Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1878 — Ben Wade, [ARTICLE]

Ben Wade,

Wade was born at Springfield, Maas., in October, 1800. His father was a soldier of the Revolutionary army, and in poor circumstances. Benjamin received a very limited education, and in his youth was employed in digging the Erie canal. Removing to Jefferson, Ohio, in 1821, he taught scho 1 for a period and then studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1826, and seven years later was made Prosecuting Attorney for Ashtabula county. Two years thereafter he was elected State Senator, and in 1847 he rose to the presiding Judgeship of the Third Judicial District. In 1851 he was sent to the United States Senate, where he served three full terms, rising in 1867 to the Acting Vice Presidency. In the earlier part of his national career he was the leader of the anti-slavery wing of the Whig party, and became equally powerful in the Republican organization. He advocated the Homestead bill, the repeal of the Fugitive Slave law, and the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. He bitterly opposed the Nebraska bill of 1854, the Lecomption constitution for Kansas in 1858 and the proposed purchase of Cuba. Naturally enough, his attitude on the question of reconstructing the Southern States was exceedingly radical. After his retirement from the Senate he served on the commission sent by President Grant to report upon the practicability of the annexation of San Domingo, and afterward as one of the Government Directors of the Union Pacific railway, of which corporation he became attorney. He participated prominently in the convention which nominated R. B. Hayes for the Presidency, atwhichtime, it is believed, he so disordered his system as to cause his lengthened illness and death,-— Chicago Times.