Benjamin Wade

Benjamin Franklin Wade (October 27, 1800 – March 2, 1878), also known as B. F. Wade and nicknamed "Bluff," was a lawyer and prominent Radical Republican from Ohio known for his opposition towards the lenient Reconstruction policies pushed by President Abraham Lincoln as well as Andrew Johnson. He was previously a state senator from 1837 to 1842.

Political career

Wade's life in politics began as a prosecutor and local judge. From the late 1830s to the early 1840s, Wade served in the state legislature, where he established a reputation as a staunch abolitionist and advocate of civil rights, pushing for the repeal of racist "Black Codes." He was a member of the Whig Party during this period.

U.S. Senate

As a Whig, Wade won a special election to Ohio's Class I Senate seat in 1851. When the party collapsed due to internal division over slavery, he helped form the Republican Party, which he joined.

Joining GOP ranks as a Radical Republican, Wade was an ardent supporter of women's suffrage and trade unions. He voiced heavy opposition towards the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, drawing the ire of Southerners.

During the Civil War, Wade became chair of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of War. He frequently criticized the policies of President Lincoln, viewing them as too lenient and hesitating against the Confederacy. Indeed, Wade even doubted Lincoln's abolitionist stances and said that the latter's viewpoints:

“	...could only come of one born of poor white trash and educated in a slave state.	”
—Wade during the Civil War

Sen. Wade, with fellow Radical Republican Henry W. Davis, introduced the Wade-Davis bill pertaining to a post-war plan which called for harsh restrictions on the South to safeguard the constitutional rights of newly freed blacks. Although it passed both houses of Congress, Lincoln pocket-vetoed Wade-Davis, and it never became law.

External links

• Profile at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Find a Grave