Favorable or Unfavorable #217: David Davis

[vcczar]

David Davis of IL, despite orchestrating Lincoln's rise to the presidency, was fairly independent even when registered with a party. He was religiously unaffiliated and was probably agnostic, although he made no clear statement on religion. He was also probably the fattest SC justice, appearing much larger than Taft. His 1876 action is needs some explaining. He declined to serve because he was about to become a US Sen and a Republican was appointed in his place. It is possible that Davis could have swung the election to Tilden had he stayed, although apparently no one knew who Tilden preferred or what he thought about the election. 

Part of his strategy to get Lincoln elected was to fill the spectator balconies with as many IL citizens as possible (convention being in Chicago helped), and shutting out people from other states as much as possible. This is so the cheers for Lincoln would blast out cheers for anyone else, making it seem like Lincoln was the people's choice.

His actions:

Davis, David	1860	Lincoln's campaign manager who was vital in strategizing Lincoln's nomination
Davis, David	1862	Confirmed to the SC for Lincoln
Davis, David	1865	Administrator of Lincoln's estate following assassination
Davis, David	1866	Writes majority opinion of landmark Ex parte Milligan
Davis, David	1872	Lib Rep pres candidate
Davis, David	1873	Does not rejoin GOP or Dems (stays ind) following collapse of Lib Reps
Davis, David	1876	Helped establish the Commission to decide the winner of contested Pres election, but declines to serve once established
Davis, David	1877	Resigns from SC to take a US Sen seat for IL
Davis, David	1881	As Senate Pres Pro Tempore next in line for pres when Arthur takes over for slain Garfield

[Pringles]

1 hour ago, vcczar said:

Part of his strategy to get Lincoln elected was to fill the spectator balconies with as many IL citizens as possible (convention being in Chicago helped), and shutting out people from other states as much as possible. This is so the cheers for Lincoln would blast out cheers for anyone else, making it seem like Lincoln was the people's choice.

I remember reading about this. Such a great idea/funny. Lol. 

[OrangeP47]

3 minutes ago, Pringles said:

I remember reading about this. Such a great idea/funny. Lol. 

IL politics of the era was quite entertaining, and often Lincoln was involved, at least tangentially.  There was another case where some state legislators got thrown out of a window at the state capital in Springfield (no one was hurt) and people started calling it "The Defenestration of Springfield" I guess mockingly after the Defenestration of Prague.

[Pringles]

6 minutes ago, OrangeP47 said:

IL politics of the era was quite entertaining, and often Lincoln was involved, at least tangentially.  There was another case where some state legislators got thrown out of a window at the state capital in Springfield (no one was hurt) and people started calling it "The Defenestration of Springfield" I guess mockingly after the Defenestration of Prague.

Here’s another funny one, I read it in Meacham’s biography on Lincoln. In the 1840s when he was a state legislator, there was some controversial vote, and in order to prevent a Quorum, Lincoln jumped out of a window and ran. He knew they couldn’t catch him and compel him to attend. 😂

[OrangeP47]

5 minutes ago, Pringles said:

Here’s another funny one, I read it in Meacham’s biography on Lincoln. In the 1840s when he was a state legislator, there was some controversial vote, and in order to prevent a Quorum, Lincoln jumped out of a window and ran. He knew they couldn’t catch him and compel him to attend. 😂

I think that may or may not have been the same incident haha.  I can't find the specific citation or I would have linked it, but it was probably from one of the tours around here, and there's so many Lincoln or Lincoln-esque museums/tours it's hard to keep track.