Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1876-09-05
SKETCH OF GOV. HFEDRIcKs. :

Thomas Andrews Hendricks, of Indiana,
nominated as the democratic candidate for
Vice>President, is five years younger than
Mr.. Tilden, having been born iu Muskiugun
county, Ohio, September Z, 1919. When he
was only three years old his father removed
to Shelby county, Indiana, and that State was
his home ever afterward. Mr.. Hendricks re-
ceived liberal education, and graduated from
Hanover College in 1871, after which he
studied law in the Office of the late Judge
Thompson, of Chambersburg, Pa, and was
admitted to the franklin county Bar in 1913,
the distinguished jurist, jeremiah S. Black,
being at the time the presiding justice of the
courts of the county. lie returned to Indiana
immediately after coming to the Bar, and be-
gan the practice OF his profession. Success
was not long 10 coming to the young lawyer,
and he soon acquired not only competence
but high place at the Bar. He had not
been long at the Bar, however. when he. be-
gan his political career. In lS4S he was
chosen member of tho Indiana Legislature,
aud in 1850 he served in the State Constitu-
tional Convention. During the next FIVE
years he was a representative in Congress,
aud in 1855 President Pierce appointed him
Commissioner of the General Land Office
He continued to hold this position under Mr.
Buchanan's administration until 1859, when
he resigned. In 1860 he was the democratic
candidate for Governor of Indiana, but was
defeated by Henry S. Lane. Lane was soon
afterward chosen United States Senator, and
in 1868 Hendricks became his colleague in
the Senate. At this time the democracy was
very weak minority in that body, but Mr..
Hendricks succeeded in making a great rep
utaton in the Senate, both as a statesman
and lawyer He was active and outspoken
in opposition to the republican measures of
the time, among them the bill overturning
the old State governments of the South, the
Civil Rights bill and the Freeman's Bureau
bill. In the impeachment trial of Andrew
johnson he played an important part, and
added greatly to his reputation as lawyer.
In q single term in the Senate Mr.. Hendricks
acquired position of great prominence be-
fore the country, and he placed himself so far
forward in his party that since 1868 he has
been generally regarded as among the availa>
BILE democratic candidates for the Presidency.
But for the Greeley movement he might have
been nominated in 1872.
After his retirement from the Senate in
1869 Mr.. Hendricks returned to the practice
of his profession at Indianapolis, but he was
not long allowed to remain out of public life.
After Greeley's nomination at Baltimore, Mr..
Hendricks was induced to accept a nomiua-
tion for Governor of Indiana, in order to
strengthen the Presidential ticket, and, after
bitter canvass, he was elected by a small
majority, the rest of the ticket, except the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, being
lost to the democracy. The personal popu-
larity of Governor Hendricks carried him
through, but he had the advantage of having
an opponent against whom the temperance
sentiment of his State was arrayed. He has
made an acceptable Governor, and has offend
ed only in one respect-by signing a local
option liquor bill, whicE was subsequently
repealed.
Governor Hendricks is man of strong and
generous instincts. Socially he is one of the
most agreeable men in public life, and he car
ries the urbanity for which he is noted into
the courtroom we'll as the executive cham
ber- He possesses fund of wit and anecdote
which makes him a charming companion.
His words are fslicitously chosen, his sentences
always well constructed aud his eIOcutiop
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