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'''John Tyler Morgan''' (born [[June 20]], [[1824]] in Athens, Tennessee; died [[June 11]], [[1907]] in Washington D.C.) was a Confederate general, Klan leader and six-term U.S. Senator. | '''John Tyler Morgan''' (born [[June 20]], [[1824]] in Athens, Tennessee; died [[June 11]], [[1907]] in Washington D.C.) was a Confederate general, Klan leader and six-term U.S. Senator. | ||
Morgan was educated at home by his mother until moving with the family to [[Calhoun County]] in [[1833]], where he began attending a local frontier school. He continued his education by reading law under his brother-in-law, Judge [[William Chilton]], in [[Tuskegee]]. Upon his admission to the [[Alabama State Bar]] he opened a practice in [[Talladega]]. After a decade, he relocated to Selma, and also opened an office in the former capital of Cahaba. | |||
Morgan was | |||
Morgan was an elector at the Southern Democrats' convention in Baltimore, Maryland that nominated John C. Breckenridge for president in [[1860 general election|1860]]. He was also a delegate to the [[Alabama Secession Convention]] of January [[1861]]. | |||
During the [[Civil War]] Morgan enlisted as a private in the Cahaba Rifles, and was assigned to the [[5th Alabama Infantry (CSA)|5th Alabama Infantry]]. He participated in the first Battle of Manassas and was later promoted to Major and then to Lieutenant Colonel under Robert E. Rodes. He resigned from service in [[1862]], but quickly returned to the war, helping organize the 51st Alabama Partisan Rangers and serving as its Colonel at the Battle of Murfreesborough. | |||
Morgan declined an offer to follow Rodes into the Army of Northern Virginia and remained in the west, commanding troops at the Battle of Chickamauga. He was promoted to Brigadier General, commanding the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th and 51st Alabama Cavalry regiments during the Knoxville Campaign. His forces were routed by Union cavalry on [[January 27]], [[1864]] and he was reassigned to the Atlanta Campaign, harassing federal troops under William T. Sherman during his "March to the Sea" across Georgia. Morgan spent the last days of the war attempting to organize former slaves into a home guard to oppose the depredations of occupation by Federal troops. | |||
<!--After the war, Morgan resumed the practicing of law in Selma, Alabama. After the death of [[James H. Clanton]] in 1872, Morgan succeeded him as the [[Grand Dragon]] of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in Alabama. He was once again presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1876 and was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the United States Senate in that year, being re-elected in 1882, 1888, 1894, 1900, and 1906, and serving from March 4, 1877, until his death. For much of his tenure, he served as Senator alongside a fellow former Confederate general, [[Edmund W. Pettus]]. | |||
Morgan advocated for separating blacks and whites in the U.S. by encouraging the migration of black people out of the U.S. south. Hochschild wrote, "at various times in his long career Morgan also advocated sending them [negroes] to Hawaii, to Cuba, and to the Philippines - which, perhaps because the islands were so far away, he claimed were a "native home of the negro." | |||
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Morgan also staunchly worked for the repeal of the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth Amendment]] to the [[U.S. Constitution]] that was intended to prevent the denial of [[voting rights]] based on race.<ref>[http://www.texasgop.org/site/DocServer/civil_rights_platform_comparison.pdf?docID=103 Democrats and Republicans: In Their Own Words] A 124 Year History of Major Civil Rights Efforts Based on a Side-by-Side Comparison of the Early Platforms of the Two Major Political Parties "According to prominent Democrat leader A. W. Terrell of Texas, the 15th Amendment was what he called "the political blunder of the century." Democratic U. S. Rep. Bourke Cockran of New York and Democratic U.S. Senator John Tyler Morgan of Alabama agreed with Terrell and were among the Democrats seeking a repeal of the 15th Amendment."</ref> | |||
He was chairman of [[United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration|Committee on Rules]] (Forty-sixth Congress), the [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Committee on Foreign Relations]] (Fifty-third Congress), the Committee on Interoceanic Canals (Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses), and the Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine (Fifty-ninth Congress). | |||
===Foreign policy=== | ===Foreign policy=== | ||
In 1887-1907 Morgan played a leading role on the [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|powerful Foreign Relations Committee.]] He called for a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Nicaragua, enlarging the merchant marine and the Navy, and acquiring Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba. He expected Latin American and Asian markets would become a new export market for Alabama's cotton, coal, iron, and timber. The canal would make trade with the Pacific much more feasible, and an enlarged military would protect that new trade. By 1905, most of his dreams had become reality, with of course the canal going tthrough Panama instead of Nicaragua.<ref>Joseph A. Fry, "John Tyler Morgan's Southern Expansionism," ''Diplomatic History'' (1985) 9#4 pp: 329-346.</ref> | In 1887-1907 Morgan played a leading role on the [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|powerful Foreign Relations Committee.]] He called for a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Nicaragua, enlarging the merchant marine and the Navy, and acquiring Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba. He expected Latin American and Asian markets would become a new export market for Alabama's cotton, coal, iron, and timber. The canal would make trade with the Pacific much more feasible, and an enlarged military would protect that new trade. By 1905, most of his dreams had become reality, with of course the canal going tthrough Panama instead of Nicaragua.<ref>Joseph A. Fry, "John Tyler Morgan's Southern Expansionism," ''Diplomatic History'' (1985) 9#4 pp: 329-346.</ref> | ||
Revision as of 16:43, 23 December 2015
John Tyler Morgan (born June 20, 1824 in Athens, Tennessee; died June 11, 1907 in Washington D.C.) was a Confederate general, Klan leader and six-term U.S. Senator.
Morgan was educated at home by his mother until moving with the family to Calhoun County in 1833, where he began attending a local frontier school. He continued his education by reading law under his brother-in-law, Judge William Chilton, in Tuskegee. Upon his admission to the Alabama State Bar he opened a practice in Talladega. After a decade, he relocated to Selma, and also opened an office in the former capital of Cahaba.
Morgan was an elector at the Southern Democrats' convention in Baltimore, Maryland that nominated John C. Breckenridge for president in 1860. He was also a delegate to the Alabama Secession Convention of January 1861.
During the Civil War Morgan enlisted as a private in the Cahaba Rifles, and was assigned to the 5th Alabama Infantry. He participated in the first Battle of Manassas and was later promoted to Major and then to Lieutenant Colonel under Robert E. Rodes. He resigned from service in 1862, but quickly returned to the war, helping organize the 51st Alabama Partisan Rangers and serving as its Colonel at the Battle of Murfreesborough.
Morgan declined an offer to follow Rodes into the Army of Northern Virginia and remained in the west, commanding troops at the Battle of Chickamauga. He was promoted to Brigadier General, commanding the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th and 51st Alabama Cavalry regiments during the Knoxville Campaign. His forces were routed by Union cavalry on January 27, 1864 and he was reassigned to the Atlanta Campaign, harassing federal troops under William T. Sherman during his "March to the Sea" across Georgia. Morgan spent the last days of the war attempting to organize former slaves into a home guard to oppose the depredations of occupation by Federal troops.