| 词条 | Montgomery Blair |
| 释义 |
|name = Montgomery Blair |image = Montgomery Blair, photo three-quarters length seated.jpg |office = 20th United States Postmaster General |president = Abraham Lincoln |term_start = March 5, 1861 |term_end = September 24, 1864 |predecessor = Horatio King |successor = William Dennison |birth_date = {{birth date|1813|5|10}} |birth_place = Franklin County, Kentucky, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1883|7|27|1813|5|10}} |death_place = Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S. |party = Democratic {{small|(Before 1854; 1865–1883)}} Republican {{small|(1854–1865)}} |spouse = Caroline Buckner {{small|(1836–1844)}} Mary Woodbury |children = 4 |education = United States Military Academy {{small|(BS)}} Transylvania University {{small|(LLB)}} |allegiance = {{flag|United States}} |branch = {{army|United States}} |serviceyears = 1835–1836 |rank = Second Lieutenant |battles = Seminole Wars }} Montgomery Blair (May 10, 1813 – July 27, 1883), the son of Francis Preston Blair, elder brother of Francis Preston Blair, Jr. and cousin of B. Gratz Brown, was a politician and lawyer from Maryland. He served in the Lincoln administration cabinet as Postmaster-General from 1861 to 1864, during the Civil War. Early life and educationBlair was born in Franklin County, Kentucky.[1] His father, Francis P. Blair, Sr.,[1] was, as editor of the Washington Globe, a prominent figure in the Democratic Party during the Jacksonian era, and as a boy Montgomery "often listened to the talk of his father and Andrew Jackson."[1] Blair graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1835, but after a year's service in the Seminole War, he left the Army, studied law, and began practice at St Louis, Missouri, in 1839.[1] In 1836, he married Caroline Rebecca Buckner of Virginia. After her death in 1844, he married Mary Elizabeth Woodbury, daughter of Levi Woodbury.[2] After serving as United States district attorney (1839–43) and as judge of the court of common pleas (1834–1849), he moved to Maryland in 1852 and devoted himself to law practice principally in the United States Supreme Court.[1] He was United States Solicitor in the Court of Claims (1855–58) and was associated with George T. Curtis as counsel for the plaintiff in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857.[1] Career{{Emancipation Proclamation draft}}The Blairs, like many other nationalist Democrats, but unusually for politicians from the border states, had abandoned the Democratic Party in the wake of the Kansas–Nebraska Act[1] and had been among the founding leaders of the new Republican Party. Four years after Blair switched political parties, President Buchanan removed Blair from his position of United States Solicitor in 1858.[1] In 1860, Blair took an active part in the presidential campaign on behalf of Abraham Lincoln.[1] After his election, Lincoln appointed Blair to his cabinet as Postmaster-General in 1861.[1] Lincoln expected Blair, who advocated taking a firm stance with the southern states, to help balance more conciliatory members of his cabinet.[3] While Postmaster-General, Blair instituted a uniform rate of postage and free delivery in cities.[1] Blair also began the sale of money orders by post offices in order to reduce the mailing of currency, reducing post office robberies.[1] He also called for the First International Postal Conference, which was held in Paris in 1863 and began the process that led to the Universal Postal Union.[4] Blair served as Postmaster-General from 1861 until September 1864, when Lincoln accepted an earlier offer by Blair to resign. Lincoln's action may have been a response to the hostility of the Radical Republican faction, who stipulated that Blair's retirement should follow the withdrawal of John C. Frémont as a candidate for President in that year. Regarding Lincoln's action, Blair told his wife that the president had acted "from the best motives" and that "it is for the best all around." After he left the cabinet, Blair still campaigned for Lincoln's re-election and Lincoln and the Blair family retained close ties.[5] Under Blair's administration, such reforms and improvements as the establishment of free city delivery, the adoption of a money order system, and the use of railway mail cars were instituted—the last having been suggested by George B. Armstrong (d. 1871), of Chicago, who from 1869 until his death was general superintendent of the United States railway mail service. Differing from the Republican Party on the Reconstruction policy, Blair gave his adherence to the Democratic Party after the Civil War, along with his brother, who was the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1868. In 1876, Blair was counsel to Secretary of War William W. Belknap during the House of Representatives investigation into the Trader post scandal. Blair unsuccessfully requested the House Investigation Committee chaired by Hiester Clymer to drop the charges against Belknap if Belknap would resign office. Clymer, however, declined Blair's offer. Belknap was impeached by the House of Representatives for receiving illicit payments from the Fort Sill trader post on the Western frontier while Secretary of War. Belknap had been given sole power by Congress to choose sutlers to operate lucrative trader posts that sold supplies to U.S. soldiers and Indians. Belknap resigned over the scandal and was acquitted in a Senate trial during the summer of 1876. Many Senators did not believe that Congress could convict a private citizen, although the Senate passed a resolution that stated Congress could convict a private citizen. In 1882, Blair unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Representative from Maryland's sixth district.[1] Later life and deathHis {{convert|600|acre|km2|adj=on}} manor in present-day Silver Spring, Maryland was named Falkland. It was burned by Confederate troops during their thrust towards Washington, D.C. After several years afflicted with "inflammation of the spinal membranes," he died at Silver Spring on July 27, 1883. The funeral services were held at Rock Creek Church, and he was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery.[6] In memory of Blair, the United States Post Office closed on July 30, 1883.[6] Personal lifeBlair's wife was Mary Woodbury, a daughter of Levi Woodbury. Together, they had one daughter, Minnie Blair. They had three sons, Woodbury Blair, Gist Blair, and Montgomery Blair Jr., all of whom were attorneys.[6] Montgomery Blair and Mary Woodbury Blair were the great-grandparents of actor Montgomery Clift. In popular culture
Works
LegacyMontgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland is named after Blair. GalleryNotes1. ^Allan Nevins, The War for the Union, vol. 1: The Improvised War, 1861-1862 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959), p. 43. 2. ^Moroney, p. 5; https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015016417332 3. ^Goodwin, 2005, Chapter 11. 4. ^Universal Postal Union About history 5. ^Goodwin, 2005, Chapter 24. 6. ^1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 {{cite news |title= Montgomery Blair: A Prominent Figure in Political History Passes Away |work= The Washington Post |date= July 28, 1883 |page= 1 |url= http://search.proquest.com/docview/137873011/104AF665881F42E9PQ/189?accountid=46320 }} References
Further reading
External links
| before= Horatio King | after= William Dennison, Jr. | years= 1861 – 1864 | president= Abraham Lincoln | office= United States Postmaster General}}{{s-end}}{{USPostGen}}{{Lincoln cabinet}}{{Authority control}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Montgomery}} 19 : 1813 births|1883 deaths|People from Franklin County, Kentucky|United States Military Academy alumni|American people of the Seminole Wars|Maryland state court judges|United States Attorneys for the District of Missouri|United States Postmasters General|American political writers|American male non-fiction writers|People of Maryland in the American Civil War|Union political leaders|Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery|Maryland Democrats|Maryland Republicans|Lincoln administration cabinet members|19th-century American politicians|Missouri Democrats|American abolitionists |
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