Life of Thomas A. Hendricks.

Thomas A. Hendricks, the Democratic candidate for Vice-President, was born near the town of Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio, on September 7th, 1819, sixteen years after the admission of Ohio into the Union, and when the State of Indiana, of which he was to become the most distinguished representative, was not yet three years old. Less than nine months after the birth of Thomas, his father removed to Madison, then the chief city of Indiana, the home of his brother William, and from that time forward the history of our candidate is identified with Indiana.

The family is of "Scotch-Irish" origin. On the father's side, his people were from the North of Ireland, and the ancestral Hendricks, more than a century ago, settled in the Legonier Valley, Westmoreland county, Western Pennsylvania. A brook flowing into the Conemaugh is called to this day Hendricks' Run," and obtained that name from the fact that the settler of a hundred years ago put his wheel into it and utilized it first for milling purposes. The family grew in prosperity and respect, and Abraham, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, served in various public offices, and as a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania in the sessions of 1792-3, 1793-4, 1796-7 and 1797-8. Abraham had two sons, William and John, both of whom in early life emigrated from Pennsylvania to the growing West.

Four years before the colonies had thrown off the English yoke, the Thomson family, of pure Scotch blood, settled in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania, near Shippensburgh, Cumberland county. From that family has sprung distinguished men, and of the stock was Alexander Thomson, a jurist of renown, and Frank Thomson, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Jane Thomson, a sister of the jurist above named, and John Hendricks, a son of Abraham, the Pennsylvania legislator, met at the residence of Rev. Dr. Black in Pittsburgh, and the acquaintance there formed ended in marriage, the fruits of which was the birth of Thomas A. Hendricks.

William Hendricks, the elder brother of John, and, consequently, the uncle of Thomas A., had previous to the marriage of his brother removed to Cincinnati, where he engaged in the practice of law; subsequently, he removed to Indiana and quickly advanced to a leading position, being made a Representative in Congress, the second Governor of the State, and United States Senator. One of the counties named after him is an evidence of the esteem in which he was held by the people of that, then young, commonwealth. His brother John, with his bride, followed his track, and after a brief residence in Ohio, removed to Indiana, first settling near Madison, and two years later locating a farm which afterward became part of the site of Shelbyville, the county seat of Shelby county.

John Hendricks combined the pursuits of tanner and farmer, but, from his force of character, culture and commanding intellect, rather than from his occu

pations, became the foremost citizen of the community. The frontier home built by him of hewn logs, is still standing on the "Michigan turnpike." While young Tom was a boy, his father erected a story-and-a-half brick building a little north of the site of the hewn-log structure, and Tom drove the oxen for the transportation of the necessary material. The lad led the life of a farmer's boy (for his father soon abandoned the tanning business), working in the summer and attending school in the winter.

The home influences surrounding the subject of our sketch were of that kind out of which seem to have come nearly all the great and leading men of America —a strong and intelligent father, a superior and pious mother, the presiding genius of a peaceful home, where religion had set up a revered altar and in which life was guided by a strict adherence to a code of morals almost stern in its conformation to the Presbyterian creed. Moreover, it was a home in which the light of hospitality always burned and where the door stood ajar for all comers, whether he was the Methodist circuit rider, or the man of God with cowl and crucifix, the wayfarer seeking a new home in the forest of the west, or the vagrant whose recklessness made him a suppliant for the bounty of the more prudent. It was in such a home, and surrounded by such influences, that Thomas A. Hendricks grew, developed and waxed strong in mind and body.

The lad attended the village schools for a time and then a neighbor, John Robinson, living six miles distant, having secured an Eastern instructor to prepare his own boys for college, extended the advantages to his neighbors' boys. Young "Tom" Hendricks, having developed more aptitude for study than for tilling, eagerly embraced the opportunity and continued there until the school was broken up by the sudden departure of the teacher, but the instruction there received enabled him to enter Hanover College, located on the Ohio river, near Madison, seventy miles south of Shelbyville. A Presbyterian college, it was presided over by Dr. McMasters, brother of James McMasters, now editor of the Freeman's Journal, New York.

Graduating from Hanover College in 1841, he began the study of law with Judge Major, of Shelbyville, but a desire to visit the East induced him to accept the advantages of instruction in the office and a membership in the family of his uncle, Judge Thomson, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He returned to Indiana in 1843, with only one dollar and twenty-five cents in his pocket, one week too late for the regular fall examinations for admission to the bar, and was therefore put to the test of a special examination by the circuit judges. He was easily admitted. His early career did not differ much from a hundred other fledglings in a limited sphere, but it was noted that his diligence, upright bearing, and suavity of manner, builded early the foundations of that popularity which has been for so many years in Indiana his peculiar possession.

Four years after his admission to the bar, his political career was begun by his election to the legislature, and from that day until this he has been an active and conspicuous figure in the politics of his State. It was in 1848 that he was elected to the legislature, then only twenty-six years of age, being elected in a close contest over Captain Nathan Early, the issue being the party responsibility for the Mexican war. He served but one term, but long enough to impress the fact upon the people of the State that "a young man of great capacity and promise" had come upon the platform of affairs, and which resulted in his being .chosen to the State Constitutional Convention of 1850, called to revise and amend the fundamental law of the commonwealth at a time when Indiana wanted in council her ablest and purest men.

In 1851, the year subsequent, Mr. Hendricks was nominated for Congress in the Indianapolis district and was elected. So acceptably did he serve his constituents that he was renominated and re-elected. In the autumn of 1856, much against his inclination, he was nominated for a third term, and was defeated. His defeat has been erroneously attributed to his vote in favor of Douglas's Nebraska-Kansas bill, involving the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, but, as a matter of fact, it was during a period of transition, in which occurred the disintegration of the Whig party and the uprising of the Republicans, when there was much political movement and many theories. His opponent, once a Democrat, rallied to his support Free Soilers, Abolitio nists, Temperance men, Know Nothings, Whigs and everything else which was not Democratic; and in a time of political revolution he was beaten. Though he returned at once to the practice of the law, he was called again to public service, without solicitation either upon his part or that of his friends, by President Pierce, who appointed Mr. Hendricks Commissioner of the General Land Office. He administered the duties of this office for four years, earning a widespread national reputation, by reason of the ability with which he conducted the delicate and important affairs of the office.

In 1860, the Republicans nominated Henry S. Lane for Governor of Indiana; and the Democrats, casting about for their strongest name, chose that of Thomas A. Hendricks. This was another year of political revolution, and when Abraham Lincoln was elected President. Mr. Hendricks was defeated; but revolution followed upon revolution, and in 1862, while Hon. Oliver P. Morton was Governor, the Democrats obtained a majority in the Legislature. A United States Senator was to be chosen, and Thomas A. Hendricks was elected. His period of service, ending March, 1869, covered the last two years of the war and the four years of reconstruction. How nobly he stood for the application of Jeffersonian principles in these troublous times, how certain he was in his strokes of battle, and what influence for good he then exerted, are matters now the pride of Democrats whereever they are. In the resistance to the effort to remove Andrew Johnson by impeachment, Senator Hendricks played an important and able part.

At the close of his senatorial term, Senator Hendricks returned to Indiana to again enter upon his practice, bearing with him an honorable name earned in the service of his country and treasured by every Democrat in the broad land. In 1868, at the Democratic Convention in New York City, his name was presented as a candidate with eighteen others, and he, with General Hancock, led all the rest, the latter receiving on the twenty-first ballot 1351⁄2 and Senator Hendricks 132. On the twenty-second ballot Ohio suddenly presented the name of Horatio Seymour, with the result of his nomination.

In 1872 the Democratic party entered into a compact with the Liberal-Republican party and nominated Horace Greeley. Though Senator Hendricks doubted the advisability of the movement, yet he loyally followed the lead of his party, and his presence being demanded in the fore of battle in his own State, against his earnest protest he was nominated for Governor. Though Grant carried the State on the electoral ticket, Hendricks was elected by a majority of one thousand one hundred and forty-eight votes.

Two years as Governor and again Mr. Hendricks returned to private life. Two years later he passed into the most eventful period of his life. The Democratic National Convention met at St. Louis the 27th of June, 1876. On the first ballot Mr. Tilden received 4032 votes and Mr. Hendricks 1332. On the second ballot Mr. Tilden received 508 votes, and the first place being disposed of, the thoughts of the Convention turned to Governor Hendricks, and he was nominated for Vice

President by 730 votes out of 738. The events which followed are now a matter of history. After a stoutly contested and bitter campaign, Tilden and Hendricks were elected, having a majority of the popular vote and electoral college. By a shameless conspiracy, engaged in by the Leaders of the Republican party, the the people of the country were fraudulently deprived of their triumph at the polls. In this trying period Governor Hendricks bore himself with lofty patriotism, further increasing the regard felt for him.

Eight years rolled around and the representatives of Democracy in the greatest convention ever assembled, gathered together at Chicago, July 8th, 1884. There was a general demand for the old ticket of 1876. But the old chieftain, Tilden, was incapacitated by age for the leadership, and the convention selected the young champion of reform in the Empire State-Grover Cleveland, as his representative, and then, after a scene of unparalleled enthusiasm, demanded that Thomas A. Hendricks should a second time be nominated for Vice-President and a second time elected. True to his patriotic impulses he has accepted.

Governor Hendricks is a man now nearly sixty-five years old, vigorous and strong, in whom there is not an indication of decay either mentally or physically— a man of simple habits, with a graceful bearing and a manly, handsome face. Nature has endowed him with the elements of a true orator and upon the forum he is persuasive and winning, convincing and captivating. His long public career, beginning when twenty-six years of age, is studded with the evidences of his great ability, his singularly pure devotion to duty and his lofty and unswerving patriotism. He is a Democrat of the truest type and an ideal representative of American manhood.

Public Record of Thomas A. Hendricks.

Thomas A. Hendricks was but twenty-six years old when he began his public career in the Assembly of Indiana. He was nominated for that place by the Democrats of that county. His opponent was Captain Nathan Earlywine, whom he met in joint debate. Their discussion on Flat Rock is to-day a tradition of the community. Earlywine in the debate charged the Democrats with bringing on the Mexican war, and alleged that some time before Hendricks, in a private conversation, had admitted this, but boasted that he intended to shift the responsibility from the Democrats to the Whigs. Hendricks, who was in the audience, shouted out, "You know that's a lie !" For a time it looked as if the meeting would have a sudden and violent termination, but Mr. Hendricks took the stump and justified his declaration. Hendricks was elected. In the Legislature he soon made himself conspicuous by his opposition to the extension of the State Bank's branches and by the ability with which he urged his opposition. Notwithstanding the success he met with in his first venture in public life, he refused a renomination and returned to his practice.

Two years later (1850) by the wish of all parties and without opposition, he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention, to amend the Constitution of 1816. Robert Dale Owen, Judges Pettit and Biddle, W. S. Holman, and Schuyler Colfax had seats in the same Convention. Mr. Hendricks, who was on the Banking and Judiciary Committees, won such a reputation in the debates upon the important questions arising, that without effort upon his part, he became a leading candidate for the nomination for Congress in his district. There were many other candidates for the nomination, but upon the fifty-third ballot, Mr. Hendricks was nominated, and he was elected by a majority of more than three thousand.

The first term in Congress is rarely an eventful one to a new member, yet he satisfied his constituents, and they returned him by an increased majority. During his second term Douglass' Kansas-Nebraska bill was presented, and the discussion over it greatly excited the country. Mr. Hendricks voted with the bulk of his party. It has been urged that this vote defeated him for a third term in Congress, but it is certain that in thus casting his vote, he was in entire accord with the sentiment of his constituents. The fact is that it was a time of political revolution, and Lucien Barbour, his opponent, who had been a Democrat, was supported by all the elements which opposed the Democratic party, Free Soilers, Abolitionists, Temperance men, Know Nothings, Whigs, and what not. It was a time of the Know Nothing craze. During this campaign Mr. Hendricks made a speech, which, while an honor to his convictions and his democracy, in that time of senseless opposition to naturalized citizens, contributed somewhat to his defeat. This is what he said on that occasion :

"When the Democratic administration of Jefferson came in, liberal laws were enacted, and our young Republican said to the oppressed millions of Europe: