Edmund G. Ross

Infobox Senator
name=Edmund Gibson Ross

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width=200px
jr/sr and state=Junior Senator, Kansas
party=Republican, Democrat
term=July 25, 1866ndash March 3, 1871
preceded=James H. Lane
succeeded=Alexander Caldwell
office2= 13^th Territorial Governor of New Mexico
term_start2= 1885
term_end2= 1889
nominator2= Grover Cleveland
predecessor2= Lionel Allen Sheldon
successor2=L. Bradford Prince
date of birth=birth date|1826|12|7|mf=y
place of birth=Ashland, Ohio, U.S.
date of death=death date and age|1907|5|8|1826|12|7|mf=y
place of death=Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
spouse=
religion=
footnotes=

Edmund Gibson Ross (December 7, 1826ndash May 8, 1907) was a politician who represented the state of Kansas after the American Civil War and was later governor of the New Mexico Territory. His vote against convicting of President Andrew Johnson of "high crimes and misdemeanors" allowed Johnson to stay in office by the margin of one vote. As the seventh of seven Republican U.S. Senators to break with his party, Ross proved to be the person whose decision would result in conviction or acquittal. When he chose the latter, the vote of 35-19 in favor of Johnson's conviction failed to reach the required two-thirds' majority. Ross lost his bid for re-election two years later.

Ross was born in Ashland, Ohio. He worked in the newspaper business, first in Ohio, then in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Topeka, Kansas. After the suicide of James H. Lane in 1866, Ross was appointed and then elected to the United States Senate as a member of the Republican Party. Ross is known for casting the decisive vote which acquitted Andrew Johnson during his 1868 Presidential Impeachment trial. Some people have claimed that Ross voted against the conviction due to concerns about his colleague Samuel C. Pomeroy receiving patronage from Benjamin Wade. They also claim that Ross used his vote as a means to receive favors from Johnson. Others claim Ross cast his vote because he genuinely believed that Johnson had the right to fire Edwin M. Stanton, since he had been hired during the Lincoln Administration. Still others give voice to the opinion that, though the kansas senator did believe Johnson guilty of breaking the Tenure of Office Act, he did not believe that offense worthy of impeachment. Ross lost his bid for re-election in 1870.

Upon retirement from the Senate, Ross went back into the newspaper business briefly, launching a publication in Coffeyville, Kan. [ [http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1912/r/ross_edmund_g.html Ross, Edmund G. - KS-Cyclopedia - 1912 ] ] But on April 23, 1872, a "terrific tornado" swept through Coffeyville, destroying Ross' newspaper office. [ [http://www.kshs.org/research/timeline/thisday/april.htm This Day in Kansas History - April - Kansas State Historical Society ] ]

From 1885 to 1889, he served as governor of New Mexico Territory, appointed by President Grover Cleveland.

Edmund G. Ross is one of eight U.S. Senators featured in "Profiles in Courage", the 1956 Pulitzer Prize-winning history written by then-Senator John F. Kennedy in commemoration of past acts of political courage in Congress.

Footnotes

External links

*
* [http://slate.msn.com/id/14147/ Andrew Johnson: Saved by a Scoundrel]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10084 Edmund G. Ross] at Find A Grave