George H. Pendleton | |
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United States Senator from Ohio |
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In office March 4, 1879 – March 4, 1885 |
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Preceded by | Thomas S. Matthews |
Succeeded by | Henry B. Payne |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 1st district |
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In office March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1865 |
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Preceded by | Timothy C. Day |
Succeeded by | Benjamin Eggleston |
Member of the Ohio Senate from the 1st district | |
In office January 2, 1854 – January 6, 1856 |
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Preceded by | Edwin L. Armstrong Adam N. Riddle John L. Vattier |
Succeeded by | Stanley Matthews George H. Holmes William F. Converse |
Personal details | |
Born |
George Hunt Pendleton July 19, 1825 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | November 24, 1889 Brussels, Belgium |
(aged 64)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Alice Key Pendleton (née Key) |
Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
George Hunt Pendleton (July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. Nicknamed "Gentleman George" for his demeanor, he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States during the Civil War in 1864, running as a peace Democrat with war Democrat George B. McClellan; they lost to Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He is best known as the principal author of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883.
Pendleton was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the son of Nathanael Greene Pendleton and attended the local schools and Cincinnati College and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Pendleton studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1847 and commenced practice in Cincinnati. He married Alice Key, the daughter of Francis Scott Key, in 1846, and had four children:
He was a member of the Ohio Senate from 1854 to 1856. In 1854 he ran unsuccessfully for the Thirty-fourth United States Congress. Three years later he was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth Congress and also succeeded in being reelected to the three following Congresses (March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1865). During his time in the House of Representatives, he was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1862 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against West H. Humphreys, United States judge for several districts of Tennessee. He was a leader of the peace faction of the Democratic party, with close ties to the Copperheads. He voted against the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude.