1.
Arthur Pue Gorman
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Arthur Pue Gorman was a United States Senator from Maryland, serving from 1881 to 1899 and from 1903 to 1906. He also served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1869 to 1875, and he was a prominent leader of the Democratic Party and later served as a member of the Mills Commission which investigated the origins of baseball. Gorman was born in Woodstock, Maryland on March 11,1839, to parents Peter, the oldest of five children, he was named after the familys physician, Dr. Arthur Pue. Gormans paternal grandfather, John, emigrated to the U. S. from Ireland circa 1794, first settling in Harrisburg, arthurs immediate family, including younger brother William Henry Gorman, moved to Laurel, Maryland in 1848, where they had a 150-acre farm. Gorman became friends with Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, who made him his private secretary, Gorman subsequently served the U. S. Senate in various offices as page, messenger, Assistant Doorkeeper, Assistant Postmaster, and finally Postmaster. Eventually he would become president of the National Association of Base Ball Players, in September 1866, Gorman was removed from his Senate Office of Postmaster and was immediately appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Fifth Congressional District of Maryland. Gorman married a widow, Hannah Hattie Donagan, on March 28,1867 and they would have six children, Haddie, Ada, Grace, Arthur P. Jr. Anne Elizabeth, and Mary. In 1890, Gormans wife and daughter Grace escaped a fire at their Laurel house Fairview that his father built, Gorman was closely aligned with Baltimore political leader Isaac Freeman Rasin. Rasin helped support Oden Bowies rival William Pinkney Whyte in the 1871 Maryland Governor race with vote buying in Baltimore city, Whyte in turn gave Gorman a position as director of the C&O Canal. Gorman was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1869, serving until 1875, in 1875, he was elected to the Maryland State Senate, serving until 1881. In 1880, Gorman was elected to the United States Senate, the New York Times reported the election was influenced by large groups of ward rounders who shot and wounded black Republican voters at the Howard County polls. In 1884 Gorman worked on Grover Clevelands bid for presidency and he served as the Democratic caucus chairman from 1890 to 1898, as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Printing, and as a member of the Senate Committee on Private Land Claims. In 1889, Gorman sought to differentiate his party from a racially mixed independent-Democrat/Republican coalition. He was quoted saying We have determined that government was made by white men. Gorman was reelected twice more in 1886 and 1892, but was defeated for re-election in 1898, after his defeat, Gorman campaigned for the other Maryland U. S. Senate seat, and was elected to the U. S. Senate again by the Legislature in 1902. He was again appointed as the Democratic Caucus Chairman, which he held from 1903 to 1906, Gorman was briefly a candidate for U. S. President in 1892 and 1904. In 1903–1905, per a Maryland State biography, Gorman spearheaded an attempt by Democrats to disenfranchise black voters in Maryland, who tended to vote Republican. Related legislation passed easily in the Democratically controlled Senate of early 1904, though Governor Warfield did not sign the bill into law, and it was rejected by voters in late 1905
2.
William Allen Rogers
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William Allen Rogers was an American political cartoonist born in Springfield, Ohio. He studied at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Wittenberg College, Rogers taught himself to draw and began submitting political cartoons to Midwestern newspapers in his teens. At the age of fourteen, his first cartoons appeared in a Dayton, Ohio-based newspaper, the start of Rogers career as an illustrator came in 1873 when he was hired by the Daily Graphic in New York. He was nineteen years old at the time, Rogers job at the Daily Graphic was to help out with the news sketches and at times draw cartoons. In 1877, he was hired by Harpers Weekly to draw the magazines political cartoons after the departure of Thomas Nast, the cartoons were dramatic adjuncts that illustrated the magazines editorials. Rogers remained at Harpers Weekly for twenty-five years, after leaving Harpers Weekly, Rogers was hired by the New York Herald, where he drew cartoons daily for a total of twenty years. He occasionally worked for Life too, and submitted cartoons and illustrations for Puck, The Century Magazine, Rogers retired as a cartoonist in 1926 while working for the Washington Post. He died in Washington, D. C. in 1931
3.
Grover Cleveland
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Stephen Grover Cleveland was an American politician and lawyer who was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. He was also the first and to date only President in American history to serve two terms in office. Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism and his crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era. Cleveland won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and he fought political corruption, patronage, and bossism. As a reformer Cleveland had such prestige that the wing of the Republican Party, called Mugwumps, largely bolted the GOP presidential ticket. As his second administration began, disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a national depression. It ruined his Democratic Party, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian, the result was a political realignment that ended the Third Party System and launched the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era. Cleveland was a formidable policymaker, and he also drew corresponding criticism, critics complained that Cleveland had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nations economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term. Even so, his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term, biographer Allan Nevins wrote, n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have and he possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not, today, Cleveland is considered by most historians to have been a successful leader, generally ranked among the second tier of American presidents. Stephen Grover Cleveland was born on March 18,1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey to Richard Falley Cleveland, Clevelands father was a Presbyterian minister who was originally from Connecticut. His mother was from Baltimore and was the daughter of a bookseller, on his fathers side, Cleveland was descended from English ancestors, the first of the family having emigrated to Massachusetts from Cleveland, England in 1635. On his mothers side, he was descended from Anglo-Irish Protestants and he was distantly related to General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was named. Cleveland, the fifth of nine children, was named Stephen Grover in honor of the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell and he became known as Grover in his adult life. In 1841, the Cleveland family moved to Fayetteville, New York, neighbors later described him as full of fun and inclined to play pranks, and fond of outdoor sports. In 1850, Clevelands father took a pastorate in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, despite his fathers dedication to his missionary work, the income was insufficient for the large family. Financial conditions forced him to remove Grover from school into a mercantile apprenticeship in Fayetteville
4.
United States Statutes at Large
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Each act and resolution of Congress is called a slip law, which is classified as either public law or private law, and designated and numbered accordingly. At the end of a Congress session, slip laws are compiled into Statutes at Large and they are part of a three-part model for publication of federal statutes consisting of slip laws, session laws, and codification. Today, large portions of slip laws denominated as public laws are now drafted as amendments to the United States Code. Once enacted into law, an Act will be published in the Statutes at Large and will add to, modify, provisions of a public law that contains only enacting clauses, effective dates, and similar matters are not generally codified. Private laws also are not generally codified, some portions of the United States Code have been enacted as positive law and other portions have not been so enacted. Publication of the United States Statutes at Large began in 1845 by the firm of Little, Brown. During Little, Brown and Companys time as publisher, Richard Peters, George Minot, in 1874, Congress transferred the authority to publish the Statutes at Large to the Government Printing Office under the direction of the Secretary of State. 633, was enacted July 30,1947 and directed the Secretary of State to compile, edit, index,980, was enacted September 23,1950 and directed the Administrator of General Services to compile, edit, index, and publish the Statutes at Large. Since 1985 the Statutes at Large have been prepared and published by the Office of the Federal Register of the National Archives, sometimes very large or long Acts of Congress are published as their own volume of the Statutes at Large. For example, the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 was published as volume 68A of the Statutes at Large. Volumes 1 to 18 of the Statutes at Large made available by the Library of Congress Volumes 1 to 64 of the Statutes at Large made available by the Congressional Data Coalition via LEGISWORKS
5.
Tariffs in United States history
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Graph, Share of tariff revenues in U. S. Federal budget. Tariffs in United States history have played important roles in trade policy, political debates, the main goal of the tariff was money to pay the federal budget. Controversy arose over whether manufacturing interests were favored and consumer interests hurt by high tariffs, the 1st United States Congress, wanting a straightforward tax that was not too onerous and easy to collect, passed the Tariff Act of 1789. Treasury agents collected the tariff before goods could be landed, Tariffs were the largest source of federal revenue until the Federal income tax began after 1913. For well over a century the government was largely financed by tariffs averaging about 20% on foreign imports. There are no tariffs for imports or shipments from other states, since the 1940s, foreign trade policies have focused more on reciprocal tariffs and low tariff rates rather than using tariffs as a significant source of Federal tax revenue. The goal of using higher tariffs to promote industrialization was urged by the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton and they generally failed because Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democrats said the tariff should be only high enough to pay the governments bills, otherwise, it would hurt the consumers. The Republicans, however, made high tariffs the centerpiece of their economic policy beginning in 1861, since 1930, tariffs have not been a major political issue. Tariffs were the source of all Federal revenue from 1790 to 1914. At the end of the American Civil War in 1865 about 63% of Federal income was generated by the excise taxes, in 1915 during World War I tariffs generated only 30. 1% of revenues. Since 1935 tariff income has continued to be a percentage of Federal tax income. Constitution of 1789 gave the government authority to tax, stating that Congress has the power to. Lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, pay the debts and provide for the common defense, and also To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes. Tariffs between states is prohibited by the U. S. Constitution, and all domestically made products can be imported or shipped to another state tax-free. The tariff issue was central to political party debates in the Second Party System, Third Party System and Fourth Party System, in general Democrats favored a tariff that would pay the cost of government, but no higher. Whigs and Republicans favored higher tariffs to encourage or protect industry, Tariffs were generally low before 1860, and high after that. Since the 1930s, however, tariffs have been low and have been much less a matter of partisan debate. It should be noted that the adjacent table determines the average tariff by calculating the ratio of customs duties collected to the value of dutiable *and* duty-free items
6.
William Lyne Wilson
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William Lyne Wilson was an American politician and lawyer from West Virginia. A Bourbon Democrat, Wilson was elected to the United States Congress in 1882 and served six terms of office, after leaving government service Wilson was named President of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. William Lyne Wilson was born in Charles Town, Virginia on May 3,1843 and he attended Charles Town Academy, graduated from Columbian College, today part of George Washington University, from which he graduated in 1860. He subsequently studied at the University of Virginia, during the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served as a private in the 12th Virginia Cavalry. After the war, Wilson for several years, he taught school at Columbian College during which he graduated law school. He was admitted to the bar in 1869 and opened a practice in Charles Town. He was chosen as president of West Virginia University, taking office on September 4,1882, Wilson was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880. He was elected a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives shortly afterwards and won five times afterwards. After leaving Congress, Wilson was appointed Postmaster General in the cabinet of President Grover Cleveland, during that time, future Secretary of War Newton D. Baker served as his private secretary. After leaving office as Postmaster General, Wilson served as president of Washington, Wilson died in Lexington, Virginia, on October 17,1900 and was interred in Edgehill Cemetery in Charles Town. A portion of U. S. Route 340 between Harpers Ferry and Charles Town, West Virginia, is designated the William L. Wilson Freeway in his honor. Pensions Appropriation Bill, Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives, Tuesday, Washington, DC, U. S. Government Printing Office,1886. The Tariff, Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives, Washington, DC, U. S. Government Printing Office,1888. The National Democratic Party, Its History, Principles, Achievements, baltimore, MD, H. L. Harvey and Co.1888. The New Trial of Popular Government, An Address Delivered before the Society of the Alumni of the University of Virginia, on Commencement Day, June 1,1891. Duties on Wool and Woolen Goods, Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives, Thursday, Washington, DC, U. S. Government Printing Office,1892. The Tariff Plank at Chicago, North American Review, vol, the Income Tax on Corporations, North American Review, vol. The Tariff, Speech of Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, in the House of Representatives, Monday and Tuesday, Washington, DC, Capital Publishing Co.1894
7.
United States House of Representatives
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The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the Senate, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the House are established by Article One of the United States Constitution, since its inception in 1789, all representatives are elected popularly. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435, the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences. The House meets in the wing of the United States Capitol. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a body in which each state was equally represented. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates, the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention. The House is referred to as the house, with the Senate being the upper house. Both houses approval is necessary for the passage of legislation, the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, the Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4,1789. The House began work on April 1,1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, during the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives, However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, the war culminated in the Souths defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, the years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Unions victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877, the ensuing era, the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw an increase in the power of the Speaker of the House
8.
United States House Committee on Ways and Means
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The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Members of the Ways and Means Committee are not allowed to serve on any other House Committee unless they apply for a waiver from their partys congressional leadership. S, constitution requires that all bills regarding taxation must originate in the House of Representatives. Since House procedure is that all bills regarding taxation must go through committee, the committee is very influential, as is its Senate counterpart. Recent chairs have included Bill Thomas, Charlie Rangel, Sander Levin, on November 4,2015 Representative Kevin Brady of Texas was chosen to succeed Representative Paul Ryan as chairman. The Committee was first established during the first Congress, in 1789, however, this initial version was disbanded after only 8 weeks, for the next several years, only ad hoc committees were formed, to write up laws on notions already debated in the whole House. It was first established as a committee by resolution adopted December 21,1795. Upon its original creation, it held power over taxes and spending, until the spending power was given to the new Appropriations Committee in 1865. During the Civil War the key policy-maker in Congress was Thaddeus Stevens, as chairman of the Committee, Stevens was one of the major policymakers regarding Reconstruction, and obtained a House vote of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson. Hans Trefousse, his biographer, concludes that Stevens was one of the most influential representatives ever to serve in Congress. The House with his wit, knowledge of law, and sheer willpower. Three future presidents - James Polk, Millard Fillmore, and William McKinley - served as Committee Chairman, before the official roles of floor leader came about in the late 19th century, the Chairman of Ways and Means was considered the Majority Leader. The Chairman is one of very few Representatives to have office space within the Capitol building itself, because of its wide jurisdiction, Ways and Means has always been one of the most important committees with respect to impact on policy. Although it lacks the prospects for re-election help that comes with the Appropriations Committee, first, since its range is so broad, members with a wide array of policy concerns often seek positions, simply to be able to influence policy decisions. Second, given the array of interests that are affected by the committee. Until 1974, the Ways and Means Committee decided which chairmanships newly elected members of Congress would have, when Ways and Means chair Wilbur Mills career ended in scandal, Congressman Phillip Burton transferred the committees selection powers to a separate, newly created committee. There are six subcommittees in the 115th Congress, in 2011, the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support was renamed the Subcommittee on Human Resources, returning to the name it held prior to the 110th Congress. In 2015, the Select Revenue Measures was renamed the Subcommittee on Tax Policy, list of current United States House of Representatives committees H. Doc. 100-244, The Committee on Ways and Means a Bicentennial History 1789-1989 Official Committee web site
9.
United States Senate
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The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. S. From 1789 until 1913, Senators were appointed by the legislatures of the states represented, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The Senate chamber is located in the wing of the Capitol, in Washington. It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House, in the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise, there was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a Peoples House directly elected by the people, the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally, the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate, the name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the comment about the Senate, In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people. An agrarian law would take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation, landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority, the senate, therefore, ought to be this body, and to answer these purposes, the people ought to have permanency and stability. The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that states consent, the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two senators, but they are officials of the D. C. city government. The United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming and this means some citizens are effectively two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures
