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George Henry Williams (March 26, 1823April 4, 1910) was an American judge and politician. He served as Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, was the 32nd Attorney General of the United States, and was elected Oregon's U.S. Senator, and served one term. Williams, as U.S. Senator, authored and supported legislation that allowed the U.S. military to be deployed in Reconstruction southern states to allow for an orderly process of readmittance into the United States. Williams was the first presidential Cabinet member to be appointed from the Pacific Coast. As attorney general under President Ulysses S. Grant, Williams continued the prosecutions that shut down the Ku Klux Klan. He had to contend with controversial election disputes in Reconstructed southern states. President Grant and Williams legally recognized P. B. S. Pinchback as the first African American state governor. Williams ruled that the ''Virginius'', a gun-running ship captured by Spain during the Virginius Affair, did not have the right to bear the U.S. flag. However, he argued that Spain did not have the right to execute American crew members. Nominated for Supreme Court Chief Justice by President Grant, Williams failed to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate primarily due to Williams' removal of A. C. Gibbs United States District Attorney at Portland, Oregon.〔 〕 In 1875, Williams resigned as U.S. Attorney General under the controversy of his wife allegedly taking payment money from the custom house firm ''Pratt & Boyd'' in order to drop litigation by the U.S. Justice Department.〔 After his resignation, Williams took part in counting Florida ballots for Rutherford B. Hayes in settling the controversial presidential election of 1876. Williams returned to Oregon, resumed private law practice, and was elected Portland's mayor, serving two terms from 1902 to 1905. Williams advocated women's suffrage and that marriage and divorce proceedings needed to be handled by the civil courts rather than the church. Williams, at the age of 83, was indicted while Mayor of Portland for not enforcing gambling restriction statutes; he was acquitted and served out the rest of his term as mayor. On May 28, 1905, Mayor Williams made a speech at the opening ceremony of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. Williams was the second to last surviving cabinet member of the Grant Administration. ==Early life and law career== George Henry Willams was born in upstate New York, New Lebanon, Columbia County, on March 26, 1823.〔Yamhill County Circuit Court, Oregon Judicial Department (2009)〕 At an early age his family moved to Onondaga County, where was educated in public and private schools, including ''Pompey Academy''; he did not attend college.〔〔 Williams studied law under Honorable Daniel Scott having passed the bar in 1844 at the age of 21. In the same year Williams moved west, and practiced law in the Iowa Territory.〔 After Iowa was admitted to statehood, Williams was appointed district judge in 1847, serving until 1852.〔 In 1853, Williams was appointed Chief Justice of the Oregon Territory by President Franklin Pierce. In 1857, at the Oregon Constitutional Convention, Williams urged that slavery be made illegal in Oregon as a requirement for statehood. Williams advocated unsuccessfully that women's property not be subject to their husband's debts.〔 In the early years of the Oregon Supreme Court, the three justices also rode circuit and acted as trial level judges. As a presiding judge while riding circuit, Williams presided over the ''Holmes v. Ford'' case that freed a slave family since slavery was illegal in the territory.〔 〕 In 1857, he was a member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention held before the establishment of Oregon as a U.S. state. Williams remained on the court until 1858 when he resigned from the bench.〔(Oregon Blue Book: Supreme Court Justices of Oregon )〕 He then moved to Portland, Oregon, where he resumed the practice of law.〔Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956.〕 Williams, a Democrat, supported Stephen Douglas during the Presidential Election of 1860. Williams attended the Oregon Union convention of 1862, having opposed slavery, and was the chairman of the Election Committee. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Henry Williams」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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