Buffalo Hangman Analysis

This person was born on March 18, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey. He was the fifth of nine children, and his father was a Presbyterian minister. Because the church regularly transferred their ministers, the family moved many times, primarily around central and western New York. The death of his father in 1853 forced him to abandon school in order to support his family. He worked as a teacher in a school for the blind in New York City and then worked as a clerk in a law firm in Buffalo, New York. He began his own law firm in 1862.

During the Civil War, he was drafted but he paid a Polish immigrant to serve in his place so he could care for his mother. His first political job was being sheriff in Erie County, New York in 1871. While in office, he carried out the death sentence by hanging of at least two convicted criminals. Political rivals held this against him and called him the “Buffalo Hangman”.

In 1881, he was persuaded to run for mayor of Buffalo, New York; he won the election and took office in 1882. His reputation increased so quickly that he was requested to run as the Democratic candidate for governor of New York. He soon became governor in January 1883. …show more content…
Blaine. Blaine was involved in several financial scandals, while my person was connected to a paternity case in which he acknowledged that he had agreed to pay financial support in 1874 to Maria Halpin who claimed he was the father of her child. Despite the scandal, with combined support from Democrats and reformed Republicans called “Mugwumps”, this person won the nomination. He was the first Democrat to win the Presidency after the Civil War. His first term marked the completion of the Washington monument in 1885 and the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in New York in 1886. He vetoed four hundred fourteen bills in only his first term, which is two times more than the past twenty-one Presidents