William McKendree Springer

Background

William was born on May 30, 1836 in New Lebanon, Indiana, United States, the son of Thomas B. and Katherine Springer. When he was about twelve years old the family moved to Jacksonville, Illinois.

Education

William Springer attended the public schools in New Lebanon and Jacksonville and prepared for college under Dr. Newton Bateman, who was then teaching in the latter city. He entered Illinois College, Jacksonville, but was dismissed in 1856 following some difficulty with the faculty. He immediately enrolled at Indiana University, where he was graduated in 1858.

Career

In 1859 he was admitted to the bar and began practising law in Lincoln, Illinois. In 1861 they moved to Springfield, Illinois, where Springer entered into a law partnership with N. M. Broadwell and John A. McClernand.

In 1862 he represented Logan County at a state constitutional convention held in Springfield and was chosen secretary. There was much bitterness between the northern and southern parts of the state at this time. Most of the convention officers were from the southern section and their attempt to force through a constitution led to increased animosity. The constitution finally accepted was defeated by vote of the people.

In 1868 Springer left his law practice to travel in Europe, partly for his wife's health and partly for pleasure. He returned to Illinois in 1870. Ten years before he had been defeated on the Democratic ticket for representative in the state legislature, but in 1870 he was elected to represent Sangamon County.

In 1874 he was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress from the twelfth district, and served continuously from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1895. During these twenty years he was on many committees and chairman of some important ones - Claims, Territories, Elections, Ways and Means, Banking and Currency.

In the following Congress he used his influence in favor of the Wilson tariff measure which was passed in 1894. He was a parliamentarian, and as such was often more interested in the rules of procedure and debate than in the issues involved. Renominated for Congress in 1894, he was defeated.

Upon the completion of his congressional career, Springer resumed his law practice in Washington, District of Columbia, but was appointed in 1895 judge of the northern district of the Indian Territory and justice of the United States court of appeals in the Indian Territory. When his term expired, in December 1899, he again took up the practice of law in Washington.

He died of pneumonia in his sixty-seventh year.

Achievements

• William McKendree Springer was a Congressman from Illinois from 1875 to 1895. From 1895 to 1899, he was U. S. district judge for Indian Territory. Springer unsuccessfully challenged the federal income tax levied during the Civil War in the case of Springer v. United States. He also participated in the much publicized case Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, where the key point was opening of Indian lands to homesteaders.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Tariff reform, the paramount issue. Speeches and writings on the questions involved in the presidential contest of 1892

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Counting electoral votes: proceedings and debates of Congress relating to counting the electoral votes for president and vice-president of the United States

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Tariff Reform, the Paramount Issue: Speeches and Writings on the Questions Involved in the Presidential Contest of 1892 (1892)

    (Originally published in 1892. This volume from the Cornel...)

Views

After the Civil War he admitted that he had not supported the war measures of the administration and took the position that the Southern states were never out of the Union. He further stated that he had been agreeably surprised by President Johnson's policies, having expected very little from him. Springer's non-support of the war was not entirely passive, however; he was a member of two anti-administration organizations, the Sons of Liberty and the Order of American Knights.

He was always a friend of the territories and introduced bills under which Washington, Montana, and the Dakotas were admitted into the Union as states.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "Uncle Joe" Cannon remarked that Springer had "a weakness for breaking into the limelight regardless of the inconvenience he caused other Members".

Connections

On December 15, 1859, he married Rebecca, daughter of the Rev. Calvin W. Ruter of Bloomington, Indiana. She became a writer of some note, publishing several novels and contributing poetry to current magazines. They had one son.

Father:

Thomas B. Springer

Mother:

Katherine Springer

Spouse:

Rebecca Ruter Springer

Son :

Ruter William Springer

Friend:

Henry Clendenin