Thomas Morris (Ohio politician)

Thomas Morris (January 3, 1776 – December 7, 1844) was an American politician from Ohio who served in the United States Senate and was a member of the Democratic Party. In the 1844 presidential election, he was the vice presidential nominee of the anti-slavery Liberty Party.

Thomas Morris
United States Senator
from Ohio
In office
March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1839
Preceded byBenjamin Ruggles
Succeeded byBenjamin Tappan
Personal details
Born(1776-01-03)January 3, 1776
Berks County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedDecember 7, 1844(1844-12-07) (aged 68)
Bethel, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic-Republican (Before 1825)
Jacksonian (1825–1838)
Democratic (1838–1844)
Liberty (1844)

Biography

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Morris was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and enlisted as a Ranger to fight the Indians in 1793. He settled in western Ohio two years later. Morris began practicing law in Bethel, Ohio in 1804.

Career

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On May 12, 1806, shortly after the beginning of the 1806–1807 term of the Ohio House of Representatives, Morris contested the election of David C. Bryan and was awarded the seat from Clermont County.[1]

Morris served in the Ohio State House of Representatives for Clermont County in 1806–1807, 1808–1809, 1810–1811, and 1820–1821.[2] He served as Justice of the Ohio State Supreme Court in 1809. He was then a member of the Ohio State Senate for Clermont County in 1813–1815, 1821–1823, 1825–1829 and 1831–1833.

He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1833, and served a single term.[3] He did not seek re-election. He was nominated to the Vice Presidency by the Liberty Party in 1844 under James G. Birney. The ticket came in third after Democratic candidate James Knox Polk and Whig Party candidate Henry Clay.

Family life

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Morris was the father of Isaac Newton Morris and Jonathan David Morris.[4]

Death

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He died December 7, 1844.

Legacy

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Author and prominent American Civil War historian Eric Foner argues in his seminal book Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men that Sen. Morris is one of the most significant figures in the anti-slavery movement and the "first political martyr of the anti-slavery cause when he was denied re-election to the Senate because of his abolitionist convictions."[5] He also argues that Morris "awakened (Salmon Chase) to the character of the Slave Power and to the need for political organization to combat its influences," leading the way for the term Slave Power to enter the American political jargon and paving the way for the creation of the Republican Party.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Taylor, William A. (1899). Ohio Statesmen and Annals of Progress, from the Year 1788 to the Year 1900. Columbus, Ohio: Westbote. pp. v. 1, p. 50.
  2. ^ Gilkey, Elliot Howard (1901). The Ohio Hundred Year Book. Columbus, Ohio: Fred J. Heer. pp. 186–192.
  3. ^ "Sen. Thomas Morris". Civic Impulse, LLC. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  4. ^ "Tolleson, Arizona". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Foner, Eric; Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana (Mississippi State University. Libraries) (1970). Free soil, free labor, free men: the ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195013528. OCLC 67628.

Further reading

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Ohio House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from Clermont County

1806–1807
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from Clermont County

1808–1809
Served alongside: William Fee
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from Clermont County

1810–1811
Served alongside: John Pollock
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from Clermont County

1820–1821
Succeeded by
Ohio Senate
Preceded by Member of the Ohio Senate
from Clermont County

1813–1815
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Ohio Senate
from Clermont County

1821–1823
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Ohio Senate
from Clermont County

1825–1829
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Ohio Senate
from Clermont County

1831–1833
Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Ohio
1833–1839
Served alongside: Thomas Ewing, William Allen
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Liberty nominee for Vice President of the United States
1844
Succeeded by