Samuel Sullivan Cox papers (Ms.77.15)

Biographical note

Cox was born in Zanesville, Ohio on Sept. 30, 1824, the son of Ezekiel Taylor Cox, editor of the Muskingum Messenger, and member of the Ohio State Senate. Politics ran strongly in the family. His mother's father, Samuel Sullivan, was a former state treasurer of Ohio, and his paternal grandfather, General James Cox, was a former speaker of the New Jersey Legislature and a member of the 10th U.S. Congress.

After completing his primary and secondary education, Cox attended Ohio University for two years before entering and graduating with high honors from Brown University in 1846. He studied law for two years in Cincinnati, and then opened a brief law partnership with George L. Pugh, a future U.S. senator from Ohio. The partnership was successful, but nonetheless Cox's ambitions drew him to Europe. After marrying Julia A. Buckingham in 1849, he traveled with her through Europe for a year, a journey which resulted in the writing of A Buckeye Abroad (1852).

The commercial success of A Buckeye Abroad encouraged Cox to enter the field of journalism. He purchased the Democratic Ohio Statesman of Columbus, Ohio. Soon, journalism, in turn, led Cox to politics. Appointed Chairman of the Democratic state committee, 1853, Cox was instrumental in the party's gubernatorial victory of that year. He was rewarded in 1855 with the post of the secretary of the legation to Peru. Unfortunately, ill health forced him to resign.

Upon returning to Ohio, Cox was elected to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat from the 10th Ohio District. For the next 30 years, with the exception of the 39th and 40th Congresses, and a year in the diplomatic service, Cox was continually in Congress.

Arriving in Washington, D.C. in 1856, Cox strongly supported Stephen Douglass in his struggle against the Kansas Lecompton Constitution; however, he actively opposed the nominal head of his party, President Buchanan, on several key issues, including the Homestead bill. Throughout his career Cox maintained an attitude of independence, which may have cost him his two bids for the House Speakership. As the Civil War approached, Cox supported all measures which offered hope of reconciliation between the sections. He was nevertheless a staunch Unionist and supported all war appropriations, although throughout the war he continued to work strongly for compromise and early settlement. As a result, Cox was never identified with C.L. Vallandigham and other Copperheads.

During the war years, Cox aided in the settlement of the Trent Affair, strongly opposed the declaration of martial law outside the war zone, sought the abolishment of privateering, and was instrumental in bringing about the unsuccessful Hampton Roads Conference of 1864. He supported General George McClellan for President in 1864, and before he himself suffered defeat in his bid for reelection, Cox successfully opposed extreme confiscation measures of Southern property.

After his defeat, Cox moved to New York, convinced that Ohio was becoming increasingly Republican. For the next several months he practiced law and wrote Eight years in Congress. Returning to Congress in 1868, Cox worked for amnesty and for reform of the tariff and Civil Service. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Life Saving Service; his support of mail carriers in their effort to secure better pay was noteworthy; and his efforts were largely responsible for the broadening in scope of the census of 1890.

Cox was appointed Minister to Turkey in 1885, but resigned after only one year of service, writing Diversions of a diplomat in Turkey before returning to Congress in 1887. He died in 1889.