ILLINOIS. 



383 



for Elihu B. Washburn, 1 ; blank, 1 ; in the 

 House, for General Logan, 77 ; for Palmer, 67 ; 

 for Judge David Davis, 7; for William La- 

 throp, 1. The first ballot in joint convention 

 was taken next day, and resulted in 98 votes 

 for Logan, 88 for Palmer, 8 for Davis, 7 for 

 Anderson, 1 for Washburn, 1 for Lathrop, and 

 1 for William H. Parish. The balloting con- 

 tinued from day to day until the 25th, 40 

 votes being taken in joint convention. During 

 the first 20 ballots there was no material 

 change in the position of the candidates. On 

 the 21st Logan received 87 votes, Palmer 85, 

 Anderson 13, Haines 

 2, and Parish 1. The 

 first important change 

 was on the 29th ballot, 

 when Logan had 96, 

 Anderson went up to 

 88, Palmer disappear- 

 ed from the list, Wash- 

 burn had 6, C. B. Law- 

 rence appeared as a 

 candidate with 2, and 

 16 votes were scat- 

 tered aniong seven 

 other names. The con- 

 test went on without 

 further change of im- 

 portance until the 35th 

 ballot, when Judge Da- 

 vis suddenly ran up to 

 97 votes, and Judge 

 Lawrence to 86, while 

 Anderson's name dis- 

 appeared, and Logan 

 dropped to 2 votes. 

 On the 38th ballot 



Haines went up to 56, and Lawrence came 

 down to 39. Finally, on the 25th of January, 

 the 40th ballot was taken, resulting as follows: 

 Whole number of votes, 200 ; necessary for 

 a choice, 101 ; David Davis had 101, Charlea 

 B. Lawrence 94, John 0. Haines 3, John A. 

 Logan 1, and William H. Parish 1. The 

 long contest was due to the fact that the Legis- 

 lature was very evenly divided between Demo- 

 crats and Republicans, while a few Indepen- 

 dents held the balance of power. The com- 

 position of the two Houses was as follows: 

 In the Senate, Republicans, 22 ; Democrats, 

 24; Independents, 5. In the House, Repub- 

 licans, 79 ; Democrats, 74. On a full joint 

 ballot, Republicans, 101 ; Democrats, 98 ; In- 

 dependents, 5. Judge Davis was the candi- 

 date of the small number of Independents, but 

 was finally supported by the Democrats. He 

 was born in Cecil County, Maryland, March 9, 

 1815, and graduated from Kenyon College, 

 Ohio, in 1832. He studied law for a time in 

 Massachusetts, and afterward at the Law School 

 at New Haven, Connecticut. He settled at 

 Bloomington, Illinois, in 1885, and attained a 

 high degree of success in the practice of his 

 profession. He was elected to the State Legis- 

 lature in 1844, as a Whig, and in 1847 was a 



member of the Convention that framed the 

 Constitution of Illinois. He was elected Judge 

 of the 8th Judicial Court of the State in 1848, 

 and reflected in 1855 and 1861. He was an 

 intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln, and a 

 member of the Convention which nominated 

 him for the Presidency in 1860. On the 8th 

 of December, 1862, he was appointed Associ- 

 ate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 

 States, and after President Lincoln's death 

 was administrator of his estate. In 1870 Judge 

 Davis held, with the minority of the Supreme 

 Court, that the acts of Congress making Gov- 



8TATB CAPITOL OF ILLINOIS, SPRINGFIELD. 



ernment notes a legal tender in payment of 

 debts were constitutional. In February, 1872, 

 the National Convention of the Labor Reform 

 party nominated Judge Davis as its candidate 

 for President, on a platform that declared, 

 among other things, in favor of a national cur- 

 rency " based on the faith and resources of 

 the nation," and interchangeable with 3.65-per- 

 cent, bonds of the Government, and demanded 

 the establishment of an " eight-hour law " 

 throughout the country, and the payment of 

 the national debt " without mortgaging the 

 property of the people to enrich capitalists." 

 In answer to the letter informing him of the 

 nomination, Judge Davis said : " Be pleased 

 to thank the Convention for the unexpected 

 honor which they have conferred upon me. 

 The Chief Magistracy of the Republic should 

 neither be sought nor declined by any Ameri- 

 can citizen." His name was also used before 

 the Liberal Republican Convention at Cin- 

 cinnati the same year, and received 92$ votes 

 for this nomination on the first ballot. After 

 the regular nominations had been made, he 

 concluded to retire from the contest, and so 

 announced in a final answer to the Labor Re- 

 formers. He resigned his seat on the Supreme 

 Bench to take his plaee in the United States 



