Israel Washburn, Jr.

Infobox Congressman
name =Israel Washburn, Jr.


imagesize =200px
state =Maine
district =5th
term_start =March 4, 1853
term_end =January 1, 1861
preceded =Ephraim K. Smart
succeeded =Stephen Coburn
order2 =29th Governor of Maine
term_start2 =January 2, 1861
term_end2 =January 7, 1863
predecessor2 =Lot M. Morrill
successor2 =Abner Coburn
birth_date =June 16, 1813
birth_place =Livermore, Maine
death_date =May 12, 1883
death_place =Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
nationality =
party =Whig
Republican
otherparty =
spouse =
partner =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =
occupation =
profession =Law
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Israel Washburn, Jr. (June 16, 1813–May 12, 1883) was a United States political figure. Originally a member of the Whig Party, he later became a founding member of the Republican Party.

In 1854, angry over the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Washburn called a meeting of 30 members of the US House of Representatives to discuss forming what became the Republican Party. Republican gatherings had taken place in Wisconsin and Michigan earlier in the year, but Washburn's meeting was the first in the U.S. Capital, and among U.S. Congressmen. He was probably also the first politician of his rank to use the term "Republican", in a speech at Bangor, Maine on June 2, 1854. [William E. Gienapp, "The Origins of the Republican Party" (Oxford, 1987), p. 89] Washburn represented the district which included Bangor and the neighboring town of Orono, Maine, where he had his home and law office.

Born in 1813 in Livermore, Maine to a prominent political family, Washburn organized the Maine Republican Party from 1854 onward. He was Governor of Maine from 1861 to 1863. During the American Civil War, he helped recruit Federal troops from Maine. In 1862, he attended the Loyal War Governors' Conference in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately gave Abraham Lincoln support for his Emancipation Proclamation.

Washburn had been an unsuccessful candidate for the Thirty-first Congress in 1848; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses, as a Republican to the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, and Thirty-sixth Congresses and served from March 4, 1851, to January 1, 1861, when he resigned, having been elected Governor. He was Chairman of the Committee on Elections (Thirty-fourth Congress).

Washburn was the brother of Elihu B. Washburne. He died in 1883 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is buried at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Maine.

References

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1. William E. Gienapp, "The Origins of the Republican Party" (Oxford, 1987), p. 89

External links

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