The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922; / Clarence M. Burton, editor-in-chief, William Stocking, associate editor, Gordon K. Miller, associated editor. [Vol. 2]

CITY OF DETROIT

1207

of the'commission to adjust Spanish and Mexican war claims in California.
In 1879 he was appointed Tappan law professor in the University of Michigan
and retained that position until old age compelled his retirement.
The gubernatorial campaign of 1852, the last campaign before the whig
party went to pieces, brought into rivalry two men whose paths crossed or
coincided in after years. Robert McClelland was the democratic candidate
and won. He served his term as governor and was afterward secretaryof the
interior in President Pierce's cabinet. The whig candidate was Zachariah
Chandler, of Detroit, and the free democratic, or free soil, as it was more commonly called, was Isaac P. Christiancy of the nearby town of Monroe. Two
years later Christiancy was among the most active of the free soil leaders in
bringing that organization into the union which formed the republican party.
Chandler was equally prominent in advocating the same line of action for the
whigs. In 1875 Chandler was nominated for a fourth election to the United
States senate, but Christiancy was elected by a combination of democrats with
a few bolting republicans. But senatorial duties were distasteful to him and
in the latter part of 1878 he resigned to accept the position of ambassador to
Peru, when Chandler was again elected to the senate. Mr. Christiancy's chief
fame was not gained in the senate nor in the diplomatic service, but as one of
the distinguished four who constituted the Michigan supreme court during
its best days.
Henry P. Baldwin's services as senator in the legislature of 1861 paved the
way for his subsequent promotions. He was chairman of the finance committee
in the senate and his wide acquaintanceship and high reputation were of immense value in negotiating the loans needed for the state's participation in the
war. As governor and subsequently as United States senator he was an industrious and prudent official.
John J. Bagley, before his nomination for governor, had served acceptably
in the Detroit common council. He was the prime mover in securing legislation
creating the metropolitan police department of Detroit and was on the first
board of police commissioners. The distinctive feature of his administration
as governor was the watchful care and development of the state educational
and reformatory institutions.
Hazen S. Pingree's energetic and progressive administration as mayor of
Detroit opened the way to the governorship. A remodeling of the state assessment and taxation system was the most conspicuous result of his accession to
the latter position.
THE SENATORIAL LIST
The United States senators resident in Detroit have been as follows:
Lucius Lyon, 1836-1840; John Norvell, 1835-1841; Augustus S. Porter,
1840-1845; William Woodbridge, 1841-1847; Lewis Cass, 1845-1848, 1849-1857;
Zachariah Chandler, 1857-1875, 1879; Jacob M. Howard, 1861-1871; Henry
P. Baldwin, 1879-1881; Thomas W. Palmer, 1883-1889; James McMillan,
1889-1902; Russell A. Alger, 1902-1907.
The activities of Senators Woodbridge and Cass, and the earlier services
of Senator Chandler have been fairly well covered in other paragraphs of this
publication. There were two notable incidents of Chandler's last term. In
the closing hours of the Forty-fifth Congress a bill for pensioning soldiers in the
Mexican war was pending. On a motion to exclude Jefferson Davis from the
Vol. II-23