American politician
"Senator Latham" redirects here. For the North Carolina state senate member, see
Louis C. Latham
.
Milton Latham
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In office
March 5, 1860 ? March 3, 1863
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Preceded by
| Henry P. Haun
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Succeeded by
| John Conness
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In office
January 9, 1860 ? January 14, 1860
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Lieutenant
| John G. Downey
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Preceded by
| John B. Weller
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Succeeded by
| John G. Downey
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In office
March 4, 1853 ? March 3, 1855
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Preceded by
| Edward C. Marshall
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Succeeded by
| James W. Denver
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Born
| (
1827-05-23
)
May 23, 1827
Columbus, Ohio
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Died
| March 4, 1882
(1882-03-04)
(aged 54)
New York City
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Political party
| Lecompton Democrat
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Spouse
| Sophie Birdsall
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Alma mater
| Jefferson College
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Profession
| Lawyer, politician, teacher
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Milton Slocum Latham
(May 23, 1827 ? March 4, 1882) was an American politician, who served as the
sixth governor of California
and as a
U.S. Representative
and
U.S. Senator
. Latham holds the distinction of having the shortest governorship in California history, lasting for five days between January 9 and January 14, 1860. A
Lecompton Democrat
, Latham resigned from office (the second governor to do so) after being elected by the state legislature to a seat in the U.S. Senate.
Biography
[
edit
]
Born in
Columbus, Ohio
in 1827, Latham was educated in
classical studies
at
Jefferson College
in
Washington, Pennsylvania
, graduating in 1845. Following his graduation, Latham moved to
Russell County, Alabama
, working briefly as a
school teacher
while studying law. He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1848, working as Russell County's circuit court clerk for two years until 1850, when he relocated to
San Francisco, California
following the
Gold Rush
.
In San Francisco, Latham continued in law, becoming a recording clerk for the county, and in 1851, the
district attorney
of
Sacramento
. After serving for one year, Latham entered politics, and in 1852, ran as a
Democrat
and won a seat in the
U.S. House of Representatives
. After the completion of his two-year term, Latham declined to run for another term and returned to
California
to again practice law, despite being renominated by state Democrats.
Only a year after returning to
San Francisco
, Latham was appointed
U.S. Customs
Collector for the
Port of San Francisco
by President
Franklin Pierce
, a post the former congressman protested initially, but reluctantly later accepted. Latham held the post until 1857.
Since the beginning of the 1850s, issues regarding
slavery
had effectively split the national
Democratic Party
. California was controlled by the states-rights Chivalry wing, who had defeated
Tammany Hall
in the state.
[1]
Nationally, by 1857, the party had split into the
Lecompton
and Anti-Lecompton factions. Lecompton members supported the
Kansas
Lecompton Constitution, a document explicitly allowing slavery into the territory, while Anti-Lecompton faction members were in opposition to slavery's expansion. The violence between supporting and opposition forces led to the period known as
Bleeding Kansas
. Splits in the Democratic Party, as well as the
power vacuum
created by the collapse of the
Whig Party
, helped facilitate the rise of the
American Party
both in state and federal politics. In particular, state voters voted Know-Nothings into the
California State Legislature
, and elected
J. Neely Johnson
as governor in the 1855 general elections.
During the 1859 general elections, Lecompton Democrats voted Latham, who had briefly lived in the
American South
, as their nominee for
governor
. Anti-Lecomptons in turn selected
John Currey
as their nominee. The infant
Republican Party
, running in its first gubernatorial election, selected businessman
Leland Stanford
as its nominee. To make matters more complicated, during the campaign, Senator
David C. Broderick
, an Anti-Lecompton Democrat, was killed in a
duel
by slavery supporter and former
state Supreme Court Justice
David Terry
on September 13.
[2]
Despite the party split and Republican entrance to the campaign, Latham won the election, garnering sixty percent of the vote.
Governor
[
edit
]
Latham was inaugurated on January 9, 1860. In his inauguration speech, the new governor outlined his main priority as solving the state's creeping
debt
, an issue that previously challenged former governors
John Bigler
,
J. Neely Johnson
and
John Weller
. Latham suggested curtailing legislative expenses, erecting more governmental buildings?such as completing the new
State Capitol building
?without raising taxes, and increasing
U.S. Mail
links from the
Eastern United States
to California to help facilitate commerce and personal links. Latham also suggested that the Office of the governor should not be made more powerful, and be securely
checked
by the legislature and courts.
[3]
However, only hours into his term, Latham's desire for political advancement was quickly known. Within days, Latham had proposed to the
Assembly
and
Senate
that he be elected to finish the term of the late
U.S. Senator
David C. Broderick
, who had been killed in a duel the previous September. (Prior to the
Seventeenth Amendment
,
state legislatures
selected U.S. senators.)
[4]
Henry P. Haun
had been appointed to fill the vacancy on an interim basis and ran for the remainder of the term, but Latham was chosen by the legislature, and on January 14, 1860, just five days into his governorship, Latham
resigned
. He was the second California Governor to resign from office.
[5]
Latham's five-day tenure as governor remains the shortest in California history. His record for the shortest tenure of any California constitutional officer held until Republican
Sean Wallentine
served three days ? December 31, 2010 to January 3, 2011 ? as an acting member of the
California State Board of Equalization
.
[6]
[7]
Post governorship
[
edit
]
Latham traveled to
Washington, D.C.
to take his
U.S. Senate
seat later that year. Serving for the next three years as a
Democrat
, he ran for reelection once Broderick's original term expired in 1863. However, political support in California had turned away from the Democrats in favor of
Unionist Republicans
, who now controlled the
State Legislature
. Latham lost his bid for a second Senate term to Republican
John Conness
, himself a former Anti-Lecompton Democrat.
[8]
Following his defeat, Latham traveled to
Europe
, joining the London and San Francisco Bank Ltd (now
MUFG Union Bank
), where he became the bank's San Francisco chief. Throughout the late 1860s and into the 1870s, Latham helped finance the
California Pacific
and the
North Pacific Coast Railroad
, earning recognition as one of California's rail barons.
In 1872, Latham bought and began renovating a 50-room
Menlo Park
mansion, Thurlow Lodge, as a gift to his bride, only for the estate to burn down before completion. Nevertheless, it was entirely rebuilt in 1873. In 1874, Latham commissioned
Carleton Watkins
to photograph the huge estate and produce two presentation albums of mammoth plate prints.
Latham moved to
New York City
in 1879 to become president of the
New York Mining Stock Exchange
. The former governor died in New York three years later in 1882 at 54. He was originally buried at
Laurel Hill Cemetery
in
San Francisco
(now the site of the Lone Mountain campus of the
University of San Francisco
), and re-interred at
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
in nearby
Colma
in 1940.
[9]
References
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]
Further reading
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edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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National
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