George Oscar Rathbun (October 16, 1802 – January 4, 1870)The Rathbun-Rathbone-Rathburn Family Historian
Vol. 9, Number 1, P. 12, January 1989 was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms as a

U.S. Representative 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 c ...

from New York from 1843 to 1847.

Biography

Born in Scipioville, near

Auburn, New York Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, th ...

, the son of Edward and Anna Fuller Rathbun. He attended the Auburn schools, studied law, attained

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

and commenced practice in Auburn. He married Eliza Treat Gould on October 16, 1823. 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 ...

, he served as Clerk of the

Cayuga County Cayuga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 76,248. Its county seat and largest city is Auburn. The county was named for the Cayuga people, one of the Indian tribes in the Iroquois Confed ...

Board of Supervisors and was Auburn's Postmaster from 1837 to 1841.

Congress

Rathbun was elected to the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1847. During his first term, he was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, and in his second he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. On April 23, 1844, Rathbun was involved in a physical confrontation on the House floor with former

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

John White. White, a Whig, was delivering a speech in defense of Senator Henry Clay, the Whig nominee for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

in that year's

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, and objected to a ruling from the Speaker denying him time to conclude his remarks. When Rathbun told White to be quiet, White confronted him and their disagreement lead to a fistfight between the two with dozens of their colleagues rushing to break it up. During the disturbance, an unknown visitor fired a pistol into the crowd, wounding a police officer. Both Rathbun and White subsequently apologized for their actions.Long, Kim. "''The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals & Dirty Politics'', (2008).
.

Later career

Rathbun opposed slavery and later became involved with the Barnburners. He became a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

when that party was founded in the 1850s. He continued to practice law and was a Delegate to the 1867 New York constitutional convention.

Death and burial

Rathbun died in

on January 4, 1870. He was interred in Auburn's Fort Hill Cemetery.

Sources

External links

*Rathbun Family Association
Rathbun, Rathbone, Rathburn Family Historian
1984, page 54 *Blair and Rives
Journal of the U.S. House of Representatives
1844, page 881 *Jonathan Halperin Earle
Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, 1824-1854
2004, page 74 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rathbun, George Oscar 1802 births 1870 deaths Politicians from Auburn, New York New York (state) lawyers New York (state) Democrats New York (state) Republicans Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) People from Scipio, New York 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers