania and then moved to New York City where he built up a great fortune as an importer and railway promoter. His mother was Rachel Badgerly (Phinney).
Education
He attended the Mount Washington Institute, New York City, and then a private school at Golden Hill, near Bridgeport, Connecticut. He entered Yale before he was sixteen years of age and was graduated second in the class of 1860.
He entered the law school of Columbia University and received the degree of LL. B. in 1863 as valedictorian of the class.
Career
A highly successful career in New York City as legal representative of several large corporations was cut short by the death of his father in 1869, when he retired to devote himself to the management of family properties and his own business interests. He transferred his residence to an estate at Teaneck near Englewood, New Jersey, from which district he was elected as a Republican to Congress in 1872. In the House of Representatives he distinguished himself by vigorous speeches on financial subjects and denunciations of the White League. Yet his independence of judgment led him to turn against his party in the contest over the Civil Rights Bill, with the result that he was defeated for reëlection by seven votes.
He was appointed minister to Austria-Hungary on May 5, 1881, but resigned the post within the year and returned to reclaim his seat in Congress, holding it thereafter for three terms. In the convention of 1888 he was supported by Blaine for the vice-presidential nomination.
The interest taken by Phelps in the Samoan question during his service on the Committee on Foreign Affairs qualified him for an appointment by President Harrison on March 18, 1889, as commissioner to the Berlin Conference on that question. His judgment in reconciling the conflicting views of his colleagues, John Adam Kasson and George Handy Bates and in conceding enough minor points to assure fulfillment of the German government's substantial concessions without permitting it to dictate the settlement, was largely responsible for the measure of success attained. Although the outcome was not wholly satisfactory to Secretary Blaine, the quality of Phelps's work warranted his appointment as minister to Germany in 1889.
Success crowned his efforts in September 1891. Upon his return to America, in the summer of 1893, he accepted an appointment on the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals. The confining duties of the position hastened his death within a year of pulmonary tuberculosis. He died at Englewood, New Jersey.
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Politics
He remained an active Republican party worker, however, supporting Blaine, a close personal friend, in his candidacy for the presidency in the conventions of 1880 and 1884.
Personality
His cultivated and genial personality and his familiarity with the German language made him a popular. He was notably a forceful and witty speaker, equally popular in the intimate circle and on the platform.
Interests
He was a devotee of arboriculture.
Connections
On Commencement day, July 26, 1860, he was married to Ellen Maria Sheffield, daughter of Joseph Earl Sheffield, founder of the scientific school bearing his name. They had three children.