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William Bigler
William Bigler (January 1, 1814August 9, 1880) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democrat as the 12th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1852 to 1855 and as a member of the United States Senate for Pennsylvania from 1856 to 1861. His older brother, John Bigler, was elected governor of California during the same period. As of 2022, he is the last Democratic incumbent to lose reelection as Governor of Pennsylvania. Early life and education Bigler was born in Sherman Valley, Pennsylvania, to Jacob and Susan Dock Bigler. He attended public schools and worked as a printer's apprentice, a journalist and as a member of the staff of the ''Centre County Democrat'' newspaper under his elder brother John Bigler who later became the governor of California. Career In 1833, at the urging of his friends, including future Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, Bigler founded his own political newspaper, the ''Clearfield Democrat'' which supported Jacksonian democracy. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryland to its south, West Virginia to its southwest, Ohio to its west, Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to its northwest, New York to its north, and the Delaware River and New Jersey to its east. Pennsylvania is the fifth-most populous state in the nation with over 13 million residents as of 2020. It is the 33rd-largest state by area and ranks ninth among all states in population density. The southeastern Delaware Valley metropolitan area comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the state's largest and nation's sixth most populous city. Another 2.37 million reside in Greater Pittsburgh in the southwest, centered around Pittsburgh, the state's second-largest and Western Pennsylvania's largest city. The state's su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the United States. By watershed area, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States,Susquehanna River Trail Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, accessed March 25, 2010.Susquehanna River , Green Works Radio, accessed March 25, 2010. and also the longest river in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1860 Democratic National Convention
The 1860 Democratic National Conventions were a series of presidential nominating conventions held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election. The first convention, held from April 23 to May 3 in Charleston, South Carolina, failed to nominate a ticket, while two subsequent conventions, both held in Baltimore, Maryland in June, nominated two separate presidential tickets. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois entered the Charleston convention as the front-runner for the presidential nomination, and while he won a majority on the first presidential ballot of the convention, the convention rules required a two-thirds majority to win the nomination, with Douglas's adherence to the Freeport Doctrine regarding slavery in the territories engendering strong opposition from many Southern delegates: opponents of Douglas's nomination spread their support among five major candidates, including former Treasury Secretary James Guth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution (1859) was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas. Named for the city of Lecompton where it was drafted, it was strongly pro-slavery. It never went into effect. History Purpose The Lecompton Constitution was drafted by pro-slavery advocates and included provisions to protect slaveholding in the state and to exclude free people of color from its bill of rights. Slavery was the subject of Article 7, which protected the right to slave "property", and prevented the legislature from emancipating slaves without their owners' consent, and without full compensation to their owners. It was initially approved in a rigged election in December 1857, but overwhelmingly defeated in a second vote in January 1858 by a majority of voters in the Kansas Territory. The rejection of the Lecompton Constitution, and the subsequent admittance of Kansas to the Union as a free state, highlighted the irregular and fraudulent voting practices that had mark ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and free states, free state of Kansas. The territory extended from the Missouri border west to the summit of the Rocky Mountains and from the 37th parallel north to the 40th parallel north. Originally part of Missouri Territory, it was unorganized from 1821 to 1854. Much of the eastern region of what is now the Colorado, State of Colorado was part of Kansas Territory. The Territory of Colorado was created to govern this western region of the former Kansas Territory on February 28, 1861. The question of whether Kansas was to be a free or a slave state was, according to the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas–Nebraska Act, to be decided by popular sovereignty, that is, by vote of the Kansans. The question of who were the Kansans who were eligib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia And Erie Railroad
The Philadelphia and Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania between 1861 and 1907. It was subsequently merged into the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). History The Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company (also known as the Erie and Sunbury Railroad) was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1837, to build a rail line connecting towns between Sunbury and Erie, Pennsylvania. Due to financial problems, the company did not begin construction until the state passed enabling legislation, which including reducing tax assessments, in 1852. By December 1854, of track were completed between Milton (a junction with the Catawissa Railroad) and Williamsport. The line reached Sunbury in 1855, a total of . The company continued to experience financial problems, exacerbated by the Panic of 1857. The tracks reached Lock Haven in 1859. To speed completion of the line, the Sunbury & Erie also started building towards the southeast from Erie. That portion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. Since Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s, conservatism has been the dominant ideology of the GOP. It has been the main political rival of the Democratic Party since the mid-1850s. The Republican Party's intellectual predecessor is considered to be Northern members of the Whig Party, with Republican presidents Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison all being Whigs before switching to the party, from which they were elected. The collapse of the Whigs, which had previously been one of the two major parties in the country, strengthened the party's electoral success. Upon its founding, it supported c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fugitive Slave Law Of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a slave power conspiracy. It required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to the slaver and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Bill", after the dogs that were used to track down people fleeing from slavery. The Act contributed to the growing polarization of the country over the issue of slavery, and was one of the factors that led to the Civil War. Background By 1843, several hundred enslaved people a year escaped to the North successfully, making slavery an unstable institution in the border states. The earlier Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was a Federal law that was written w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walker Tariff
The Walker Tariff was a set of tariff rates adopted by the United States in 1846. Enacted by the Democrats, it made substantial cuts in the high rates of the " Black Tariff" of 1842, enacted by the Whigs. It was based on a report by Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. Walker. The Walker Tariff reduced tariff rates from 32% to 25%. Coinciding with Britain's repeal of the Corn Laws, it led to an increase in trade and was one of the lowest tariffs in American history. Adoption Democrat James Polk was elected President in 1844 over Henry Clay, a Whig who advocated a high tariff. President Polk declared that reduction of the "Black Tariff" would be the first of the "four great measures" that would define his administration. He directed Walker to work out the details. In 1846, Polk delivered Walker's tariff proposal to Congress. Walker urged its adoption to increase commerce between the US and Britain. He also predicted that a reduction in tariff rates would stimulate trade, inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildcat Banking
Wildcat banking was the issuance of paper currency in the United States by poorly capitalized state-chartered banks. These wildcat banks existed alongside more stable state banks during the Free Banking Era from 1836 to 1865, when the country had no national banking system. States granted banking charters readily and applied regulations ineffectively, if at all. Bank closures and outright scams regularly occurred, leaving people with worthless money. Operating in remote locations with limited or absent financial infrastructure, wildcat banks supplied a medium of exchange in the form of bearer notes that they issued on their own credit. These notes were formally redeemable in specie (i.e. gold or silver coins) but typically collateralized by other assets such as government bonds or real estate notes, or occasionally by nothing at all. Hence they carried a risk that the bank could not redeem them on demand. Terminology A wildcat bank is broadly defined as one that prints more cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1851 Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Election
The 1851 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election occurred on October 14, 1851. Incumbent governor William F. Johnston, a Whig, was a candidate for re-election but was defeated by Democratic candidate William Bigler. Results References 1851 Pennsylvania Gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ... November 1851 events {{Pennsylvania-election-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
