In 1858-1860, William attended the Columbian College (present-day the George Washington University). In 1867, he attained a Bachelor of Laws degree from the same educational establishment.
Gallery of William Wilson
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States
Between 1860 and 1861, William attended the University of Virginia.
In 1858-1860, William attended the Columbian College (present-day the George Washington University). In 1867, he attained a Bachelor of Laws degree from the same educational establishment.
(This book compiles the letters and Civil War diary of Wil...)
This book compiles the letters and Civil War diary of William Lyne Wilson, a confederate soldier, who went on to become a state legislator, president of West Virginia University and Postmaster General of the United States.
William Lyne Wilson was an American politician, Bourbon Democrat, congressman, educator and lawyer. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1883 to March 3, 1895, and 37th United States Postmaster General from March 3, 1895 to March 5, 1897.
Background
Ethnicity:
William's father was of Scottish and Irish descent.
William Lyne Wilson was born on May 3, 1843, in Charles Town, Virginia, United States (present-day Charles Town, West Virginia, United States). He was a son of Benjamin Wilson and Mary Whiting (Lyne) Wilson. William's father died before William was four years old, but the family was left with moderate means.
Education
Wilson's early life was spent in Charles Town, the county seat, where he attended the Charles Town Academy. He showed much precocity, especially in public speaking, and when in 1858 home study enabled him to enter the junior year of the Columbian College (present-day the George Washington University) in Washington, D.C., he attracted attention by his brilliancy. In 1860, William graduated from the college.
Between 1860 and 1861, William attended the University of Virginia. Later, Wilson continued his studies at the Columbian College, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1867.
In 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, William enlisted in the Confederate States Army and served as a private in the 12th Virginia Cavalry throughout the conflict. Until the spring of 1863, Wilson fought entirely in the Shenandoah Valley, but later was under J. E. B. Stuart in the Army of Northern Virginia, and in the last days of hostilities was with Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. In December 1862, William was captured in a skirmish near Harpers Ferry, but immediately exchanged. A diary, kept intermittently during his service, shows, that he was a brave soldier, devoted to his officers and especially to Turner Ashby, but too much a student to enjoy warfare. William terminated his military service in 1865.
After the war, Wilson was offered an assistant professorship of ancient languages at the Columbian College (present-day George Washington University) and he entered upon his duties in September 1865. At the same time, he enrolled in the law department at the same college, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1867. It was in 1869, that William was admitted to the bar, but the test oath in West Virginia and the general poverty of the South deterred him from practice, and he remained a teacher until 1871.
It was in 1871, that William came back to his native Charles Town, and, since the test oath had been abolished, formed a law partnership with his cousin, George W. Baylor, with whom he worked until 1882. In the next dozen years of practice, he not only made a modest living in an overcrowded field, but laid the foundations of his political career. Great sociability, geniality and sympathy made him popular, while the community felt pride in his learning and his unimpeachable honesty. He spoke frequently and wrote on political topics for the local press.
On September 4, 1882, the regents of West Virginia University unanimously elected Wilson president of that weak institution, and, the same fall, he was chosen a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives. Wilson was able to begin the reorganization of West Virginia University before resigning in June 1883, but he greatly preferred his work in Congress, where, from 1883 until 1895, he served with enjoyment and growing usefulness.
From the beginning to the end of his tenure in Congress, Wilson's most important labors were bent toward tariff reform. Representing a state, which desired protection for coal, he was originally expected to side with the high-tariff minority in the Democratic party, but when the Morrison Bill was introduced in 1884, he stood resolutely by his reform convictions. In the next Congress, Wilson supported the second Morrison Bill. In 1887, he was delighted by Grover Cleveland's tariff reduction message and in 1888, as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, William helped frame the Mills Bill. In debate on this measure, William first reached national prominence by a masterly speech on May 3, 1888, that the New York World characterized as an "oasis in the dreary waste of the tariff discussion".
In 1890, Wilson was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and one of the principal opponents of the McKinley Bill. Later, William became head of the executive committee of the National Association of Democratic Clubs, and in 1892, he was permanent chairman of the Democratic National Convention.
Wilson was the logical chieftain to lead the tariff reform battle in Congress, when Cleveland came to power in 1893. Made chairman of the Ways and Means Committee on August 23, 1893, he led that body in framing the so-called Wilson Bill and wrote the elaborate report, with which it was introduced on December 19. Its chief features - the free admission of raw materials like coal, iron ore, lumber and wool, a conservative reduction on manufactured articles and the substitution of ad valorem for specific duties - represented his idea of practicable reform and disappointed radicals, like Mills and Watterson. In closing the debate, on February 1, 1894, William made the greatest speech of his career. For two hours, he held a jaded audience enthralled. He ended amid riotous enthusiasm and was hoisted in triumph to the shoulders of Henry St. George Tucker and William Jennings Bryan as the bill passed, 204 to 140. It was his last victory, however. The protectionist Senate so mutilated the bill, that few reform elements were left. When it was returned with some six hundred amendments, Wilson was unable to rally his following, and the House, after balking for nearly a month, ignobly accepted them.
In the Republican landslide of 1894, Wilson lost his congressional district. It had always been closely divided, the exploitation of lumber, coal and oil resources had built up many small industrial towns with Northern and negro workmen and its political complexion had changed. President Cleveland at once offered him the postmaster-generalship in succession to Wilson S. Bissell. His two years in this office, from March 3, 1895 to March 5, 1897, were marked by vigilant and progressive management of a department, usually associated with political spoils. Wilson inaugurated the rural free delivery, made numerous minor improvements in the postal system, effected economies and enlarged the classified civil service. However, Wilson was unable to obtain congressional support for his excellent plan of districting and consolidating post offices, where they were too numerous.
A staunch believer in the gold standard, Wilson gave much time from 1895 to 1896 to efforts to prevent a Democratic stampede to the free coinage of silver. Just before the Chicago convention, he wrote an article for the World, widely reprinted, on the "fatality" of making silver the issue and thus dividing the party.
The close of Cleveland's administration found Wilson rusty in law and financially embarrassed. He therefore gratefully accepted the presidency of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, (the post he held from 1897 till 1900), the educational establishment, which offered a small salary, and, as he put it, "a dignified post of retirement". During his tenure there, he did much to strengthen the institution. Besides, Wilson occasionally lectured outside and his weekly talks to students were often quoted in the press.
Among Wilson's writings are "The National Democratic Party: Its History, Principles, Achievements and Aims" (1888), "The Cabinet Diary of William L. Wilson, 1896-1897" (1957) and "A Borderland Confederate" (1962), among others.
During his tenure in the United States Congress, William was recognized as a profound advocate of tariff reform. He continually fought for a downward revision of the tariff. To him, the existing tariff was pernicious in building up an excessive treasury surplus, laying heavy burdens on the farmer and workman, breeding monopolies and trusts, and fettering normal commercial processes and commercial growth.
In 1896, Wilson opposed the Free Silver Movement, led by Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan and, like many Bourbon Democrats, backed the National Democratic candidate John McAuley Palmer, who supported the traditional gold standard, limited government and opposed protectionism.
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
William was a small, frail man, with the appearance of a poet or scholar. He suffered from typhoid and tuberculosis.
Connections
On August 6, 1868, William married Nannine (Huntington) Wilson.