George Franklin Edmunds (February 1, 1828 – February 27, 1919) was an American attorney and Republican politician who represented the state of Vermont in the United States Senate from 1866 to 1891. He was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1880 and 1884 as a leading representative of New England and of the faction favoring civil service reform.
Edmunds was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1866, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Solomon Foot. He was subsequently elected by the Vermont General Assembly, and reelected in 1868, 1874, 1880, and 1886 before resigning in November 1891. As a longtime member of the U.S. Senate, he served in a variety of leadership posts, including chairman of the committees on Pensions, the Judiciary, Private Land Claims, and Foreign Relations. He was also the leader of the Senate Republicans as President pro tempore of the Senate and chairman of the Republican Conference. Edmunds was an unsuccessful candidate for president at the 1880 and 1884 Republican National Conventions.
George F. Edmunds was born in Richmond, Vermont on February 1, 1828, the son of Ebenezer Edmunds and Naomi (Briggs) Edmunds.[1] He attended the local schools and was privately tutored.[1] Edmunds began studying law as a teenager, spending time in both the office of his brother-in-law Aaron B. Maynard and the office of David A. Smalley and Edward J. Phelps.[1] He was admitted to the bar as soon as he was eligible in 1849.[1] He practiced in Burlington, and became active in politics by serving in local offices including Town Meeting Moderator.[2][3][4] While practicing law, one of the students who studied under him was Russell S. Taft, who later served as Lieutenant Governor and as Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.[5]
After the death of U.S. SenatorSolomon Foot in March 1866, GovernorPaul Dillingham was expected to appoint someone from the west side of the Green Mountains, in keeping with the Republican Party's Mountain Rule.[8][9] He first considered former Governor J. Gregory Smith.[8] When Smith indicated that he would not accept, Dillingham turned to Edmunds, who had favorably impressed Dillingham during their service together in the State Senate, and whose residence in Burlington was on the west side of the state.[8] Edmunds subsequently won reelection in 1868, 1874, 1880 and 1886, and served from April 1866 until resigning in November 1891.[8]
Although considering himself devoted to the principles of the Republican Party,[11] like most congressional "Half-Breeds", Edmunds staunchly supported civil service reform.[12] This was opposed by the conservative "Stalwart" faction, who supported maintaining the spoils system as a way to reward political supporters and punish political enemies.[13]
While serving in Congress he continued to practice law, as did many other members of Congress at the time. He held retainers from railroads and other corporations, including those which could be affected by Senate action.[19][20] In 1921, former Senator Richard F. Pettigrew published an autobiography in which he condemned Edmunds as a "senatorial bribe-taker" and "distinctly dishonest" for having accepted corporate retainers while a senator.[21]
An acerbic debater, he often favored the status quo or slow progress. He was known for making his colleagues feel the sting of his criticisms, and some thought him better at merely opposing than offering constructive alternatives. David Davis joked that he could make Edmunds vote against any measure by simply phrasing the request for votes in the New England town meeting way: "Contrary-minded will say no."[22] One friend trying to interest him in a presidential bid pleaded, "But, Edmunds, think how much fun you would have vetoing bills."[23]
Edmunds took special delight in goading southern senators into blurting out statements that would embarrass the Democratic Party. To those southerners opposed to any federal role in protecting blacks' right to vote, Edmunds seemed the epitome of Yankee evil. One southern correspondent in 1880 wrote, "When I look at that man sitting almost alone in the Senate, isolated in his gloom of hate and bitterness, stern, silent, watchful, suspicious and pitiless, I am reminded of the worst types of Puritan character... You see the impress of the purer persecuting spirit that burned witches, drove out Roger Williams, hounded Jonathan Edwards for doing his sacred duty, maligned Jefferson, and like a toad squatted at the ear of the Constitution it had failed to pervert."[24]
Friendship with Allen G. Thurman
In spite of contempt from many Democratic colleagues, Edmunds formed friendships from across the aisle. One Democrat with no reason to appreciate him wrote a colleague that among all the Republicans, "Edmunds made the most impression upon me. I couldn't help admiring his clear and incisive way of putting a question, although it appeared to me that his manner is occasionally very irritating. This manner of his is very much that of a lawyer employed as counsel in a case, who therefore makes ex parte statements, and thinks it fair to make all manner of allegations."[25] His closest friend in the chamber for many years was the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Allen G. Thurman of Ohio.[26]
Edmunds and Thurman shared similar reformist attitudes. When Edmunds ran for president in 1884, the other candidates included the eventual Republican nominee, James G. Blaine, a Half-Breed. During the campaign, Edmunds touted his alliance with Thurman, which in turn was cited as a positive quality by cartoonist Thomas Nast, an anti-Blaine Mugwump and illustrator for Harper's Weekly.[27] At Thurman's death in 1895, Edmunds spoke highly of the former Ohio senator as "brave in his convictions."[28]
Presidential campaigns
1880 campaign
Edmunds was a candidate for president at the 1880 Republican National Convention. Nominated by Frederick H. Billings, he received 34 votes on the first ballot, carrying Vermont and Massachusetts. His support remained at 31 or 32 votes through the 29th ballot, after which his supporters began to trend towards eventual nominee James A. Garfield.[29][30]
Revelations about Edmunds's legal work for railroads and corporations while sitting in the Senate prevented Edmunds from attaining wide support from reformers. On the first ballot he received 93 votes, once again carrying Vermont and Massachusetts, along with Rhode Island, a significant minority in New York, and scattered delegates from throughout the West. His support declined, however, and the nomination went to Blaine on the fourth ballot.
After the convention, many Edmunds supporters backed Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland, earning them the nickname "Mugwumps". Edmunds himself refused support for Blaine, who ultimately narrowly lost the general election.
Although Blaine was the leader of the Half-Breeds, he was viewed with suspicion and distrust by Edmunds, who believed that a true Half-Breed must support civil service reform.[12] Indeed, Blaine's inclinations in the late 1870s were closer to that of the Stalwarts, evident in his hostility towards civil service reform and the policies pursued by Half-Breed Rutherford B. Hayes.[31]
It is my deliberate opinion that Senator Blaine acts as the attorney of Jay Gould. Whenever [Allen G. Thurman] and I have settled upon legislation to bring the Pacific Railroad to terms of equity with the government, up has jumped Mr. James G. Blaine musket in hand, from behind the breastworks of Jay Gould’s lobby to fire in our faces.
1886 re-election
Edmunds' refusal to support Blaine consequentially led to immense opposition from Republicans who pushed to deny him re-election in the 1886 midterms. A supporter of Blaine said of the Vermont senator:[11]
Do you believe, [Edmunds] sulked during the campaign of 1884, and refused to assist the party that gave him all the eminence he ever had as a statesman, and thereby on account of his personal dislike to James G. Blaine refused to contribute his support. . . There are honest, intelligent Republicans who believe he is guilty.
— Blaine supporter Daniel Tarbell
When the election drew closer, newspapers covering the race became either increasingly supportive or opposing towards Edmunds.[11] The Vermont Watchman, which was noted for defending his stance on Blaine in 1884, turned the other direction and harshly attacked Edmunds. A number of smaller papers split, and the Burlington Free Press affirmed its support for the incumbent senator.[11]
Blaine himself held a strong contempt for Edmunds, and many of the former's supporters likely financed the movement to oust him.[11] Despite such a fierce effort, Edmunds ultimately retained his seat[32] when the state legislature soundly re-elected him.
At Arthur's funeral in 1886, Edmunds extended his hand to Blaine. Blaine, recalling the 1884 campaign, refused to shake it.[33][34][35]
Edmunds Elementary and Middle Schools in Burlington, which share a complex, opened as the city's high school in 1900 on land donated by Edmunds, and became a middle and elementary grades facility in 1964.[43][44]
The Vermont Historical Society maintains the George F. Edmunds Fund, which awards an annual prize for student research and writing on Vermont history.[47]
His birthplace in Richmond, Vermont is a privately owned residence and farm, and marked by a Vermont Historic Sites Commission sign.[48]
^Arrington, Todd (November 2012). "Stalwarts, Half Breeds, and Political Assassination". National Park Service: James A Garfield National Historic Site. Washington, DC: United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
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