| John
Bingham was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, the son of a carpenter. After working two years
as a printer, he attended Franklin College, then began to study law. Upon admission to the
bar, he opened a legal practice in 1840 at Cadiz, Ohio. He gained recognition as a popular
speaker for the "log cabin" campaign of Whig presidential candidate, William
Henry Harrison, in 1840. Bingham, a moderate Republican, served as a U.S. Representative
from Ohio from 1855 to 1863 and again from 1865 to 1873. During the Civil War, he was an
early advocate of emancipation. In January 1864, he was appointed judge-advocate
(essentially a prosecutor) and later helped present the government’s case in the
conspiracy trial of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassins. After returning to
Congress, he played a leading role in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Bingham
opposed the first two attempts to impeach the President, but changed his position when
Johnson violated the Tenure of Office Act by removing Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War.
Bingham chaired the House committee that argued the articles of impeachment during
Johnson’s trial in the Senate, and gave the closing, three-day summation. During
Reconstruction, he was responsible for drafting the first section of the Fourteenth
Amendment, which extended the constitutional protections of due process and privileges and
immunities against state government interference. In 1873, he was appointed U.S. Minister
to Japan, where he served for twelve years. He died in Cadiz, Ohio.
Robert C. Kennedy, HarpWeek
Source consulted: Dictionary of American Biography |
|
John Armor Bingham
(21 January 1815 - 19 March 1900)
Source: History of Congress, 1867-69, Vol. I
|