Lewis & Clark College

Wade, Ben

Benjamin Franklin "Bluff" Wade was a United States Senator during Civil War reconstruction known for his leading role among the Radical Republicans. Had the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868 led to a conviction at trial in the Senate, he would have become the 18th President of the United States. Wade was born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, on October 27, 1800 to Mary and James Wade. After being admitted to the bar in 1828, he began practicing law in Jefferson, Ohio. Wade formed a partnership with Joshua Giddings, a prominent anti-slavery figure, in 1831. He became the prosecuting attorney of Ashtabula County by 1836, and as a member of the Whig Party, Wade was elected to the Ohio State Senate, serving two two-year terms between 1837 and 1842. He established a new law practice with Rufus P. Ranney and was elected presiding judge of the third district in 1847. Between 1847 and 1851, Wade was a judge of common pleas in what is now Summit County (Ohio). After the decline of the Whigs' power, Wade joined the Republican Party, and in 1851 he was elected by his legislature to the United States Senate. There, he associated witl Radical Republicans. He fought against the controversial Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was one of the most radical politicians in America at that time, supporting women's suffrage, trade union rights, and equality for African-Americans. During the American Civil War, Wade was highly critical of President Abraham Lincoln, and was especially angry when Lincoln was slow to recruit African-Americans into the armies. He actively advocated for the bill that abolished slavery and had a direct hand in the passing of the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Morrill Land Grand Act of 1862.

Politicians

1877

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Nineteenth Century Political Party Photograph Collection