Lot Myrick Morrill (American National Biography)

During the Civil War Morrill insisted upon the confiscation of "rebel" property and the emancipation and enfranchisement of southern slaves, and he was easily reelected to a full Senate term in 1863. Predominantly owing to his instigation, laws were adopted emancipating the slaves in the District of Columbia, providing for their education, and granting males of this class the right to vote. In 1868 he delivered a lengthy Senate speech, justifying military Reconstruction of the South, that was one of the most eloquent defenses of Radical Republican doctrines and legislation ever uttered. That same year he voted to remove the impeached president, Andrew Johnson, so that Benjamin Wade, the president of the Senate whose Radical views resembled Morrill's, could become the nation's chief executive.