Jacob Collamer

Jacob Collamer was born in Troy, New York on January 8, 1791, the son of Samuel Collamer and Elizabeth (Van Arnum) Collamer, and his family moved to Burlington, Vermont in 1795.{{cite book |last=Barrett |first=James |date=1868 |title=Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer |url=https://archive.org/details/memorialaddress01barrgoog |location=Rutland, VT |publisher=Tuttle & Co. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/memorialaddress01barrgoog/page/n12 4]–14 |ref={{sfnRef|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer}}}} He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Vermont in 1810,{{cite news |date=October 1, 1810 |title=Commencement at Burlington |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/355601885/ |work=The Washingtonian |location=Windsor, VT |page=3 |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}} and after additional study, UVM later upgraded Collamer's degree to Master of Arts.{{cite book |last=Bishop |first=Morris |date=1962 |title=A History of Cornell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s_t1BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT154 |location=Ithaca, NY |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=154|isbn=9780801455377 }}{{cite book |last=Thayer |first=William Roscoe |date=1915 |title=The Life And Letters Of John Hay |volume=I |url=https://archive.org/stream/lifeandlettersof028712mbp#page/n51 |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |page=28}}{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Zadock |date=1842 |title=History Of Vermont, Natural, Civil And Statistical |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_M6xFv628ziMC |location=Burlington, VT |publisher=Chauncey Goodrich |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_M6xFv628ziMC/page/n378 149]}} He studied law in St. Albans, Vermont with Asa Aldis, Asahel Langworthy, and Benjamin Swift.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=4}} He then relocated to Randolph, Vermont, where he completed his legal studies with attorney William Nutting,{{cite book |last=Nickerson & Cox |date=1895 |title=The Illustrated Historical Souvenir of Randolph, Vermont |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHsjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA19 |location=Randolph, VT |publisher=Nickerson & Cox |page=19}} and he was admitted to the bar in 1813.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=4}} During the War of 1812, Collamer was appointed a deputy U.S. tax collector for the district that included Orange County, Vermont, and was responsible for collecting levies in support of the war effort.{{cite news |date=November 20, 1815 |title=Payment Notice by Collector Thomas Leverett |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/490764638/ |work=The Washingtonian |location=Windsor, VT |page=3 |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}}

He served as an officer in a Vermont Militia unit during the War of 1812.James V. Marshall, [https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesmanu00mars/page/613 The United States Manual of Biography and History], 1856, page 613 Appointed as an ensign in the 4th Regiment commanded by William Williams,{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com |title=U.S. War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815, Entry for Jacob Collamer |website=Ancestry.com |publisher=Ancestry.com LLC |location=Lehi, UT |access-date=June 16, 2019 |url-access=subscription}} he served first with an artillery unit on Vermont's border with Canada.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=4}} After promotion to first lieutenant, Collamer served as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General John French, commander of the militia's 2nd Brigade, 4th Division.{{cite book |last=Child |first=Hamilton |date=1888 |title=Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 |url=https://archive.org/stream/gazetteeroforang00chil#page/n143/mode/2up/ |location=Syracuse, NY |publisher=Syracuse Journal Company |pages=128–129}}{{cite book |last=Vermont General Assembly |date=1816 |title=Journals of the General Assembly of the State of Vermont |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6QROAAAAYAAJ&q=%22john+french+%22vermont+militia%22+%222d+brigade%22 |location=Montpelier, VT |publisher=Vermont Secretary of State |page=147}}

French's unit left Orange County for upstate New York in September 1814 in response to warnings of an imminent British invasion from Canada.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=4}} When the brigade was crossing Lake Champlain en route to Plattsburgh, Collamer was sent ahead in a boat to inform Vermont Militia commander Samuel Strong that French's troops were on their way.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=4}} Collamer was fired on by American sentinels, but was uninjured.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=4}} Strong informed Collamer that the Battle of Plattsburgh had taken place the day before, and the British had retreated, so French's troops returned home.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=4}}

In 1816, he moved to Royalton, Vermont, where he continued to practice law.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=4}} He remained a resident of Royalton for 20 years, practicing law in partnership with James Barrett.{{cite magazine |last=Taft |first=Russell Smith |date=July 1, 1901 |title=Hon. James Barrett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hcAg0OBzr1oC&pg=PA295 |magazine=New England Historical and Genealogical Register |location=Boston, MA |publisher=New England Historical and Genealogical Society |page=295}} Among the prospective attorneys who studied law under his supervision was Lyman Gibbons, who later served as a justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.Amherst College, Obituary Record: Roll of Graduates deceased during the Year 1879-1880; Deaths Not Previously Reported (1880), p. 187. Collamer also served in local offices, including Register of Probate, Windsor County State's Attorney, and member of the Vermont House of Representatives.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|pages=4-5}} While serving in the House, Collamer was the main proponent of the legislation that created the Vermont Senate in 1836.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/jacobcollamer00kell|title=Jacob Collamer: Woodstock's U.S. Senator|first=Mary Louise|last=Kelly|date=1944|location=Woodstock, VT |publisher=Woodstock Historical Society|via=Internet Archive |page=[https://archive.org/details/jacobcollamer00kell/page/4 4] |ref={{sfnRef|Jacob Collamer: Woodstock's U.S. Senator}}}}

From 1833 to 1842 Collamer was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont, succeeding Nicholas Baylies.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=5}}{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Zadock |date=1842 |title=History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Statistical |url=https://archive.org/details/HOV_vtrbms |location=Burlington, VT |publisher=Chauncey Goodrich |page=[https://archive.org/details/HOV_vtrbms/page/n128 124] |ref={{sfnRef|History of Vermont, Natural, Civil and Statistical}}}} In 1836 he moved to Woodstock.{{cite magazine |last=Tinkham |first=O. M. |date=July 1, 1900 |title=Jacob Collamer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uo8eAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA234 |magazine=The Vermonter |location=St. Albans, VT |publisher=Charles Spooner Forbes |page=234 |ref={{sfnRef|The Vermonter: Jacob Collamer}}}} From 1839 to 1845 Collamer was a Trustee of the University of Vermont.University of Vermont, [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8yHOAAAAMAAJ/page/n10 Catalogue of the University of Vermont], 1890, page 9

Elected to the US House of Representatives in 1842 as a Whig, Collamer served three terms, from

1843 to 1849.{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=12}} He opposed the extension of slavery, the Texas Annexation, and the Mexican–American War; supported high tariffs to help American manufacturers and received national recognition for his "Wool and Woolens" speech on tariffs.John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, Ralph H. Orth, editors, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uTBCXqOou0YC&pg=PA91 The Vermont Encyclopedia], 2003, page 91{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=13}}

Collamer was Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-eighth Congress) and the Committee on Public Lands (Thirtieth Congress).{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=14}}

Collamer served as Postmaster General under President Zachary Taylor. Appointed at the start of the Taylor's administration in 1849, he served until resigning in July 1850.{{cite book |last=Marshall |first=James V. |date=1856 |title=The United States Manual of Biography and History |url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesmanu00mars |location=Philadelphia, PA |publisher=James B. Smith & Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesmanu00mars/page/613 613]}} Collamer resigned shortly after Taylor's death to enable President Millard Fillmore to name his own appointee.{{cite book |last=McCook |first=Anson G. |date=1887 |title=Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States |volume=VIII |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bseGAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA205 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |page=205}}

As Postmaster General, Collamer was criticized by Whig partisans of the spoils system because he was reluctant to remove local Democratic postmasters en masse so they could be replaced by Whigs.K. Jack Bauer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=H42TwTwE1IwC&dq=jacob+collamer+postmaster+general&pg=PA262 Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest], 1993, page 262 Among his accomplishments was the introduction of a permanent system for using postage stamps; Collamer sent the first letter using one, a note addressed to his brother in Barre, Vermont in which he recommended saving the stamp because if the system worked, it might be valuable to collectors.{{sfn|Jacob Collamer: Woodstock's U.S. Senator|page=4}}

Upon returning to Vermont, Collamer was appointed a judge of the newly created state Circuit Court, where he served until 1854.Charles C. Little and James Brown (Boston), [https://books.google.com/books?id=HLE0AQAAMAAJ&dq=jacob+collamer+judge+circuit+court&pg=PA234 The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1852], 1851, page 234 He was succeeded on the bench by Abel Underwood, who served until the state Circuit Court was abolished in an 1857 court reorganization.{{cite book |last=Child |first=Hamilton |date=1888 |title=Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 |volume=Part 1 |url=https://archive.org/stream/gazetteeroforang00chil#page/n7/mode/2up/ |location=Syracuse, NY |publisher=Syracuse Journal Company |page=113 |ref={{sfnRef|Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888}}}}

Collamer was a longtime trustee of and lecturer at the Vermont Medical College in Woodstock and served as President of the Board of Trustees.University of Vermont, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gIQfAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22vermont+medical+college%22+collamer&pg=PA23 University of Vermont Obituary Record], Volume 1, pages 23-24

In 1855 Collamer was elected to the Senate as a conservative, anti-slavery Republican.{{cite book |last1=Garrison |first1=William Lloyd |last2=Ruchames |first2=Louis |date=1975 |title=The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison: From Disunionism to the Brink of War |volume=IV |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v5aZrAuKt0wC&pg=PA397 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Cambridge, MA |page=397 |isbn=978-0-674-52663-1}} In his first term, Collamer was Chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills (Thirty-fourth Congress).{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/CommitteeChairs.pdf |title=Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees, 1789-present |last=Historian of the United States Senate |date=2015 |website=senate.gov/ |publisher=U.S. Senate |location=Washington, DC |pages=20, 45, 54 |ref={{sfnRef|Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees, 1789-present}}}}

In 1856, Collamer received several votes for Vice President at the Republican National Convention.Republican National Committee, [https://archive.org/details/proceedingsoffir00inrepu/page/64 Proceedings of the First Three Republican National Conventions], 1893, pages 63-64

In the Senate, he defended his positions vigorously even when he was in the minority.{{sfn|Jacob Collamer: Woodstock's U.S. Senator|page=17}} When the Committee on Territories, chaired by Stephen A. Douglas, recommended passage of the Crittenden Amendment, which proposed resubmitting for popular vote the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution for Kansas, Collamer and James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin refused to vote in favor but instead crafted a persuasive minority report explaining their opposition.{{sfn|Jacob Collamer: Woodstock's U.S. Senator|page=20}}

Collamer also represented the minority view in June 1860, when the select committee chaired by James Murray Mason issued its report on John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.West Virginia Culture and History, [http://www.wvculture.org/history/jbexhibit/masonreport.html Senate Select Committee Report on the Harper’s Ferry Invasion], retrieved December 17, 2013 Mason argued that Brown's raid was the work of an organized abolitionist movement, which needed to be curtailed with federal authority.{{cite web|url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/jbexhibit/masonreport.html|title=Mason Report|website=www.wvculture.org}} Collamer and Doolittle countered that Brown and his followers had been caught and punished and that further government action was not necessary.

Collamer's years on the bench helped develop his reputation as the best lawyer in the Senate.{{cite book |last=Bogue |first=Allan G. |date=2009 |title=The Earnest Men: Republicans of the Civil War Senate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eZnI4lkfQUC&pg=PA32 |location=Ithaca, NY |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=32 |isbn= 978-0801475696|ref={{sfnRef|The Earnest Men: Republicans of the Civil War Senate}}}} His colleagues were known to pay close attention to his remarks on the Senate floor even though he spoke infrequently and even then too quietly to reach the entire chamber or the galleries.{{sfn|The Earnest Men: Republicans of the Civil War Senate|page=32}} Charles Sumner referred to Collamer as the "Green-Mountain Socrates"{{sfn|The Earnest Men: Republicans of the Civil War Senate|page=32}} and called him the wisest and best balanced statesman of his time.{{cite book |last=Barber |first=A. D. |date=November 5, 1896 |title=Vermont as a Leader in Educational Progress |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76AyAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA107 |location=Montpelier, VT |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |page=107 |via=Google Books}}

At the 1860 Republican National Convention, Collamer received the favorite son votes of Vermont's delegates and withdrew after the first ballot.The Vermonter magazine, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wZk6AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22jacob+collamer%22+1860+convention+votes+president&pg=PA5 Incidents in the Life of Lincoln], January 1909, page 5 Reelected to the Senate in 1861, he served until his death.William Lloyd Garrison, [https://books.google.com/books?id=v5aZrAuKt0wC&dq=%22jacob+collamer%22+reelected+senate+1861&pg=PA397 The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison], 1976, page 397

In 1861, Collamer authored the bill to invest the President with new war powers and give Congressional approval to the war measures that Abraham Lincoln had taken under his own authority at the start of his administration.Jacob G. Ullery, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvg_AAAAYAAJ&q=collamer&pg=PA224 Men of Vermont Illustrated], 1894, pages 121-124

Collamer was the lead senator of the nine Republicans who visited Lincoln in 1862 to argue for change in the composition of his cabinet by persuading him to replace his Secretary of State, William Henry Seward.Chester G. Hearn, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cmZkBkmBc7wC&dq=%22jacob+collamer%22+seward+chase+lincoln+meeting+cabinet&pg=PA141 Lincoln, the Cabinet, and the Generals], 2010, pages 139-143 Having been encouraged to confront Lincoln by claims of cabinet disharmony from Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, the senators changed their minds during the meeting after Chase was maneuvered by Lincoln into backtracking on his initial argument.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmZkBkmBc7wC&q=%22jacob+collamer%22+seward+chase+lincoln+meeting+cabinet&pg=PA141|title=Lincoln, the Cabinet, and the Generals|first=Chester G.|last=Hearn|date=28 March 2018|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=9780807137338|via=Google Books}}

Again a member of the majority once the Democrats from the southern states left the Senate during the war, Collamer was Chairman of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads (Thirty-seventh to Thirty-ninth Congresses) and the Committee on the Library (Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses).{{sfn|Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees, 1789-present}}

After the war, Collamer opposed the Reconstruction of plans of Presidents Lincoln and Andrew Johnson and was an advocate of Congressional control over the process of readmitting former Confederate states to the Union.

Collamer died at his home in Woodstock on November 9, 1865{{sfn|Memorial Address on the Life and Character of the Hon. Jacob Collamer|page=12}} and was buried in Woodstock's River Street Cemetery.U.S. Government Printing Office, [https://books.google.com/books?id=N3UbSvFEYEkC&q=%22jacob+collamer%22+died Addresses on the Death of Senator Jacob Collamer], 1866, pages 61-62Robert I. Vexler, [https://archive.org/details/vicepresidentsca0001vexl The Vice-Presidents and Cabinet Members: Biographies Arranged Chronologically by Administration], Volume 1, 1975, page 185

Collamer received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Vermont in 1850 and Dartmouth College in 1855.University of Vermont, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gIQfAAAAYAAJ&dq=jacob+collamer+university+of+vermont+trustee&pg=PA23 University of Vermont Obituary Record], Volume 1, 1895, pages 23-24

In 1881, the state of Vermont donated a marble statue of Collamer created by Preston Powers to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.{{sfn|The Vermonter: Jacob Collamer|page=238}} Each state is represented by two statues, and Vermont's are likenesses of Collamer and Ethan Allen.United States Congress, Joint Committee on the Library, [https://books.google.com/books?id=piIUAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22jacob+collamer%22+statuary+hall&pg=PA25 Legislation Creating the National Statuary Hall in the Capitol], 1916, page 25Glenn Brown, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eG8Yng2jxIgC&dq=%22jacob+collamer%22+%22ethan+allen%22+statuary+hall&pg=PA530 Glenn Brown's History of the United States Capitol], 1900, page 530

In 1817, Collamer married Mary Stone, who died in 1870.{{cite book |last=Reno |first=Conrad |date=1900 |title=Memoirs of the Judiciary and the Bar of New England |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kGswAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA4-PA26 |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Century Memorial Publishing Co. |page=26 |ref={{sfnRef|Memoirs of the Judiciary and the Bar of New England}}}} Their children included Elisabeth, Harriet, Mary, Edward, Ellen, Frances, and William.{{sfn|Memoirs of the Judiciary and the Bar of New England|page=26}}

Collamer's home at 40 Elm Street in Woodstock is part of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park's Civil War Home Front Walking Tour.National Park Service, [https://www.nps.gov/mabi/planyourvisit/civil-war-home-front-walking-tour.htm Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, Civil War Home Front Walking Tour], retrieved December 17, 2013Patricia Harris and David Lyon, Boston Globe, [https://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/vermont/articles/2010/07/11/civil_war_history_still_breathes_down_the_years/ Civil War History Still Breathes Down the Years], July 11, 2010

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)

Image:The Taylor Administration.jpg|The Zachary Taylor Administration, 1849 Daguerreotype by Mathew Brady
From left to right: William Ballard Preston, Thomas Ewing, John M. Clayton, Zachary Taylor, William M. Meredith, George W. Crawford, Jacob Collamer and Reverdy Johnson in 1849

File:Collamer.jpg|Jacob Collamer in U.S Statuary Hall

Image:Jacob Collamer - Postmaster General of USA.jpg|Jacob Collamer during the Civil War

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| before= Cave Johnson

| after= Nathan K. Hall

| years= March 8, 1849 – July 22, 1850

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{{s-ttl|title=Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont's 2nd congressional district|years=March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Senator from Vermont (Class 3)|years=March 4, 1855 – November 9, 1865|alongside=Solomon Foot}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Collamer, Jacob}}

Category:1791 births

Category:1865 deaths

Category:Politicians from Troy, New York

Category:Vermont Republicans

Category:United States postmasters general

Category:Members of the Vermont House of Representatives

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Category:State's attorneys in Vermont

Category:People of Vermont in the American Civil War

Category:American militiamen in the War of 1812

Category:University of Vermont alumni

Category:Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court

Category:Republican Party United States senators from Vermont

Category:Taylor administration cabinet members

Category:Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:19th-century United States senators

Category:19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly