Editing George H. Pendleton

{{short description|American lawyer, politician and businessman}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name          = George H. Pendleton
| image         = GeorgeHPendleton.png
| office        = [[United States Minister to Germany]]
| president     = [[Grover Cleveland]]<br />[[Benjamin Harrison]]
| term_start    = June 21, 1885
| term_end      = April 25, 1889
| predecessor   = [[John A. Kasson]]
| successor     = [[William Walter Phelps|William Phelps]]
| office1       = [[Senate Democratic Caucus#Chairs|Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus]]
| term_start1   = March 4, 1881
| term_end1     = March 3, 1885
| predecessor1  = [[William A. Wallace]]
| successor1    = [[James B. Beck]]
| jr/sr2        = United States Senator
| state2        = [[Ohio]]
| term_start2   = March 4, 1879
| term_end2     = March 3, 1885
| predecessor2  = [[Stanley Matthews (judge)|Stanley Matthews]]
| successor2    = [[Henry B. Payne]]
| state3        = [[Ohio]]
| district3     = {{ushr|OH|1|1st}}
| term_start3   = March 4, 1857
| term_end3     = March 3, 1865
| predecessor3  = [[Timothy C. Day]]
| successor3    = [[Benjamin Eggleston]]
| state_senate4 = Ohio
| district4     = 1st
| term_start4   = January 2, 1854
| term_end4     = January 6, 1856<br />Served with John Schiff, William Converse
| predecessor4  = Edwin Armstrong<br />Adam Riddle<br />John Vattier
| successor4    = [[Stanley Matthews (judge)|Stanley Matthews]]<br />George Holmes<br />William Converse
| birth_name    = George Hunt Pendleton
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1825|7|19}}
| birth_place   = [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1889|11|24|1825|7|19}}
| death_place   = [[Brussels]], Belgium
| resting_place = [[Spring Grove Cemetery]] <br>[[Cincinnati, Ohio]], U.S.
| party         = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| parents       = Jane Frances Hunt Pendleton<br />[[Nathanael Greene Pendleton]]
| spouse        = Alice Key
| relatives     = [[Francis Scott Key]] (father-in-law)
| education     = [[University of Cincinnati]]<br />[[Heidelberg University]]
}}
'''George Hunt Pendleton''' (July 19, 1825{{spaced ndash}}November 24, 1889)<ref name="GHPObit1889"/> was an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. He represented [[Ohio]] in both houses of [[United States Congress|Congress]] and was the unsuccessful [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] nominee for [[Vice President of the United States]] in [[1864 United States presidential election|1864]].

After studying at the [[University of Cincinnati]] and [[Heidelberg University]] in Europe, Pendleton practiced law in his home town of [[Cincinnati, Ohio]]. He was the son of Congressman [[Nathanael G. Pendleton]] and the son-in-law of poet [[Francis Scott Key]]. After serving in the [[Ohio Senate]], Pendleton won election to the [[United States House of Representatives]]. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], he emerged as a leader of the [[Copperhead (politics)|Copperheads]], a group of Democrats who favored peace with the [[Confederated States of America|Confederacy]].<ref name=ohiocivilwarcentralbio>Searles, Harry; Mangus, Mike (April 9, 2012). [https://www.ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry.php?rec=934 George Hunt Pendleton (July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889)]. ''Ohio Civil War Central''. Retrieved January 27, 2022.</ref> After the war, he opposed the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]] and the [[Civil Rights Act of 1866]].

The [[1864 Democratic National Convention]] nominated a ticket of [[George B. McClellan]], who favored continuing the war, and Pendleton, who opposed it. The ticket was defeated by the [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union]] ticket of [[Abraham Lincoln]] and [[Andrew Johnson]], and Pendleton's term as a Congressman expired shortly thereafter. Pendleton was a strong contender for the presidential nomination at the [[1868 Democratic National Convention]], but was defeated by [[Horatio Seymour]]. After Pendleton lost the 1869 Ohio gubernatorial election, he temporarily left politics.

He served as the president of the Kentucky Central Railroad before returning to Congress. Pendleton won election to the U.S. Senate in 1879 and served a single term, becoming Chairman of the [[Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate|Senate Democratic Conference]]. After the assassination of President [[James A. Garfield]], he wrote and helped pass the [[Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act]] of 1883. The act required many civil service hires to be based on merit rather than political connections. Passage of the act lost him support in Ohio and he was not nominated for a second term in the Senate. President [[Grover Cleveland]] appointed him as the ambassador to the [[German Empire]]. He served in that position until 1889, dying later that same year.

==Early life==
Pendleton was born in Cincinnati on July 19, 1825.  He was the son of Jane Frances ([[née]] Hunt) Pendleton (1802–1839) and [[U.S. Representative]] [[Nathanael Greene Pendleton]] (1793–1861).<ref name="NGPbioguide">{{cite web |title=PENDLETON, Nathanael Greene - Biographical Information |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000208 |website=bioguide.congress.gov |publisher=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]] |access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref>

He attended the local schools and [[University of Cincinnati|Cincinnati College]] and the [[University of Heidelberg]] in Germany. Pendleton studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1847 and commenced practice in Cincinnati.<ref name="GHPbioguide"/>

==Career==
[[File:Democratic presidential ticket 1864b.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Currier and Ives]] print of the Democratic presidential party ticket, 1864. Lithograph with watercolor.]]

Pendleton was elected as a member of the [[Ohio Senate]], serving from 1854 to 1856. His father had been a member of the Ohio Senate from 1825 until 1827.<ref name="NGPbioguide"/> In 1854, he ran unsuccessfully for the [[Thirty-fourth United States Congress]]. Two years later, he was elected as a [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] to the [[Thirty-fifth United States Congress|Thirty-fifth Congress]] and would be re-elected to the three following Congresses (March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1865). During his time in the House of Representatives, he was one of the managers appointed by the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] in 1862 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against [[West H. Humphreys]], a US judge for several districts of Tennessee.

In the 1850s, Pendleton actively opposed measures to prohibit slavery in the [[Western United States]].<ref name=ohiocivilwarcentralbio/> A leading defender of slavery,<ref>December 4, 2012. [https://www.eastoregonian.com/opinion/editorials/pendleton-namesake-fought-for-slavery/article_9c76e429-ca15-50ea-b217-c477da97a448.html Pendleton namesake fought for slavery]. ''East Oregonian''. Retrieved January 27, 2022.</ref> he was a leader of the "peace" faction of his party during the American Civil War, with close ties to the [[Copperheads (politics)|Copperheads]]. He voted against the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]], which outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://beta.congress.gov/congressional-record/2005/12/08/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E2496-1|journal=Congressional Record |volume= 151|number=157|title=Recognizing the Anniversary of the 13th Amendment (Extensions of Remarks)|date=December 8, 2005|pages= E2496–E2497|publisher= Government Printing Office}}</ref>

===National politics===
Pendleton, a nationally prominent [[Copperhead (politics)|Extreme Peace Democrat]], was nominated as the vice presidential running mate of [[George McClellan]], a [[War Democrat]], in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1864|1864 presidential election]]. McClellan, age 37 at the time of the convention, and Pendleton, age 39, are the youngest major party presidential ticket ever nominated in the United States. Their [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union]] opponents were President Lincoln and [[Andrew Johnson]]. McClellan and Pendleton lost, receiving about 45% of the popular vote and less than 10% of the electoral vote.

Since Pendleton was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, he was not a candidate for re-election to the [[Thirty-ninth United States Congress|Thirty-ninth Congress]]. [[George E. Pugh]], the Democrat nominated to run for Pendleton's seat, lost to Republican [[Benjamin Eggleston]].

===Out of office===
Out of office for the first time in a decade, Pendleton ran for his old House seat in 1866 but lost. In [[1868 Democratic National Convention|1868]], he sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. He led for the first 15 ballots and was nearly the nominee, but his support disappeared and he lost to [[Horatio Seymour]], primarily for his support of the "[[Ohio idea]]."<ref name=ohiocivilwarcentralbio/> The following year, he was the Democratic nominee for [[Governor of Ohio]] and again lost, this time to [[Rutherford B. Hayes]].<ref name="GHPbioguide"/>

Pendleton stepped away from politics, and in 1869, he became president of the Kentucky Central Railroad.<ref name="Kentucky1877">{{cite book |last1=Kentucky Central Railroad Company |title=Charter of the Kentucky Central Railroad Company: To which is Added the General Laws of Kentucky Relating to Railroad Interests, and an Abstract of Decisions of the Court of Appeals Thereon. Also, Charters of the Maysville and Lexington Railroad Companies, North and Southern Divisions |date=1877 |publisher=Printed at the Western Methodist Book Concern |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vChEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA7 |access-date=3 October 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

===Political comeback===
In 1879, he made his comeback when he was elected as a Democrat to the [[United States Senate]]. During his only term, from 1881 to 1885, he served concurrently as the [[Democratic Conference Chairman of the United States Senate|Chairman of the Democratic Conference]]. Following the 1881 assassination of [[James A. Garfield]], he passed his most notable legislation, known as the [[Pendleton Act]] of 1883, requiring civil service exams for government positions. The Act helped put an end to the system of [[patronage]] in widespread use at the time, but it cost Pendleton politically, as many members of his own party preferred the spoils system. He was thus not renominated to the Senate.<ref name="GHPbioguide"/>

===Later life===
[[File:GHPendleton.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Pendleton in his later years.]]
Instead, President [[Grover Cleveland]] appointed him [[diplomatic rank|Envoy Extraordinary]] and [[Minister Plenipotentiary]] to Germany the year that he left office, which he served until April 1889. Five months later, during his return trip to the United States, he died in [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]].<ref name="GHPbioguide">{{cite web |title=PENDLETON, George Hunt - Biographical Information |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000203 |website=bioguide.congress.gov |publisher=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]] |access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref>

===Beliefs===
Pendleton had a very [[Jacksonian Democracy|Jacksonian]] commitment to the Democratic Party as the best, perhaps the only, mechanism through which ordinary Americans could shape government policies. Mach (2007) argues that Pendleton's chief contribution was to demonstrate the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]]'s willingness to use its power in government to achieve Jacksonian ideals.

While his Jacksonian commitment to [[states' rights]] and limited government made him a dissenter during the Civil War, what Mach calls Pendleton's Jacksonian "ardor to expand opportunities for ordinary Americans" was the basis for his leadership in civil service reform and his controversial plan to use [[greenback (money)|greenbacks]] to repay the federal debt.  What appeared to be a substantive ideological shift, Mach argues, represented Pendleton's pragmatic willingness to use new means to achieve old ends.

==Personal life==
[[File:Hiram Powers, Alice Key Pendleton, model 1870, carved 1870, NGA 176812.jpg|thumb|Alice Key Pendleton, sculpted by [[Hiram Powers]]]]
In 1846, Pendleton was married to Mary Alicia Key (1824–1886), the daughter of [[Francis Scott Key]], the lawyer, author, and amateur poet who is best known today for writing a poem which later became the lyrics for the United States' [[national anthem]], "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]." Together, George and Alicia were the parents of:

* Sarah Pendleton (born in [[Ireland]], about 1846)
* [[Francis Key Pendleton]] (1850–1930), who was born in Cincinnati and became prominent in New York society during the [[Gilded Age]].<ref name="McAllister1892">{{cite news|last1=McAllister|first1=Ward|title=THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED {{!}} WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/02/16/108210917.pdf|access-date=26 March 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=16 February 1892|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Patterson2000">{{cite book |last1=Patterson |first1=Jerry E. |title=The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age |date=2000 |publisher=Random House Incorporated |isbn=9780847822089 |page=217 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLwMAAAAYAAJ |access-date=13 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
* Mary Lloyd Pendleton (1852–1929), who was born in Cincinnati.
* Jane Francis Pendleton (1860–1950), who was born in the [[District of Columbia]], April 22, 1860.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=monkeys&id=I6090 |title=RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project: Janet Ariciu family Bush |publisher=Wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com |access-date=2013-11-08}}</ref>
* George Hunt Pendleton (1863–1868), who died young.

Pendleton became a member of the New York [[Society of the Cincinnati]] in 1886 by right of his descent from Captain Nathaniel Pendleton of the Continental Army.

At the end of his life, Pendleton suffered a [[stroke]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/name-from-history-the-pendletons-led-remarkable-lives-that-shaped-region-us-history | title=Name from History: The Pendletons led remarkable lives that shaped region, U.S. history | date=9 January 2017 | publisher=WCPO | access-date=16 June 2019}}</ref> Pendleton died in [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]] on November 24, 1889.<ref name="GHPObit1889">{{cite news |title=DEATH OF A DIPLOMAT {{!}} END OF GEORGE H. PENDLETON'S CAREER.THE EX-MINISTER TO GERMANY DYING AT BRUSSELS—HIS LIFE WORK AT HOME AND ABROAD. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1889/11/26/106213980.pdf |access-date=3 October 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 26, 1889}}</ref> He is interred in [[Spring Grove Cemetery]], [[Cincinnati, Ohio]].

===Memorials===
The city of [[Pendleton, Oregon]], is named after him.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Pendleton|url=https://pendleton.or.us/community/page/history-pendleton|access-date=2021-11-11|website=Pendleton, OR|language=en}}</ref>

The [[George H. Pendleton House]] in Cincinnati is a [[National Historical Landmark]] and was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1966.<ref name=nhlnom>{{cite web |url= {{NHLS url |id=66000611}} |title= National Historic Landmark nomination for George H. Pendleton House |publisher= National Park Service |access-date= 2018-03-20}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
In [[Steven Spielberg]]'s 2012 film, ''[[Lincoln (film)|Lincoln]]'', Pendleton is played by [[Peter McRobbie]] and portrayed as one of the most notable opponents of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]] and of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1866]].

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* Mach, Thomas S. ''"Gentleman George" Hunt Pendleton: Party Politics and Ideological Identity in Nineteenth-Century America'', Kent State University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-87338-913-6}}, 317 pp. [https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=faculty_books excerpt]; also [https://doi.org/10.2307/25095674 online review]
** [https://www.proquest.com/docview/304301172 PhD dissertation version]

==Further reading==
* Barreyre, Nicolas. “The Politics of Economic Crises: The Panic of 1873, the End of Reconstruction, and the Realignment of American Politics.” ''Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era'' 10#4 (2011), pp.&nbsp;403–23. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/23045120 online]
* Shipley, Max L. “The Background and Legal Aspects of the Pendleton Plan.” ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 24#3 1937, pp.&nbsp;329–40. [https://doi.org/10.2307/1891818 online]

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography|Politics}}
{{CongBio|P000203}}
*{{Find a Grave|5077}}
{{commons category}}

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