John F. Potter
John Fox Potter was an American lawyer, Radical Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was one of the first lawyers admitted to practice law in the Wisconsin Territory, and served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Wisconsin's 1st congressional district from 1857 to 1863. Potter served as chair of the United States [House Committee on Natural Resources|House Committee on Public Lands] during the 37th [United States Congress|37th U.S. Congress], and helped shepherd the passage of the Homestead Act of 1862. During that same term, Potter was also chair of the House Select Committee on Loyalty of Federal Employees, which attempted to root out Confederate sympathizers from government; his activities in that role led to significant acrimony between Potter and Secretary of War Simon Cameron.
After leaving Congress, he served as American consul general at Montreal from 1863 to 1866. Earlier in his career, he served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly during the 9th [Wisconsin Legislature|1856 term], and served as probate judge of Walworth County before Wisconsin achieved statehood.
Potter earned his nickname because he demanded to use the bowie knife as his weapon when he was challenged to a duel by Virginia U.S. representative Roger A. Pryor; the duel never ultimately took place, but the affair was widely covered by political newspapers around the country. Subsequently, at the Republican National Convention">Republican Party (United States)">Republican National Convention, Potter was presented with a giant six-foot long folding knife to commemorate the event; Potter's monster knife is now in the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Career
Admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1837, Potter began his legal practice in East Troy. He served as a judge in Walworth County from 1842 to 1846.A Whig, Potter was elected a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, and served a term. He was a delegate to the Whig National Convention">Whig Party (United States)">Whig National Convention and 1856 Whig National Convention. With the demise of the Whig party, Potter became a Republican and became a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860 and 1864.
Member of Congress
Wisconsin voters elected Potter to the United States House of Representatives in 1856 and he won re-election twice. Thus, Potter served in the 35th through the 37th Congresses. Potter received his nickname in 1860, as a result of an aborted duel with Virginia Congressman Roger A. Pryor after Illinois Congressman Owen Lovejoy's remarks concerning the 1837 murder of his brother Elijah Lovejoy. Pryor had edited Potter's follow-up remarks to eliminate a mention of the Republican Party, to which Potter had objected, then Pryor challenged Potter to a duel, but his seconds objected when Potter chose bowie knives as the prospective weapon, decrying his selection of weapon as "vulgar, barbarous, and inhuman." The incident received considerable press, and Potter's friends afterward often accompanied him when on Washington's streets, lest he be accosted again to test his mettle. Potter served as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions from 1859 to 1861 and of the Committee on Public Lands from 1861 to 1863. In this latter role, his committee handled the Homestead Act of 1862. He was considered one of the "Radical Republicans" due to his support for African-American civil rights and the belief that not only should slavery not be allowed to expand, but that it should be banned in states where it currently existed.As relations with the southern states deteriorated and the Civil War eventually began in earnest, Potter was appointed to serve as the head of the House's "Committee on Loyalty of Federal employees", which sought to root out Confederate sympathizers in the government. His efforts and intrusiveness were not always appreciated; Secretary of War Simon Cameron in particular was annoyed by Potter's interference and repeatedly ignored his demands that Cameron dismiss at least fifty United [States Department of War|War Department] staffers suspected of Confederate sympathies. Although frustrated by Cameron's recalcitrance, Potter did not actually have the authority to compel Cameron to follow his directives; only the President held that power and Lincoln's attentions were needed elsewhere.
The tumultuous relationship between Potter and the War Department was alleviated when Cameron was replaced by Edwin Stanton on January 20, 1862. Stanton met with Potter on his first day as war secretary, and on the same day, dismissed four persons whom Potter deemed unsavory. This was well short of the fifty people Potter wanted gone from the department, but he was nonetheless pleased with Stanton's initiative.
In 1861, Potter was one of the participants in the Peace Conference of 1861, which failed to avert the American Civil War. He was defeated in his race for reelection in 1862 by fellow Maine-born lawyer James S. Brown, a Democrat who had been Milwaukee prosecutor and mayor, and who would be defeated the following year by a Republican general. During the campaign, his son Alfred C. Potter had enlisted in the 28th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment in August 1862 as a sergeant, but would be mustered out the following April, and began receiving a pension in 1896.
Later career
After Potter's congressional term ended in early 1863, he declined appointment as governor of Dakota Territory, and his wife died in May 1863 in Washington, D.C., leaving Potter a widower with a ten year old son. The Lincoln administration then appointed Potter as Consul General of the United States in the British-controlled Province of Canada from 1863 to 1866. Thus Potter resided in what was then the Canadian capital of Montreal, Lower Canada.In 1866, Potter returned to East Troy, Wisconsin, where he resumed his legal practice.