Lewis & Clark College

Thurman, Allen G.

Allen Granberry Thurman was a Democratic Representative, Ohio Supreme Court justice, and Senator from Ohio, as well as the nominee of the Democratic Party for Vice President of the United States in 1888. Both his parents were teachers; his father also a Methodist minister. In 1815, his parents emancipated their slaves and moved to Chillicothe, Ohio. He attended the academy run by his mother, and then studied law as an apprentice to his uncle, William Allen (who later became a Senator from Ohio). At the age of eighteen, Thurman worked on a land survey, and at twenty-one became private secretary to the Governor of Ohio, Robert Lucas. In 1835 he was admitted to the Ohio bar and became his uncle's law partner. In 1837 his uncle entered the Senate. On November 14, 1844, Thurman married Mary Dun Thomplins (or Tompkins), and they were the parents of three children. Congressman The same year he was elected to the House of Representatives as its youngest member. He generally supported the majority of the Democrats on all issues except internal improvements, on which he tended to vote with the Whigs. He supported the Polk Administration's conduct of the Mexican-American War, spoke in favor of the 54°40' northern limit to the Oregon territory, and voted for the Wilmot Proviso, which would have banned slavery from the territory gained from Mexico. In 1851 he was elected to a four-year term on the Ohio Supreme Court, the last year as the chief justice. He then returned to private law practice in Columbus. He never accepted the right of a state to secede, but he felt it was unwise to fight a state that had already left the Union, so during the American Civil War, he was opposed to Lincoln's policies. In 1867, he ran for Governor of Ohio, on a platform opposed to extending suffrage to blacks, but lost to Rutherford B. Hayes in a close election. The Ohio voters chose a Democratic state legislature, however, which selected Thurman as Senator for the term beginning in 1869. During the twelve years he served in the Senate, he became the leader of the Democrats in that body. He was known for constant hard work,good preparation, and courteous treatment of his opponents, and other members ranked him among the top three senators of his time, in terms of ability.

Politicians

1877

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Nineteenth Century Political Party Photograph Collection