Charles Spalding Thomas (December 6, 1849June 24, 1934) was a
United States senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
from
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. Born in
Darien, Georgia
Darien () is a city in and the county seat of McIntosh County, Georgia, United States. It lies on Georgia's coast at the mouth of the Altamaha River, approximately south of Savannah, and is part of the Brunswick, Georgia Metropolitan Statisti ...
, he attended private schools in Georgia and
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
, and served briefly in the
Confederate
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States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
Army.
Biography
Thomas graduated from the law department of the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
at
Ann Arbor in 1871, and was admitted to the
bar
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Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
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Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
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* Bar (u ...
the same year. He moved to Colorado and began to practice in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, where he was a city attorney in 1875 and 1876. He was a member of the
Democratic National Committee from 1884 to 1896, and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
in 1884, to the Senate in 1888 and 1895, and to the
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
ship in 1894.
Thomas served as the 11th Governor of Colorado from 1899 to 1901. In 1897, Colorado had
abolished the death penalty, but Thomas considered
lynching an understandable substitute. In 1900, when a lynch mob murdered Calvin Kimblern, Thomas called it "a natural outburst of indignation of the people of Pueblo" and blamed the lack of a death penalty for the murder.
Six months later, a mob surrounded Denver's jail seeking to lynch 15-year-old Preston Porter. Thomas was informed but declined to intervene. "As a matter of fact, hanging is too good for that man," he told reporters. The spirit of the lynch law is with the people, and will remain in them just as long as the Anglo-Saxon exists." After Porter was burned alive by a mob, when Thomas was asked to comment on the lynching, he said, "My opinion is that there is one less negro in the world." Colorado reinstated the death penalty soon thereafter.
In 1913, Thomas was elected as a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
to the United States Senate in 1912 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Charles J. Hughes, Jr.
Charles James Hughes Jr. (February 16, 1853January 11, 1911) was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Colorado.
Born in Kingston, Missouri, Hughes attended the common schools and graduated from Richmond (Mo.) College in 1871. He then graduated from ...
; in
1914
This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...
, he was narrowly reelected to a full term in the face of split opposition. Thomas served from January 15, 1913, to March 3, 1921, and was the last Confederate veteran to serve in the Senate. In 1920, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection on the
Nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
ticket, receiving only 3% of the vote.
[
]
In the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses, Thomas was chairman of the Committee on Woman Suffrage, and a member of the Committee on Coast Defenses (Sixty-fifth Congress) and the Committee on Pacific Railroads (Sixty-sixth Congress). He resumed the practice of law in Denver, where he died on June 24, 1934; his remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered in the mountains.
Notes
References
Governor Charles S. Thomas Collection at the Colorado State ArchivesRetrieved on 18 April 2008.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Charles Spalding
1849 births
1934 deaths
Colorado lawyers
Confederate States Army soldiers
Democratic Party governors of Colorado
Democratic Party United States senators from Colorado
People from Darien, Georgia
People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War
University of Michigan Law School alumni