Lyman Trumbull (American National Biography)
Scholarship
[Lyman] Trumbull was elected as a Democrat to the state legislature in 1840 but resigned the next year to become Illinois secretary of state. After an unsuccessful campaign for the federal House of Representatives in 1846, Trumbull vowed not to seek legislative office again. Two years later he was elected to fill out a term as justice of the Illinois Supreme Court; in 1852 he won a full nine-year term on the bench.
Trumbull was outraged over the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Like many in Illinois, he saw the Missouri Compromise, nullified by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, as a pillar comparable to the compromises producing the federal Constitution. The act split the Democrats in Illinois, with Trumbull leading the anti-Nebraska faction. That fall Trumbull ran for the U.S. House from the state's Eighth Congressional District, drawing support from Whigs, Free Soilers, and anti-Nebraska Democrats. He defeated Phillip B. Foulke, a pro-Nebraska Democrat, by about 2,700 votes. In February 1855 the Illinois legislature elected Trumbull to the U.S. Senate over pro-Nebraska Democratic incumbent James Shields, Abraham Lincoln, and Governor Joel Matteson, after candidate Lincoln instructed supporters to vote for Trumbull on the tenth ballot. While in Congress, Trumbull completed the transformation from anti-Nebraska Democrat to Republican in 1857. He opposed the proslavery Lecompton constitution for Kansas, arguing that Congress should decide such matters for the territory. In the secession crisis, Trumbull rejected the Crittenden Compromise measures.
Trumbull was outraged over the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Like many in Illinois, he saw the Missouri Compromise, nullified by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, as a pillar comparable to the compromises producing the federal Constitution. The act split the Democrats in Illinois, with Trumbull leading the anti-Nebraska faction. That fall Trumbull ran for the U.S. House from the state's Eighth Congressional District, drawing support from Whigs, Free Soilers, and anti-Nebraska Democrats. He defeated Phillip B. Foulke, a pro-Nebraska Democrat, by about 2,700 votes. In February 1855 the Illinois legislature elected Trumbull to the U.S. Senate over pro-Nebraska Democratic incumbent James Shields, Abraham Lincoln, and Governor Joel Matteson, after candidate Lincoln instructed supporters to vote for Trumbull on the tenth ballot. While in Congress, Trumbull completed the transformation from anti-Nebraska Democrat to Republican in 1857. He opposed the proslavery Lecompton constitution for Kansas, arguing that Congress should decide such matters for the territory. In the secession crisis, Trumbull rejected the Crittenden Compromise measures.
David Osborn, "Trumbull, Lyman," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00998.html.
Lyman Trumbull (Congressional Biographical Directory)
Reference
TRUMBULL, Lyman, a Senator from Illinois; born in Colchester, Conn., October 12, 1813; attended Bacon Academy; taught school in Connecticut 1829-1833; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Greenville, Ga.; moved to Belleville, Ill., 1837; member, State house of representatives 1840-1841; secretary of State of Illinois in 1841 and 1843; justice of the supreme court of Illinois 1848-1853; elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress in 1854, but before the beginning of the Congress was elected to the United States Senate; reelected in 1861 and again in 1867, and served from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1873; was at various times a Democrat, then Republican, then Liberal Republican, then Democrat; chairman, Committee on the Judiciary (Thirty-seventh through Forty-second Congresses); resumed the practice of law in Chicago, Ill.; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Illinois in 1880; died in Chicago, Ill., June 25, 1896; interment in Oakwoods Cemetery.
“Trumbull, Lyman,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000392.
