MORTON, Oliver Perry, statesman, born in Sauisbury, Wayne County, Indiana, 4 August, 1823; died in Indianapolis, Indiana, 1 November, 1877. His father, a native of New Jersey, whose ancestors came from England with Roger Williams, dropped the first syllable in the family name of Throckmorton. At the age of fifteen the son was taken from school and indentured to a brother, who was a hatter. After working at this trade four years he determined to fit himself for the bar, spent two years at Miami university, studied law at Centreville, and began practice there in 1847. He soon attained professional eminence, and was elected a circuit judge in 1852, but at the end of a year, when his term expired by the adoption of a new state constitution, he willingly left the bench, and before resuming practice spent a year at a law-school in Cincinnati. Having been a Democrat with anti-slavery convictions, he entered into the people's movement in 1854, took an active part in the formation of the Republican party, and was a delegate to the Pittsburgh convention the same year, and the candidate of the new party for governor, in a joint canvass with Ashbel P. Willard, the Democratic nominee, he established a reputation for political ability, but was beaten at the polls, and returned to his law practice.

In 1860 he was nominated for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Henry S. Lane, and during the canvass took strong ground in favor of exacting from the southern states obedience to the constitution. Upon convening, the legislature elected Governor Lane United States senator, and on 16 January, 1861, Mr. Morton took the oath as governor. He opposed every compromise with the Secessionist party, nominated to the Peace congress men of equally pronounced views, began to prepare for the coming conflict before Fort Sumter was fired upon, and when President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers he offered to send 10,000 from Indiana. The state's quota was raised at once. He reconvened the legislature on 24 April, obtained authority to borrow $2,006,000, and displayed great energy and ability in placing troops in the field and providing for their care and sustenance. He gave permission to citizens of Indiana to raise troops in Kentucky, allowed Kentucky regiments to be recruited from two of the southern counties, procured arms for the volunteer bodies enlisted for the defense of Kentucky, and by thus co-operating with the Unionists in that state did much toward establishing the ascendancy of the National government within its borders. When the question of the abolition of slavery arose, the popular majority no longer upheld the governor in his support of the National administration.

In 1862 a Democratic legislature was chosen, which refused to receive the governor's message, and was on the point of taking from him the command of the militia, when the Republican members withdrew, leaving both houses without a quorum. In order to carry on the state government and pay the state bonds, he obtained advances from banks and county boards, and appointed a bureau of finance, which, from April, 1863, till January, 1865, made all disbursements of the state, amounting to more than $1,000,000. During this period he refused to summon the legislature. The supreme court condemned this arbitrary course, but the people subsequently applauded his action, and the state assumed the obligations that he incurred. The draft laws provoked the Secessionists in Indiana to form secret organizations and commit outrages on Union men. They plotted against the life of Governor Morton and arranged a general insurrection, to take place in August, 1864. The governor discovered their plans and arrested the leaders of the Knights of the golden circle, or Sons of liberty, as the association was called.

In 1864 he was nominated for governor, and defeated Joseph E. McDonald by 20,883 votes, after an animated joint canvass. He resigned in January, 1867, to take his sent in the United States senate, to which he was re-elected in 1873. In the senate he was chairman of the committee on privileges and elections and the leader of the Republicans, and for several years he exercised a determining influence over the political course of the party. On the question of reconstruction he supported the severest measures toward the south-era states and their citizens. He labored zealously to secure the passage of the 15th amendment to the constitution, was active in the impeachment proceedings against President Johnson, and was the trusted adviser of the Republicans of the south. After supporting the Santo Domingo treaty he was offered the English mission by President Grant, but declined, lest his state should send a Democrat to succeed him in the senate. At the Republican National convention in 1876 Mr. Morton, in the earlier ballots, received next to the highest number of votes for the presidential nomination. He was a member of the electoral commission of 1877. After having a paralytic stroke in 1865 he was never again able to stand without support, yet there was no abatement in his power as a debater or in the effectiveness of his forcible popular oratory. Immediately after his return from Europe, whither he had gone to consult specialists in nervous diseases, he delivered, in 1866, a political speech, of which more than 1,000,000 copies were circulated in pamphlet-form. After visiting Oregon in the spring of 1877 as chairman of a senatorial committee to investigate the election of Lafayette Grover, he had another attack of paralysis, and (tied soon after reaching his home. See "Life and Public Services of Oliver Perry Morton" (Indianapolis, 1876).  - Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 Virtualology