Calvin Clifford Chaffee (August 28, 1811 – August 8, 1896) was an American medical doctor and politician. He was an outspoken opponent of slavery.

Life and work

Born in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the ...

, Chaffee graduated from the medical school of

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

Middlebury, Vermont Middlebury is the shire town (county seat) of Addison County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,152. Middlebury is home to Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History and the adjacent ...

, in 1835. He settled in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

, where he began his medical practice. In 1854, he was elected on the American Party ticket to the Thirty-fourth Congress as part of the

Know Nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Nativism in United States politics, nativist political movem ...

party sweep of the Massachusetts congressional delegation that year. An abolitionist who received an honorary degree from Amherst in the same ceremony as

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American ...

, he became a Republican and was reelected to Congress as such in 1856. He was married to Clara Nourse (1813 – 1848) until her death in 1848. They had two children: a daughter, Emma Lovetta Wilder (Chaffee) (1838 – 1910), and a son, Clemens Clifford Chaffee (1841 – 1867). In 1850, Chaffee married Eliza Irene Emerson (née Sanford) (1815 – 1903). Irene Emerson was the widow of Dr. John Emerson, the owner of the slave

Dred Scott Dred Scott ( – September 17, 1858) was an enslaved African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for the freedom of themselves and their two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, in the '' Dred Scott v. Sandford'' case ...

. She had a daughter, Henrietta Sanford King (Emerson) (1843 – 1919), from her first marriage. There is speculation Blaustein, pp 147 that Chaffee advanced the ''Dred Scott'' case as a test for slavery. However, contemporary reports have him discover from the ''Springfield Argus'' that his new wife owned the most famous slave in the world in February 1857, only a month before the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

handed down the infamous ''Dred Scott'' decision. Criticized nationwide for apparent hypocrisy, Chaffee immediately arranged for the return of Scott to his original owners, the Blow family, for emancipation. Because of negative publicity from the Scott case, Chaffee did not seek reelection in 1858 and became Librarian of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1860-1862. He then practiced medicine in Washington, D.C., until 1876, when he returned to Springfield. He died there in 1896 at age 84.

References

Bibliography

External links

Biography of Dred Scott
by Christyn Elley, Missouri State Archives * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaffee, Calvin C. 1811 births 1896 deaths Politicians from Saratoga Springs, New York Abolitionists from Massachusetts Middlebury College alumni Politicians from Springfield, Massachusetts Know-Nothing members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives