 |
James Abram Garfield
b. 19 Nov 1831, near Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio
d. 19 Sep 1881, Elberon, New Jersey |
| Title: |
President of the United States |
| Term: |
4 Mar 1881 - 19 Sep 1881 |
| Chronology: |
9 Feb 1881,
election to the office of President of the United States is declared upon counting electoral votes (cast 1 Dec 1880 and 8 Dec 1880),
joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, House Chamber, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [1] |
|
4 Mar 1881,
commencement of term |
|
4 Mar 1881,
took an oath of office as President of the United States, inaugural ceremony as part of the special session of the Senate, East Portico, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [2] |
|
19 Sep 1881, died (as a result of assassination attempt) [3] |
| Biography: |
| Attended district school; driver and helmsman on the Ohio Canal; entered Geauga Seminary, Chester, Ohio, in 1849; attended the Eclectic Institute, Hiram, Ohio, 1851-1854; graduated from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1858; teacher; professor of ancient languages and literature in Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio; president of Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio, 1857-1861; member of the Ohio state senate 1859; lawyer, private practice; Union Army, Ohio Volunteer Infantry 1861-1863; elected as a Republican to the 38th and to the eight succeeding Congresses; chair, Committee on Military Affairs (40th Congress); chair, Committee on Banking and Currency (41st Congress); chair, Committee on Appropriations (42nd and 43rd Congresses); member of the Electoral Commission created by act of Congress approved 29 Jan 1877, to decide the contests in various States in the presidential election of 1876; elected to the United States Senate on 13 Jan 1880, for the term beginning 4 Mar 1881, but declined to accept having been elected President of the United States; wounded (2 Jul 1881) at the railroad station in Washington, D.C., by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker; for 80 days lay ill and performed only one official act - the signing of an extradition paper; died from the effects of the assassin's attack.
|
| Biographical sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (2005); The New-York Times, New-York, Tuesday, September 20, 1881, vol. XXXI, No. 9371, pp. 1, 5 (obituary). |
| Elections: |
| Candidate |
Electoral vote (1 Dec 1880) * |
| |
including votes from Georgia |
excluding votes from Georgia |
| James Abram Garfield |
214 |
214 |
| Winfield Scott Hancock |
155 |
144 |
| total number of electors appointed |
369 |
358 |
| number of votes for a majority |
185 |
180 |
|
| * As Georgia had cast her vote on the second Wednesday of December (8 Dec 1880), a day different from that prescribed by law, two tabulations were made, one including and the other not including Georgia's eleven votes (Concurrent Resolution of the U.S. Congress of 5 Feb 1881, Congressional Record, 46th Congress, 3rd Session, 1129-1141, 1257-1263). |
| Source of electoral results: Congressional Record, 46th Congress, 3rd Session, 1387. |
| |
| [1] |
Congressional Record, 46th Congress, 3rd Session, 1386-1387. |
| [2] |
Congressional Record, 47th Congress, Special Session of the Senate, 1-4. |
| [3] |
The New-York Times, New-York, Tuesday, September 20, 1881, vol. XXXI, No. 9371, pp. 1, 5. |
|
Image: photograph created between 1870 and 1881. |
