Life span: 05/10/1813 to 07/27/1883TabsLife SummaryFull name: Montgomery BlairPlace of Birth: Franklin County, KYBurial Place: Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington DCBirth Date Certainty: ExactDeath Date Certainty: ExactGender: MaleRace: WhiteSectional choice: NorthOrigins: Free StateNo. of Spouses: 2No. of Children: 8Family: Francis Preston Blair (father), Eliza Violet Gist Blair (mother), Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (brother), Elizabeth Blair Lee (sister), Caroline Buckner (first wife, 1836), Mary Elizabeth Woodbury (second wife, 1847)Education: West Point (US Military Academy)TransylvaniaOccupation: PoliticianAttorney or JudgeJournalistPolitical Parties: DemocraticFree SoilRepublicanGovernment: Van Buren Administration (1837-41)Pierce Administration (1853-57)Lincoln Administration (1861-65)State judgeLocal governmentMilitary: US military (Pre-Civil War) Note Cards Montgomery Blair (American National Biography) ScholarshipIn 1856 Blair became the counsel for the plaintiff Dred Scott, and though he lost this case before the proslavery Roger B. Taney Supreme Court, Blair argued the important principle that the slave Scott was entitled to his freedom by virtue of his residence in free territory. Blair also held that the Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery in the territories and that Congress had the authority to prohibit slavery there, a position that put him at odds with southern Democrats and that had been undermined in the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. Blair, along with his influential brother Francis Blair and his father [Francis Preston Blair], had come to oppose slavery and to support the return of freed blacks to Africa, the latter a policy that he believed would encourage southerners to free their slaves. Blair's views on slavery were representative of a body of border-state opinion, which opposed abolitionism and black equality as too extreme but which argued for a containment of slavery and its gradual end. In 1848 he was associated with the Free Soil party, attracted to that new organization during a period of party realignment by friends in New York. By 1852 he had returned to the Democratic party and was a delegate to its national convention. By 1860 he supported the Republican party and worked hard, though largely unsuccessfully, to organize this new political organization in Maryland. Jean H. Baker, "Blair, Montgomery," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00112.html. Events Date span begin Life span End Event 03/05/1861 03/05/1861 The U.S. Senate, sitting in extraordinary session, confirms all of President Lincoln's cabinet choices 05/20/1863 05/20/1863 In Cleveland, Ohio, thousands hear speeches at a mass meeting of the National Union League 11/18/1863 11/18/1863 President Lincoln leaves Washington for Gettysburg and the dedication of the new National Cemetery 11/18/1863 11/18/1863 The Governor of Pennsylvania misses his connection with the President at Hanover Junction 11/19/1863 11/19/1863 Abraham Lincoln, on horseback, leads the procession to the new Gettysburg cemetery 04/15/1865 04/15/1865 Vice-President Andrew Johnson takes the oath as seventeenth President of the United States 01/06/1866 01/06/1866 As Chile and Peru face Spain, a large public meeting is held in New York in support of the Monroe Doctrine 01/24/1866 01/26/1866 Maryland Democrats meet in Baltimore to protest the state's restrictive voter registration law Major TopicsDred Scott Case Documents Author Docs Date Title 05/16/1861 Montgomery Blair to Abraham Lincoln, May 16, 1861 Addressee Docs Date Title 11/24/1864 Andrew Johnson to Montgomery Blair, November 24, 1863, Nashville, Tennessee. Images Montgomery Blair Montgomery Blair, detail Montgomery Blair, image by Brady Montgomery Blair, image by Brady, detail Bibliography
Montgomery Blair (American National Biography) ScholarshipIn 1856 Blair became the counsel for the plaintiff Dred Scott, and though he lost this case before the proslavery Roger B. Taney Supreme Court, Blair argued the important principle that the slave Scott was entitled to his freedom by virtue of his residence in free territory. Blair also held that the Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery in the territories and that Congress had the authority to prohibit slavery there, a position that put him at odds with southern Democrats and that had been undermined in the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. Blair, along with his influential brother Francis Blair and his father [Francis Preston Blair], had come to oppose slavery and to support the return of freed blacks to Africa, the latter a policy that he believed would encourage southerners to free their slaves. Blair's views on slavery were representative of a body of border-state opinion, which opposed abolitionism and black equality as too extreme but which argued for a containment of slavery and its gradual end. In 1848 he was associated with the Free Soil party, attracted to that new organization during a period of party realignment by friends in New York. By 1852 he had returned to the Democratic party and was a delegate to its national convention. By 1860 he supported the Republican party and worked hard, though largely unsuccessfully, to organize this new political organization in Maryland. Jean H. Baker, "Blair, Montgomery," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00112.html.