Michael C. Kerr

Michael Crawford Kerr (March 15, 1827 – August 19, 1876) of Indiana was an attorney, an American legislator, and the first Democratic Speaker of the United States House of Representatives after the Civil War.

Michael Crawford Kerr
28th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
In office December 6, 1875 – August 19, 1876
Preceded by	James G. Blaine
Succeeded by	Samuel J. Randall
Leader of the House Democratic Caucus
In office December 6, 1875 – August 19, 1876
Preceded by	James Lawrence Orr
Succeeded by	Samuel J. Randall
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana
In office March 4, 1865/March 4, 1875 – March 4, 1873/August 19, 1876
Preceded by	James A. Cravens (2nd) William S. Holman (3rd)
Succeeded by	Simeon K. Wolfe (2nd) Nathan T. Carr (3rd)
Constituency	2nd district (1865–1873) 3rd district (1875–1876)
Member of the Indiana General Assembly
In office 1856–1857
Personal details
Born	March 15, 1827 Titusville, Pennsylvania
Died	August 19, 1876 (aged 49) Rockbridge County, Virginia
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	University of Louisville
Profession	Law

Kerr's home in New Albany, Indiana

Early life

He was born at Titusville, Pennsylvania and educated at the Erie Academy. He graduated from the University of Louisville School of Law in 1851. He moved to New Albany, Indiana in 1852 and was a member of the State Legislature from 1856 to 1857.

Political career

He was elected to Congress in 1864 as a War Democrat, having vigorously opposed the Copperhead element in his district. He won the praise of Republican Governor Morton for helping suppress illegal conspiracies by Copperheads.[1]

Kerr served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from Indiana from 1865 to 1873. In Congress he was looked upon as one of the leaders of the Democratic party. He strongly opposed the Republican policy of Reconstruction in the Southern States. He was not re-elected in 1872.

His hard money views on financial questions did not meet with favor in his agrarian constituency, where he openly antagonized the inflationists and the Greenback element and favored the resumption of specie payments. In 1874, however, after a sharp contest he won the seat back, and on his re-entry into Congress was elected to the speakership. He presided as Speaker at only the first session of the Forty-fourth Congress and died of consumption shortly after its adjournment.

See also

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)

Notes

1. Jacob Piatt Dunn, Indiana and Indianans (1919) vol 2 p 651-2 online

Bibliography

• Halsell, Willie D., ed. "Advice from Michael C. Kerr to a Reconstructed Rebel Congressman." Indiana Magazine of History 33 (September 1941): 257-61.
• Smith, William Henry. The history of the state of Indiana (1897) p. 798-800 online
• Stampp, Kenneth. Indiana politics during the Civil War (1949)

External links

• - Original newspaper broadsheet in the collection of the State Archives in Indianapolis
• Michael C. Kerr at Find a Grave

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. Missing or empty |title= (help)