Schuyler Colfax
Schuyler Colfax was born into a prominent New York family whose patriarch had served as one of George Washington’s Life Guards during the American Revolutionary War, eventually rising to become a General of the New Jersey Militia. Colfax moved with his family to New Carlisle, Indiana in 1836, and eventually became the owner and publisher of the St. Joseph Valley Register, a newspaper through which he supported first the Whig and later the Republican political parties. In 1852, at the age of 29, he was a Whig candidate for Congress, but lost in the general election. In 1854 he ran again, this time as a member of the Indiana People’s Party, and won.
The Whig Party collapsed in the 1850s and in Congress Colfax aligned himself with the emerging Republican Party. Colfax served seven terms in Congress, eventually becoming Speaker of the House in 1863, at the height of the Civil War. He used his position as Speaker to help usher through the House the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in January 1865, which banished slavery in the United States. Colfax broke with tradition by having his named called and his vote of support of the amendment recorded, at a time when voting by the Speaker was unusual.
At the Republican National Convention in 1868 former General Ulysses S. Grant was nominated for President, and after five ballots Colfax was selected to be his running mate. The two were the youngest pair to win election to the offices of President and Vice President at the time of their inauguration, with Colfax a year younger than the 46 year old Grant. Despite their relative youth Colfax was of the opinion that Grant would only want to serve one term as President and announced that he would not run for Vice President in 1872. When it became apparent that Grant would seek a second term Colfax changed his mind, but by then other events had transpired which damaged his reputation and his candidacy.
In the summer of 1872, during the Presidential campaign, the Credit Mobilier scandal broke. Credit Mobilier was established by the Union Pacific Railroad to create the false image to the public that an independent agency was being paid to be the prime contractor and manager for the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Union Pacific paid Credit Mobilier to build the railroad, with money it received from the federal government. When Credit Mobilier was established several congressmen received stock and cash payments from the company, in exchange for favorable votes on items affecting the railroad.
One of the politicians who thus received what amounted to bribes from the Union Pacific was Schuyler Colfax. Why the railroad would bribe the Vice President, who had no vote in the Senate with the exception of breaking a tie, is unclear. It may have been that Colfax – who denied any wrongdoing – was aware of the scheme and was included for the sake of keeping him silent. He was definitely involved with the scheme when he was serving as Speaker of the House; he deposited $1,200 in his bank on the same day that the Congressman who was distributing the funds to the other members of the scheme made a note of having given Colfax that exact amount of money.
Colfax was removed from the ticket and replaced with another Congressmen who had taken part in the scheme, but with the foresight to claim that it was his wife who had made the transaction, without his knowledge. It was the end of Colfax’s political career. He attempted to recover his reputation on the lecture circuit, usually delivering his views on the life and activities of President Lincoln, and worked as a businessman, but never entered into the political arena by expressing his opinions on the issues of the day. He never admitted his role in the scandal which ended his career, and of the more than thirty Congressmen which participated in the Credit Mobilier scandal, only two were censured.