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Roscoe Conkling (October 30, 1829April 18, 1888) was a politician from New York who served both as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. He was the leader of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party, the first Republican senator from New York to be elected for three terms, and the last person to refuse a U.S. Supreme Court appointment after he had already been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. While in the House, Representative Conkling served as body guard for Representative Thaddeus Stevens, a sharp-tongued anti slavery representative, and fully supported the Republican War effort. Conkling, who was temperate and detested tobacco, was known for being a body builder through regularly exercising and boxing. Conkling was elected to the Senate in 1867 as a leading Radical, who supported the rights of African Americans during Reconstruction. As leader of the Stalwarts, Conkling controlled patronage at the New York Customs House. Although Senator Conkling was supported by President Ulysses S. Grant, Conkling did not support Grant's Civil Service Commission reform initiative. Conkling also refused to accept Grant's nomination of him as Chief Justice of the United States, believing his talents belonged in the Senate. The control over patronage led to a bitter conflict between Senator Conkling and President Rutherford B. Hayes. Conkling also opposed Hayes' appointment of William M. Evarts as Secretary of State. Conkling publicly led opposition to President Hayes' attempt to administer Civil Service Reform at the New York Customs House. In 1880, Conkling supported Ulysses S. Grant for President; however, James A. Garfield was nominated and elected President. Conkling's conflict with President Garfield over New York Customs House patronage led to his resignation from the Senate in May 1881. After Garfield's assassination in 1881, Vice President Chester A. Arthur became President. When President Arthur offered his friend Conkling an associate justiceship on the Supreme Court, Conkling accepted the offer and was approved by the Senate. Conkling, however, changed his mind and refused to serve. He practiced law in New York until his death in 1888. ==Early life== Conkling was born on October 30, 1829 in Albany, New York to Alfred Conkling, a U.S. Representative and federal judge and his wife Eliza Cockburn (cousin of the late Lord Chief-Justice Sir Alexander Cockburn of England). Raised in an atmosphere of law and politics, early associations with notable figures of the day (including former presidents Martin Van Buren and John Quincy Adams) left an impression on young Roscoe. However, described by his father as "utterly untutored" and a "romping boy," Roscoe (age thirteen at the time) was left in the care of Professor George W. Clarke at the Mount Washington Collegiate Institute in New York City so that he may "be trained to studious habits." 〔 Alfred Ronald Conkling, ''The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling, Orator, Statesman, Advocate'' (New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1889), p. 11-13. 〕 While constantly referring to a 1787 British textbook titled "The Art of Speaking," which emphasized the importance of facial action and gesture, Roscoe and his older brother took lessons in diction from an English professor named Harvey and delivered speeches to each other for practice's sake. Roscoe then entered the Auburn Academy in 1843, where he remained for three years.〔 A.R. Conkling, "Life and Letters," pp. 11-13. 〕 Even as a schoolboy, Roscoe's intimidating appearance and intellect demanded attention. As a childhood friend describes him, young Roscoe was "as large and massive in his mind as he was in his frame, and accomplished in his studies precisely what he did in his social life — a mastery and command which his companions yielded to him as due."〔 A.R. Conkling, "Life and Letters," pp. 14. 〕 At the age of seventeen, Roscoe opted to forego a college education in favor of studying law under Joshua A. Spencer and Kernan in Utica, New York. Roscoe immediately made an impression upon his preceptors. When asked to supply a Whig orator who could stand up to Democratic bullies at a local village meeting, Spencer's response was "I shall send Mr. Conkling; I think he will make himself heard." 〔 A.R. Conkling, "Life and Letters," pp. 16. 〕 Quickly integrating himself into the "society" in Utica, Roscoe certainly made himself heard on a variety of issues, especially those concerning human rights. For example, though only eighteen at the time, Roscoe's deep sympathy for the sufferers of the Great Famine in Ireland led him to speak on behalf of victims of starvation at various venues in Central New York. Additionally, as Theodore M. Pomeroy recalls, even fifteen years before the Civil War Roscoe displayed a deep abhorrence for slavery, or as he described it, "man's inhumanity to man." 〔 A.R. Conkling, "Life and Letters," pp. 16-17. 〕 He married Julia Catherine Seymour, sister of the Democratic politician and Governor of New York Horatio Seymour. His first political endeavor came in 1848, when he made campaign speeches in behalf of Taylor and Fillmore. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and in the same year became district attorney of Oneida County by appointment of Governor Fish. 〔 Henry Scott Wilson, "Distinguished American Lawyers: With Their Struggles and Triumphs in the Forum," (New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1891), p. 190. 〕 In 1852 he returned to Utica, where in the next few years he established a reputation as a lawyer of ability. Up to 1852, in which year he stumped New York State for General Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate for the presidency, Conkling was identified with the Whig Party, but in the movement that resulted in the organization of the Republican Party he took an active part, and his work, both as a political manager and an orator, contributed largely toward carrying New York in 1856 for Frémont and Dayton, the Republican nominees. 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「Roscoe Conkling」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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