Howard, Jacob M. (1805–1871)

• Author: Leonard W. Levy
• Pages: 1308

Page 1308

Jacob Merritt Howard was an abolitionist, a champion of CIVIL RIGHTS, and a leading northern politician whose constitutional legacy derived from his advocacy of Radical Republicanism. Born and educated in New England, Howard moved to Detroit where, after admission to the bar, he began his political career as a WHIG. In 1854 he helped found the Republican party and framed its resolutions.

In 1862 he became a United States senator, and for a decade he remained in the vanguard of the Radical Republican wing of his party. He advocated black VOTING RIGHTS, served influentially during the CIVIL WAR on both the SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE and the Committee on Military Affairs, and vigorously supported the FREEDMEN ' S BUREAU ACT and the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866. Howard was a coauthor of the THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT and, as a ranking Senate Republican on the powerful JOINT COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION, chaperoned the approval by the Senate of...