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James W. Denver

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

James William Denver (October 23, 1817-August 9, 1892) was an American politician and lawyer. He served in the California state government, as an officer in the United States Army, and as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from California. He served as secretary and governor of the Kansas Territory during the struggle over the whether or not Kansas would be open to slavery. The city of Denver, Colorado is named for him.

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Biography

Denver was born in Winchester, Virginia. He attended public schools and moved to Ohio with his parents in 1830, settling near Wilmington. In 1841 he taught school in Missouri and in 1844 he graduated from the law school of the University of Cincinnati. He was admitted to the bar and practiced law near Xenia, Ohio. He moved to Platte City, Missouri in 1845 where he continued his law practice.

In 1847, during the Mexican-American War, he recruited a company for the 12 U.S. Volunteer Infantry and was commissioned a captain, serving under Winfield Scott. After the war in 1850, he traveled to California where he became a trader. In 1852 he was later elected to the California State Senate. He was later appointed as Secretary of State of California. In 1854 he was elected to the United States Congress as as representative from California, serving from March 4, 1855-March 3, 1857. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1856. On April 17, 1857, President James Buchanan appointed him as Commissioner of Indian Afairs.

On June 17, 1857, he resigned as Commissioner of Indian Affairs as was appointed by Buchanan as Secretary of the Kansas Territory. In December 1857 he was appointed as Governor. On the day that Denver assumed the territorial governorship, citizens in the territory voted on the Lecompton Constitution, which open the territory to slavery. The vote offered a choice only between full slavery and limited slavery in the territory and was thus largely boycotted by those in favor of abolishing slavery. The pro-slavery constitution passed by an overwhelming margin. Later it was discovered that serveral thousand votes were cast fraudently by "border ruffians" who had crossed into the territory from Missouri in order to cast pro-slavery ballots (The vote was overturned by a subsequent election in August 1858, and Kansas was later admitted to the Union in 1861 as free state. See Bleeding Kansas for details.).

In November 1858, while Denver was still serving as territorial governor, William Larimer, Jr., a land speculator from Leavenworth, platted the townsite of "Denver City" along the South Platte River in Arapaho County, which comprised the western part of the territory in present-day Colorado. Larimer chose the name "Denver" to honor the current territorial governor with the intention that the city would be chosen as the county seat of Arapaho County.

Denver retired as territorial governor in November 1858 as was reappointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs, serving until his resignation on March 31, 1859. On August 14, 1861 at the start of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln commissioned him a brigadier general. He served in the Union Army until his resignation on March 5, 1863. After the end of the war, Denver practiced law in Washington, D.C. and Wilmington, Ohio. He served as a delegate to Democratic National Convention in 1876, 1880, and 1884. He was mentioned as possible Democratic presidential nominee in 1876 and 1884. He died in Washington, D.C. in 1892 and is buried in Wilmington, Ohio.