Columbus Delano

Columbus Delano was an American lawyer, rancher, banker, statesman, and a member of the prominent Delano family. Forced to live on his own at an early age, Delano struggled to become a self-made man. Delano was elected U.S. Congressman from Ohio, serving two full terms and one partial one. Prior to the American Civil War, Delano was a National Republican and then a Whig; as a Whig, he was identified with the faction of the party that opposed the spread of slavery into the Western territories. He became a Republican when the party was founded as the major anti-slavery party after the demise of the Whigs in the 1850s. During Reconstruction Delano advocated federal protection of African-Americans' civil rights, and argued that the former Confederate states should be administered by the federal government, but not as part of the United States until they met the requirements for readmission to the Union.
Delano served as President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of the Interior during a time of rapid Westward expansionism, and contended with conflicts between Native tribes and White American settlers. He was instrumental in the establishment of America's first national park, having supervised the first federally funded scientific expedition into Yellowstone in 1871, and becoming America's first national park overseer in 1872. In 1874, Delano requested that Congress protect Yellowstone through the creation of a federally funded administrative agency, the first Secretary of the Interior to request such preservation of a nationally important site.
Believing that the communal, collective, and nomadic lifestyles of Native American tribes led to war and impoverishment, Delano argued that the most humane Indian policy was to force tribes onto small reservations in the Indian Territory, ceding their land to the United States, and assimilating them into white culture. The goal was for Indian tribes to be independent of federal funding. To compel the Native tribes to move to reservations, Delano supported the slaughter to the near extinction of the vast buffalo herds outside of Yellowstone, which were essential to the maintenance of the Plains Indians' way of life.
Concerning government reform, Delano defied Grant's 1872 executive order to implement the first Civil Service Commission's recommendations. With the exception of Yellowstone, the spoils system and corruption permeated throughout the Interior Department during his tenure, and Grant requested Delano's resignation in 1875; he left office with his reputation damaged. Delano remained a spoils man at a time when reformer demands for a federal merit system were gaining support. Delano returned to Ohio to practice law, tend to his business interests, and raise livestock; he did not return to politics and died in 1896.
Delano was traditionally viewed as a 19th-century American "major mover and shaker." However, historians have strongly criticized Delano's weak oversight of the Interior, allowing rampant corruption, and for his treatment of Native Americans and endorsement of the Plains Indian bison slaughter. Yellowstone is considered Delano's greatest achievement, where bison and other wildlife were legally protected. He was viewed as an effective first administrator of America's first national park. While in office, Delano was an outspoken supporter of black American rights and an opponent of the Ku Klux Klan.

Early life, education, and political career

Columbus Delano was born in Shoreham, Vermont, on June 4, 1809, the son of James Delano and Lucinda Bateman. The Delano family was of French ancestry; its first representative in America, Philip Delano, voyaged from Holland in 1621 on the Fortune, the sister ship of the Mayflower. Delano's father died in 1815 when Delano was six years old, and his family was put under the care of his uncle Luther Bateman. In 1817 the family moved to Mount Vernon in Knox County, Ohio, where Delano resided for the rest of his life. Delano was raised primarily by Luther Bateman, who died in 1817. After an elementary education Delano worked in a woolen mill in Lexington, Ohio, and at other manual laboring jobs, becoming largely self-sufficient while still a teenager.
After beginning self-directed legal studies, Delano formally trained with Mount Vernon attorney Hosmer Curtis from 1830 to 1831, and he attained admission to the bar in 1831. Delano became active in politics as a National Republican, and later as a Whig, and in 1834 he won election as Prosecuting Attorney for Knox County. He won reelection in 1836 and served two terms, 1835 to 1839.

Marriage and family

On July 14, 1834, Delano married Elizabeth Leavenworth of Mount Vernon, the daughter of M. Martin Leavenworth and Clara Sherman Leavenworth. Their children included daughter Elizabeth, who was the wife of Reverend John G. Ames of Washington, DC, and son John Sherman Delano, a businessman who also worked with his father at the Department of the Interior.
Delano and Ulysses S. Grant were distant cousins; they had great-great-grandparents in common.

United States Representative (1845–1847)

In 1844, Delano was elected to the United States House of Representatives after appearing on the ballot as a replacement for Samuel White Jr., who had died after winning the Whig nomination. He went on to defeat Democrat Caleb J. McNulty by only 12 votes, 9,297 to 9,285.

Tenure

Delano served in the 29th Congress,, and was a member of the Committee on Invalid Pensions. He also gave a speech denouncing the Mexican–American War which earned him national recognition as an opponent of the conflict.

Campaign for governor

Delano did not run for reelection in 1846, instead campaigning for the 1848 Whig nomination for Governor of Ohio. He lost to Seabury Ford by two votes at the January 1848 party convention; Ford went on to defeat Democrat John B. Weller in a close general election, and served one term. Delano subsequently became involved in several business ventures; in 1850 he set up a successful Wall Street banking partnership, Delano, Dunlevy, & Company, which specialized in railroad bonds; it included a branch office in Cincinnati and operated for five years. In addition, Delano became a successful sheep rancher, and served as president of the National Association of Wool Growers and the Ohio Wool Growers Association. He was also active in other businesses; he was president of the Springfield, Mount Vernon & Pittsburgh Railroad, and an original incorporator of the First National Bank of Mount Vernon, of which he later became president.

Republican Party and the Civil War

With the demise of the Whigs, Columbus Delano joined the new Republican Party. Delano was a delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1860, and he seconded the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for president. Delano actively campaigned for Lincoln, who won the presidency. The following year Delano served as Commissary-General of Ohio, on the staff of Governor William Dennison Jr., and aided in raising and equipping troops for the Union Army at the start of the American Civil War. In 1862 Delano was a candidate for the United States Senate seat held by Benjamin Wade. With Republicans in control of the Ohio General Assembly, winning their nomination was tantamount to election by the full legislature. Delano was nearly successful, losing the nomination to Wade by only two votes. In 1863, Delano served in the Ohio House of Representatives and played a notable role in shepherding the passage of legislation in support of the Union war effort. Delano served as Chairman of the Judicial Committee and settled the matter of the right of soldiers to vote. Delano served as Chairman of the Ohio delegation that attended the Baltimore Convention. Lincoln was successfully nominated for a second term of office.

Reconstruction Era

Return to Congress

Delano was again elected to the U.S. House in 1864, and he served in the 39th Congress. During this term, Delano was chairman of the House Committee on Claims. Delano appeared to lose his bid for reelection in 1866, but successfully contested the election of George W. Morgan. After unseating Morgan, Delano served for the remainder of the 40th Congress, June 3, 1868—March 3, 1869. After the Civil War Delano supported Radical Reconstruction, believing that the South was in chaos and that federal involvement in the Southern states, including the army, was necessary to keep the peace. He did not run for reelection in 1868.

Reconstruction speech (1867)

In September 1867, Delano made a speech on Reconstruction in Eaton, Ohio, in which he said that President Andrew Johnson did not have the constitutional authority to establish civil government in the former Confederate states. Delano argued that Congress, not the president, "was required to establish civil governments in all the states." In Delano's view, Johnson and Southern Democrats, who had previously supported the Confederacy, were conspiring to overthrow Congress by undermining its authority to make laws concerning Southern Reconstruction. As proof, Delano cited Johnson's September 1866 Swing Around the Circle speech, in which Johnson said the national legislature was a "pretended Congress". In addition, Delano believed Johnson was conspiring to remove Ulysses S. Grant as head of the army because of Grant's support for Congressional Reconstruction. As a result, Delano advocated impeaching Johnson and removing him from office, and argued that Grant should be protected by Congress from any attempt by Johnson to remove him. Unknown to Delano, on August 11, 1867, Grant had agreed to accept Johnson's offer to serve as interim Secretary of War, while simultaneously remaining general of the army. Under the provisions of the Tenure of Office Act, the appointment would be temporary until the U.S. Senate returned to session in January 1868, and either ratified or prohibited Stanton's removal. Johnson and Grant agreed to Grant's temporary appointment despite explicitly admitting that they disagreed on Reconstruction policy.