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The House, the Beast, and the Bloody Shirt: The Doorkeeper Controversy of 1878

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2010

Ed Bradley
Ed Bradley
Affiliation:
Harpweek, LLC
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Extract

On Friday, April 5, 1878, Benjamin F. Butler, a Republican from Massachusetts, arose in the U.S. House of Representatives and offered a resolution stating “that the true Union, maimed soldier, Brigadier-General James Shields” be chosen as doorkeeper of that body. Although a seemingly innocuous motion, Butler's resolution would spark a debate over the election of a doorkeeper that would last into the following week. That debate — and the reactions to it — are in turn quite revealing of the political environment of the time. Specifically, the “doorkeeper controversy” of 1878 symbolizes the persistence of sectionalism in the immediate post-Reconstruction years. It also provides yet another example of the turmoil and controversy that characterized Ben Butler's colorful political career.

Type
Essays
Information
The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , January 2004 , pp. 15 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 2004

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References

1 Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2310

2 Bensel, Richard Franklin, Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880–1980 (Madison, WI, 1984), xixGoogle Scholar; Silbey, Joel H., The American Political Nation, 1838–1893 (Stanford, 1991), 139–40Google Scholar; Gould, Lewis, “The Republican Search for a National Majority,” in The Gilded Age, ed., Morgan, H. Wayne (Syracuse, 1970): 174.Google Scholar

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6 Malone, Dumas, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 9 (New York, 1935, 1936): 106–07.Google Scholar

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8 Washington Post, April 8, 1878; Louisville Courier-Journal, April 10, 1878; Memphis Daily Appeal, April 11, 1878; New York Tribune, April 9, 1878; Baltimore Sun, April 11, 1878; Shields to Butler, April 7, 1878, Benjamin F. Butler Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Box 106. A few days after the controversy ended, Shields commented in an interview that “I have had but little personal acquaintance with Gen. Butler until now. I found, however, that my friends in New England were his friends, and…I consider [him] an able-hearted, big-brained man, and find that the liberal element throughout New England regard him as their champion.” Washington Post, April 13, 1878.

9 Congressional Globe, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2310–15.

10 D.O. Barr to Randall, April 5,1878, Samuel Jackson Randall Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Boston Globe, April 8, 9, 1878; Washington Post, April 8, 1878; Louisville Courier-Journal, April 8, 1878.

11 Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2341–42; Boston Globe, April 6, 8, 1878; Malone, ed., DAB, vol. 3, pt. 2, 356–57; Charleston News and Courier, April 9, 1878; Washington Post, April 8, 1878.

12 Chicago Tribune, April 7, 1878; George Dawson to Butler, April 8, 1878, Butler Papers, Box 106; Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2343–44.

13 Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2344.

14 Ibid., 2347.

15 The Democrats won control of the House as a result of the 1874 elections.

16 Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2347–48.

17 This bill ultimately became the Arrears Act of 1879. With this measure, a pension began on the day the pensioner had been honorably discharged as opposed to the date of application.

18 Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2348–50.

19 Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2351–53; New York Tribune, April 9, 1878; Boston Globe, April 9, 1878; New York Times, April 9, 1878; Baltimore Sun, April 11,1878. Following the controversy, an interviewer asked Shields how many wars he had served in, to which the general replied “Two; unless you count in the war over the Doorkeeper-ship.” Washington Post, April 13, 1878.

20 Drake Dekay to Butler, April 9,1878; J.W.Pearman to Butler, April 14,1878;Tillie Bareford to Butler, April 10, 1878; Gustavus S. Dana to Butler, April 9, 1878; J. Hyatt Smith to Butler, April 11, 1878, all in Butler Papers, Box 106.

21 Philadelphia Inquirer, April 10, 1878; Chicago Tribune, April 6, 9, 10, 1878; Troy Times (date not given), in New York Tribune, April 11, 1878. It was reported that southern Democrats were upset over the removal of Polk, a Confederate veteran, and would demand the nomination of a former Confederate general. When the House Democrats caucused on the evening of the 5th, John B. Clark of Missouri nominated Shields, but Benjamin J. Franklin (also of Missouri) objected, noting that he would not be dictated to by Ben Butler. Besides, Franklin continued, the Speaker, Sergeant-at-Arms, and chief clerk were all Union veterans, and so the doorkeeper position should go to someone who fought for the Confederacy. Franklin's arguments won the day, and Field was nominated. Washington Post, April 5, 1878; Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1878.

22 Cincinnati Enquirer, April 6, 1878; Boston Globe, April 11, 1878; Memphis Daily Appeal, April 11, 1878; Louisville Courier-Journal, April 8, 9, 1878; Harper's Weekly, April 27, 1878.

23 W.M. Ampt to Butler, April 10,1878; M. L'Velie to Butler, April 10,1878, Butler Papers, Box 106; Washington Post, April 12, 1878; Chicago Tribune, April 7, 1878.

24 Cameron, Angus, “The Irrepressible Conflict Undecided,” North American Review 126 (May 1878): 489–91Google Scholar, 499, 503–04.

25 Harper's Weekly, May 11, 1878; Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 4883; Hirshson, Farewell to the Bloody Shirt, 45–53; Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 3rd Session, 86. Regarding southern claims, senator Cameron lamented that the passage of such a bill would “open wide the gates for robbery, and perjury, and fraud.” Cameron, “The Irrepressible Conflict Undecided,” 499.

26 Hirshson, , Farewell to the Bloody Shirt, 45–48.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., 48, 50–51; Muzzey, David Saville, James G. Blaine: A Political Idol of Other Days (New York, 1934), 140–41Google Scholar; Hoogenboom, Ari, The Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes (Lawrence, KS, 1988), 74–78.Google Scholar

28 Holzman, Robert S., Stormy Ben Butler (New York, 1954), 178–79Google Scholar; Horn, Stanley F., Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866–1871 (1939; 2nd ed., Montclair, NJ, 1969), 150–51Google Scholar; Treiousse, Hans, Ben Butler: The South Called Him BEAST! (New York, 1957), 230Google Scholar, 232–33; Chicago Tribune, April 6,1878. Further evidence of Butler's sectional proclivities is seen in letters such as his November 1878 epistle to a correspondent seeking to invest in the South: “I would not invest a dollar south of Mason's and Dixon's line unless I wanted to lose it. Of all the Jews, sharks and cheats I have met in my life, I think those in the South cheat the wors[t].” Butler to Rhoda E. White, November 14, 1878, Butler Papers, Box 220.

29 Washington Post, April 9, 1878; Harper's Weekly, April 27, 1878; Louisville Courier-Journal, April 9,1878; Memphis Daily Appeal, April 11, 1878; Lynchburg Virginian, April 11, 1878; Chicago Times (date not given), in Louisville-Courier Journal, April 11, 1878. With Butler's gubernatorial defeat later in the year, President Hayes, perhaps thinking of Butler's doorkeeper performance, wrote that it “was one of the best events that ha[s] happened since the war.” Hayes diary entry, November 6, 1878, in Williams, T. Harry, ed., Hayes: The Diary of a President, 1875–1881 (New York, 1964), 168.Google Scholar

30 Trefousse, , Ben Butler, 38Google Scholar, 119, 221; Harper's Weekly, April 27, 1878; Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1878; Louisville Courier-Journal, April 9, 1878; New York Sun, April 6, 1878, quoted in Washington Post, April 8, 1878. As governor of Massachusetts in 1883, Butler appointed the first judge of Irish origin in that state. Trefousse, , Ben Butler, 247.Google Scholar

31 New York Tribune, April 11, 1878; James F. Legate to Butler, April 10, 1878; J.N. Collins to Butler, April 10, 1878; M.H. Hogan to Butler, April 5, 1878; Michael Egan to Butler, April 9, 1878; Patrick O'Keefe to Butler, April 15, 1878; William Dolan to Butler, April 19, 1878, all in Butler Papers, Box 106. Another correspondent predicted that “from the indignation I see among the Irish people at the rejection of their countryman for a rebel the democratic party will lose the fealty of this people henceforward.” M. L'Velle to Butler, April 10, 1878, Butler Papers, Box 106. See also Chicago Tribune, April 10, 1878.

32 Holzman, , Stormy Ben Butler, 242Google Scholar; Trefousse, , Ben Butler, 235–36Google Scholar; Butler to F.R. Phillips, April 27, 1878, Butler Papers, Box 219; Hayes diary entry, November 6, 1878, in Williams, , ed., Hayes: The Diary of a President, 168.Google Scholar

33 Trefousse, , Ben Butler, 230Google Scholar, 232, 234–35, 237.

34 New York Times, April 6, 1878; Norfolk Public Ledger, April 8, 1878; Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, 2311; Chicago Tribune, April 9, 1878; Trefousse, , Ben Butler, 233–43.Google Scholar One Democratic newspaper rejected Butler's overtures toward the Democrats, noting that he “is too young a democrat to elect a doorkeeper of the House. He ought to go home and grow.” New Orleans Times, April 7, 1878.

35 Washington Post, April 13, 1878; Condon, , Life of Major-General James Shields, 327–29Google Scholar; Malone, , ed., DAB, vol. 9, 107Google Scholar, vol. 3, pt. 2, 357.