Edwards Pierrepont
Edwards Pierrepont was an American attorney, reformer, jurist, traveler, New York U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Minister to England, and orator. Having graduated from Yale in 1837, Pierrepont studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840. During the American Civil War, Pierrepont was a Democrat, although he supported President Abraham Lincoln. Pierrepont initially supported President Andrew Johnson's conservative Reconstruction efforts having opposed the Radical Republicans. In both 1868 and 1872, Pierrepont supported Ulysses S. Grant for president. For his support, President Grant appointed Pierrepont United States Attorney in 1869. In 1871, Pierrepont gained the reputation as a solid reformer, having joined New York's Committee of Seventy that shut down Boss Tweed's corrupt Tammany Hall. In 1872, Pierrepont modified his views on Reconstruction and stated that African American freedman's rights needed to be protected.
In April 1875, Pierrepont was appointed U.S. Attorney General by President Grant, who, having teamed up with Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow, vigorously prosecuted the notorious Whiskey Ring, a national tax evasion swindle that involved whiskey distillers, brokers, and government officials, including President Grant's private secretary, Orville E. Babcock. Upon his appointment, Pierrepont quickly cleaned up corruption in Southern U.S. districts. Pierrepont had continued former Attorney General George H. Williams moratorium on prosecuting the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan had been previously prosecuted by President Grant's Attorneys General Amos T. Akerman and Williams from 1871 to 1873, prosecuting civil rights violations of whites against African Americans. Pierrepont ruled that a naturalized Prussian immigrant's son born in the U.S. was not obligated to serve in the Prussian military as an adult. In his ruling of the Chorpenning Claim, Pierrepont cited the Supreme Court case Gorden v United States, having agreed that the Postmaster General, as well as the Secretary of War, served as ministers rather than legally binding arbitrators for a monetary claim by a private citizen. After serving as Attorney General, Pierrepont was appointed Minister to Great Britain by President Grant serving from 1876 to 1877. After many visits to France, Pierrepont became an advocate for bimetalism. Having returned from England, Pierrepont resumed his law practice until his death in 1892.
Early life and ancestry
Edwards Pierrepont was born in North Haven, Connecticut, on March 4, 1817. He was the son of Giles Pierepont and Eunice Munson Pierepont. Giles Pierepont was a New England descendant of James Pierepont, a cofounder of Yale University. Pierrepont's baptised name was Munson Edwards Pierepont, however, he changed his name to Edwards Pierrepont, dropping Munson and adding an extra "r" to his last name. Pierrepont was an earlier version of his family name.Pierrepont attend several schools in the North Haven area, enrolled at Yale University, and graduated in 1837. After graduation, Edwards traveled and explored the West, then studied at New Haven Law School. He passed the bar in 1840, and tutored at Yale University from 1840 to 1841. He then moved to Columbus, Ohio where he practiced law with Phineas B. Wilcox from 1840 to 1845. In 1846, Pierrepont moved to New York where he established his own practice.
Marriage, family, and estates
On May 27, 1846, Pierrepont married Margaretta Willoughby, from Brooklyn, the daughter of Samuel Willoughby. Their marriage produced two children, one son, Edwin, and one daughter, Margaretta. Edwin died in Rome in 1885 while serving as Chargé d'Affaires, having replaced Mr. William Astor, the U.S. Envoy, who had retired. Pierrepont's daughter married Leanord F. Beckwith who lived at 48 West Seventy-second Street in New York.In 1852, Pierrepont completed the construction of his estate house at 103 Fifth Avenue in New York. This would be his permanent residence for the next 40 years. In 1867, Pierrepont built a country estate house in Garrison, designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as the Hurst-Pierrepont Estate.
Political career
Upon moving to New York, Pierrepont became active in politics, having joined the Democratic Party in 1846. Pierrepont first served in office when he was elected Superior Court Judge on the New York Supreme Court; he served from 1857 to 1860.Civil War
Pierrepont was believed to have a pulse on the nation and served as Abraham Lincoln's personal advisor before and after Lincoln was elected president. In 1862, during the Civil War Pierrepont was appointed by President Lincoln a member of the military commission to try the cases of state prisoners in the custody of the federal military authorities. During the Presidential election of 1864, Pierrepont supported Lincoln in a political speech at Cooper Union, believing President Lincoln would secure the restoration of the Union. Pierrepont stated Lincoln stood for freedom, liberty and national glory.Prosecuted Surratt trial
In 1867 Pierrepont conducted the case for the government against John H. Surratt, indicted as an accomplice in the murder of President Lincoln. Surratt, a former Confederate spy, was the last person to be tried by a U.S. Military commission in the case of Lincoln's assassination. After Lincoln's assassination, Surratt fled the United States to Montreal, Liverpool, Rome, and was finally caught in Egypt on December 2, 1866, where he was indicted and returned to the United States to face U.S. military trial. The trial opened on June 10, 1867 under Judge George P. Fisher and held immense public interest in the United States. Pierrepont argued that Surratt was involved in the conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. Government and involved with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. Pierrepont argued that the military trial was suited for Surratt's case and quoted Bible verses that he viewed supported government was created by God for the express purpose of finding the guilty. Pierrepont argued that because Surratt had assumed an alias name, John Harrison, in staying at a hotel, and had fled the country that this proved his guilt. The trial lasted until August 10, 1867 and ended with the jury unable to make any decision after a seventy-hour deliberation. As a result of the hung jury, Judge Fisher set Surratt free.New York constitutional convention member
In April 1867, Pierrepont was elected a member of the New York Constitutional Convention serving on the Judiciary Committee. A total of 19 committees were created to study each constitutional revision with Pierrepont's larger Judiciary Committee having a total of 15 members. The Constitutional Convention turned out to be a long drawn-out process of deliberation that lasted into June 1867 whose purpose was to root out any constitutional defects from the previous 1846 New York Constitution. One contentious issue was whether to allow women suffrage and to strike out the word "male" that defined New York voters.U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
From April 25, 1869 to July 20, 1870 Pierrepont served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant. As U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted Cuban revolutionaries for violation of the Neutrality Act. On Tuesday June 15, 1869, U.S. Attorney Pierrepont arrested and indicted members of the Cuban Junta, an organization to aid the Cuban Rebellion. Included in the arrests were the Cuban Junta President and other members; Jose Moralez Lemus, Wm. O.C. Ryan, Francisco Fesser, and Jose Mora. The Cuban Junta on May 1, 1869 had organized a military expedition to fight in the Cuban Rebellion against Spain. Other members of the Cuban Junta escaped arrest by the Deputy Marshall Allan. Pierrepont retired as U.S. Attorney and resumed his private law practice.Committee of Seventy member
After the American Civil War the Democratic Party under Boss William Tweed's Tammany Hall gained a monopoly in both New York City Hall and the New York Legislature. Allegations of corruption rapidly grew as rumors spread that Boss Tweed and associates of Tammany Hall were laundering tax payers money in real estate and bribing New York State legislatures for favorable legislation. New York City workers under the Tammany Hall system were paid excessive rates on the burden of tax payers. By 1871, New York City residents and the press demanded that the corruption be investigated and cleaned up. On September 4, at Cooper Union, a large organization of reputed citizens was formed known as the Committee of Seventy, that investigated the corruption of Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall Ring. Pierrepont was appointed to and actively served on the legislation commission of the Committee of Seventy. The Committee of Seventy promised to thoroughly investigate Tammany Hall corruption and strongly encouraged honest voters to stop taking bribes from Tammany Hall at the polls during election. By the end of October 1871 the Committee of Seventy had successfully stopped funding Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall by court injunction effectively shutting down the corrupt institution. Tweed was arrested and thrown into jail.Supported President Grant
On September 25, 1872 reformer Pierrepont gave a speech at the Cooper Union Institute in New York that supported President Grant's reelection. Pierrepont stated that Grant's opponent Horace Greeley had pointed out that Grant had made a better President than expected and that his second term would be better than his first. Pierrepont stated that President Grant had been unjustly slandered by the press, and that he believed "security, confidence, development and unexampled prosperity" would take place during President Grant's second term in office. Pierrepont, who had toured the South in February, spoke on President Grant's Reconstruction policy. Pierrepont had observed that southern whites in poverty supported Greeley, while African Americans were loyal to President Grant. Although acknowledging Reconstruction state governments needed reform, Pierrepont blamed southern poverty on the Southern peoples "swollen pride and obstinate will". Pierrepont believed that Grant's southern policy was good for the Southern people; that African Americans needed to be protected in their rights; and that government needed to govern justly and generously. Pierrepont believed that electing Greeley would turn over the state governments to a rebellious people and reminded his audience of Union prisoner deaths that had taken place at Andersonville and harsh conditions at Libby Prison. As a reformer, Pierrepont stated he would do his best to ensure that honest men were placed around President Grant.On October 11, 1872 Edwards Pierrepont spoke in Ithaca, New York supporting President Grant and the Republican ticket. Pierrepont related a story of President Grant unworried he would not win North Carolina. Although there was concern that Grant would not win North Carolina, Pierrepont stated that Grant had said to a friend when wolves howl at night the sound is greater than the actual number of wolves. According to President Grant, this was the case in North Carolina. Pierrepont predicted Grant would win New York for seven reasons including that Grant had already won the state in 1868 when the Democratic coalition was at its height, the Republicans had carried the state government, and that Grant would receive 17,000 votes from African Americans. Pierrepont stated the Tammany Ring would no longer be instrumental in securing the Democratic vote through fraud. Pierrepont had earlier been instrumental in prosecuting the Tammany Ring that was completely shut down. With the prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan by President Grant and Pierrepont's shutting down the Tammany Ring, the general election of 1872 was one of the most fair in United States history.