La Fayette Grover

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

La Fayette Grover

4^th Governor of Oregon
In office September 14, 1870 – February 1, 1877
Preceded by	George L. Woods
Succeeded by	Stephen F. Chadwick

Born	November 29, 1823 Bethel, Maine
Died	May 10, 1911 Portland, Oregon
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Elizabeth Carter
Profession	Lawyer
U.S. Representative of Oregon's 1st Congressional District 1857-1859; U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Oregon 1877-1883

La Fayette Grover (November 29, 1823 – May 10, 1911) was a Democratic representative and senator from Oregon, USA.

Grover was born in Bethel, Maine. He was educated at Bethel's Gould’s Academy and Brunswick's Bowdoin College. Studying law and passing the bar in Philadelphia in 1850, he moved to Oregon in 1851 and set up practice in Salem.

The Oregon Territorial legislature elected him prosecuting attorney for Oregon second judicial district and auditor of public accounts for the Oregon Territory. From 1853 to 1855 he was elected to the territorial house of representatives. In 1854 he was appointed by the Department of the Interior to audit the claims out of the Rogue River Indian War. He then was appointed by the Secretary of War in 1856 to a board of commissioners to audit the Indian war expenses of Oregon and Washington.

In 1857 he was a delegate to the Oregon constitution convention and upon admission of Oregon as a state was elected as a Democratic representative to the Thirty-fifth United States Congress serving from February 15, 1859, to March 3, 1859. He did not run for reelection in 1858, instead resuming his law practice and the manufacture of woolens.

He was elected Governor of Oregon in 1871 and served until 1877 when he resigned, having been elected to the United States Senate. Grover served from March 4, 1877, to March 3, 1883 serving in the Forty-sixth United States Congress as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Manufactures. Not a candidate for reelection in 1883, instead he resumed the practice of law and retired from public life. Grover died in Portland, Oregon, on May 10, 1911 and was interned in Riverview Cemetery.

[edit] Electoral college dispute

During the 1876 Presidential Election, Oregon's statewide result clearly had favored Rutherford Hayes, but then-governor Grover claimed that elector John Watts was constitutionally ineligible to vote since he was an “elected or appointed official”. Grover then substituted a Democratic elector in his place. The two Republican electors dismissed Grover's action and each reported three votes for Hayes, while the Democratic elector, C. A. Cronin, reported one vote for Tilden and two votes for Hayes. The vote was critical because the electoral college without John Watts's vote was tied 184-184.

A 15-member Electoral Commission ultimately awarded all three of Oregon's votes to Hayes.

[edit] Reference

Preceded by Position created	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's At-large congressional district February 15, 1859 – March 3, 1859	Succeeded by Lansing Stout
Preceded by George L. Woods	Governor of Oregon 1870–1877	Succeeded by Stephen F. Chadwick
Preceded by James K. Kelly	United States Senator (Class 2) from Oregon 1877–1883 Served alongside: John H. Mitchell, James H. Slater	Succeeded by Joseph N. Dolph