Galusha A. Grow

Infobox Officeholder
name =Galusha Aaron Grow
birthname =Aaron Galusha Grow


imagesize =200px
small

caption =Monochrome reproduction of an 1891 oil painting of Grow by William A. Greaves.
order =28th
office =Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
term_start =July 4, 1861
term_end =March 4, 1863
president =Abraham Lincoln
predecessor =William Pennington
successor =Schuyler Colfax
order2 =Member of U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's At-large, 12th & 14th districts
term_start2 =March 4, 1851
term_end2 =March 3, 1853 (12th)
March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1863 (14th)
February 26, 1894 – March 3, 1903 (AL)
predecessor2 =David Wilmot
Thomas M. Bibighaus
William Lilly (AL)
Alexander McDowell (AL)
successor2 =Hendrick B. Wright
William H. Miller
29th: George Shiras III
30th: John Dalzell
birth_date =August 31, 1822
birth_place =Ashford, Connecticut
death_date =March 31, 1907 (aged 84)
death_place =near Scranton, Pennsylvania
nationality =
party =Democratic
Republican
otherparty =
spouse =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =Amherst College
occupation =
profession =Law
net worth =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Galusha Aaron Grow (August 31 1822 – March 31 1907) was a prominent U.S. politician, lawyer, writer and businessman, and was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863. He was defeated for reelection in 1862. He remained the last sitting House Speaker to be defeated until Tom Foley lost his seat in the Republican landslide of 1994.

Early years

Grow was born Aaron Galusha Grow in Ashford, Connecticut; his given names were the suggestions of an aunt living in Vermont, who was visiting Grow's mother when he was christened—"Aaron" was the aunt's husband's name, and "Galusha" was the surname of a governor of Vermont she admired. [http://books.google.com/books?id=BJIcAAAAMAAJ Galusha A. Grow: Father of the Homestead Law] from Google Books] His family called him Galusha when he was growing up and before Grow was a teenager he had started writing his name with his given names reversed. He was educated at Franklin Academy in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania and later, at Amherst College. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in November 1847, and then began his law practice. [CongBio|G000507|inline=1]

U.S. House

Grow ran as a Democrat in the 1850 elections, and served as a member of that party during the 32nd and 33rd Congresses, and part of the 34th Congress. He switched parties in the wake of President Pierce's signing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

He ran as a Republican for the 1856 elections, and remained a member of that party for the rest of his political career.

During the 35th United States Congress, on February 5, 1858, he was provoked into a fight with Democrat Laurence M. Keitt in the House chambers. [cite journal | title=Filibuster | author=Allan L. Damon | work=American Heritage Magazine | date=December 1975 | volume=27 | issue=1 | url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1975/1/1975_1_11.shtml
journal=American Heritage Magazine] [cite web | url=http://www.genealogyforum.com/gfnews/august98/gfn9808t.htm | title=Genealogy Forum NEWS, August, 1998 References "Best Little Stories from the Civil War" by C. Brian Kelly.]

He was re-elected during the 1858 elections and before the end of the 36th Congress South Carolina had voted to secede from the Union.

After Grow was again re-elected, the recently-elected President Abraham Lincoln called the 37th Congress into session on July 4th; in a chamber down by almost 60 from the 237 present in the previous session, Grow was nominated by Thaddeus Stevens to be the Speaker of the House, winning the job with little fanfare over the only other nominee, Francis Preston Blair.

Although events of the Civil War dominated—the First Battle of Bull Run occurred only two weeks after the 37th Congress was called into session—under Grow's speakership several other major acts of Congress were passed and signed into law, particularly the Pacific Railway Act authorizing land grants to encourage the construction of the transcontinental railroad, and the Homestead Act, which in over a century resulted in the establishment of 1.6 million homesteads.

After his Speakership

Grow was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1864 and 1868.

He moved to Houston, Texas in 1871, and that year became president of what became known as the International - Great Northern Railroad, a position he held until 1875. He then returned to Pennsylvania and the practice of law from 1875 to 1894.

Grow returned to the United States Congress as a member at-large from Pennsylvania from 1894 to 1903; was the chairman of the committee on education in the 56th Congress.

Grow resided in Glenwood, Pennsylvania from 1903 until his death at age 84. A biography of Galusha Grow, "Galusha A. Grow: Father of the Homestead Law", was written by James T. Du Bois and Gertrude S. Mathewsand published by Houghton Mifflin in 1917.

References

External links

* [http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/content_inside.asp?ID=157&subjectID=2 Galusha Grow] from "Mr. Lincoln's White House", a website of the Lehrman Institute
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/grovenor-guert.html#R9M0IYVFJ Grow, Galusha Aaron (1823-1907)] from The Political Graveyard