Alexander Ramsey

Alexander Ramsey
34th United States Secretary of War
In office
December 10, 1879 – March 5, 1881
President Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded by George W. McCrary
Succeeded by Robert Lincoln
United States Senator
from Minnesota
In office
March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1875
Preceded by Henry Rice
Succeeded by Samuel J. R. McMillan
2nd Governor of Minnesota
In office
January 2, 1860 – July 10, 1863
Lieutenant Ignatius L. Donnelly
Preceded by Henry Sibley
Succeeded by Henry Swift
5th Mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota
In office
1855–1856
Preceded by David Olmsted
Succeeded by George Becker
1st Governor of Minnesota Territory
In office
June 1, 1849 – May 15, 1853
Appointed by Zachary Taylor
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Willis A. Gorman
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 14th district
In office
March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1847
Preceded by James Irvin
Succeeded by George Eckert
Personal details
Born (1815-09-08)September 8, 1815
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died April 22, 1903(1903-04-22) (aged 87)
St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Political party Whig (Before 1857)
Republican (1857—1903)
Spouse(s) Anna Jenks
Education Lafayette College

Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815 – April 22, 1903) was an American politician. He served as a Whig and Republican over a variety of offices between the 1840s and the 1880s. He was the first Minnesota and Wisconsin Territorial Governor.

Early years and family

Born in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania on September 8, 1815,[1] Alexander was the eldest of five children of Thomas Ramsey and Elizabeth Kelker (also Kölliker or Köllker).[2] His father was a blacksmith who committed suicide[3] at age 42[4] when he went bankrupt in 1826,[1] after signing for a note of a friend.[2] Alexander lived with his uncle in Harrisburg, after his family split up to live with relatives.[2] His brother was Justus Cornelius Ramsey, who served in the Minnesota Territorial Legislature.[5]

Ramsey first studied carpentry at Lafayette College but left during his third year. He read law with Hamilton Alricks, and attended Reed's law School in Carlisle (now Pennsylvania State University - Dickinson Law) in 1839. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1839.[2]

In 1844 Ramsey married Anna Earl Jenks, daughter of Michael Hutchinson Jenks, and they had three children. Only one daughter, Marion, survived past childhood.[2]

Biography

Alexander Ramsey was elected from Pennsylvania as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the 28th and 29th congresses from March 4, 1843 to March 3, 1847. He served as the first Territorial Governor of Minnesota from June 1, 1849 to May 15, 1853 as a member of the Whig Party.

Ramsey's house in Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1960

Ramsey was of Scottish and German ancestry.[6] In 1855, he became the mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota. Ramsey was elected the second Governor of Minnesota after statehood and served from January 2, 1860 to July 10, 1863. Ramsey is credited with being the first Union governor to commit troops during the American Civil War. He happened to be in Washington, D.C. when fighting broke out. When he heard about the firing on Ft. Sumter he went straight to the White House and offered Minnesota's services to Abraham Lincoln.

He resigned the governorship to become a U.S. Senator, having been elected to that post in 1863 as a Republican. He was re-elected in 1869 and held the office until March 3, 1875, serving in the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, and 43rd congresses.

Ramsey is also noted for his statements calling for the killing or removal of specific Native Americans, chiefly the Sioux (Dakota) people that lived in the state of Minnesota. These statements came in response to attacks by the Sioux on American settlements, resulting in the death of not less than 800 men, women and children, as mentioned in Abraham Lincoln's Second Annual Message on December 1, 1862.[7] Ramsey declared on September 9, 1862: "The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state."[8] He went as far as offering money for scalps of Dakotas.[9]

Ramsey served as Secretary of War from 1879 to 1881, under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Legacy

The Minnesota Historical Society preserves his home, the Alexander Ramsey House as a museum. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Alexander Ramsey Park, located in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, is the largest municipal park in Minnesota. Ramsey County, Minnesota,[10] Ramsey County, North Dakota, the city of Ramsey, Minnesota, the city of Ramsey, Illinois,[11] Ramsey Park in Stillwater, Minnesota, Ramsey Junior High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Alexander Ramsey Elementary School in Montevideo, Minnesota, are also named for him. Justice Page Middle School in Minneapolis, Minnesota (formerly Ramsey International Fine Arts Center and formerly Alexander Ramsey Junior High School) was named after him when it was first founded in 1932.[12] In the 2016-17 school year, a student-initiated effort to rename Ramsey Middle School resulted in renaming the school after Alan Page, the first African-American Minnesota Supreme Court justice.[13]

References

  • United States Congress. "Alexander Ramsey (id: R000026)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2009-03-22
  1. 1 2 Helen McCann White (1974). "Guide to a Microfilm Edition of: The Alexander Ramsey Papers and Records" (PDF). Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Butler, William E. (February 2000). "Alexander Ramsey". American National Biography Online. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ Steiner, Andy (February 12, 2016). "Out of the shadows: Mental Health Resources meets $1 million fundraising goal". MinnPost. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Thomas Ramsey: 1784–1826". Ancestry.com. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  5. ↑ Minnesota Legislators Past and Present-Justus Cornelius Ramsey
  6. ↑ Minnesota Historical Society collections, Volume 13 By Minnesota Historical Society, page 5
  7. ↑ http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29503
  8. ↑ http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/hanging.html
  9. ↑ Wingard, Mary Lethert; Delegard, annotated by Kirsten (2010). North country : the making of Minnesota. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. cccxlviii. ISBN 0-8166-4868-9.
  10. ↑ Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 436.
  11. ↑ Allan H. Keith, Historical Stories: About Greenville and Bond County, IL. Consulted on August 15, 2007.
  12. ↑ http://page.mpls.k12.mn.us/history
  13. ↑ http://page.mpls.k12.mn.us/rename_ramsey_4
  • Biographical information, gubernatorial records, and Ramsey's personal papers are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society.
  • "Alexander Ramsey". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
James Irvin		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 14th congressional district
1843–1847		 Succeeded by
George Eckert
Political offices
New office Governor of Minnesota
1849–1853		 Succeeded by
Willis A. Gorman
Preceded by
David Olmsted		 Mayor of Saint Paul
1855–1856		 Succeeded by
George Becker
Preceded by
Henry Sibley		 Governor of Minnesota
1860–1863		 Succeeded by
Henry Swift
Preceded by
George W. McCrary		 United States Secretary of War
1879–1881		 Succeeded by
Robert Lincoln
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
Henry Rice		 U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Minnesota
1863–1875
Served alongside: Morton S. Wilkinson, Daniel Norton, Ozora P. Stearns, William Windom		 Succeeded by
Samuel J. R. McMillan
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