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 BLAIR.

BLAIR.

convention in 1860 that nominated Abraham Lin- coln for the presidency, and in the same year was elected governor of Michigan. He was re-elected in 18(53, and served nearly the entire period of the civil war He was the first to receive the popular sobriquet of " War Governor." Michi- gan, from a population of 750,000, sent 90,000 men to the front, and Governor Blair's herculean efforts in his difficult and continuous task of equipping, forwarding and sustaining the troops broke down his health. In 1866 he was elected to represent his district in the 40th Congress. He was re elected to the 41st and 42d congresses, serving in the 42d as chairman of the committee on claims On this committee he opposed the Republican administration, and in 1872 supported Horace Greeley for the presidency. In 1883 he was elected a regent of the state university, and held the position until 1890. He died Aug. 6, 1894. BLAIR, Francis Preston, statesman, was born at Abingdon, Va., April 12, 1791; son of James Blair, attorney-general of Kentucky. He was graduated at the Transylvania xmiversity in 1811, and soon afterwards was appointed clerk of the supreme court of Kentucky. In 1828 he was elected by the legislature president of the bank of Kentucky. This office he resigned in 1830, when invited by President Jackson to establish the Globe newspaper at Washington, as the organ of his administration. As editor of the Globe, and as a member of the famous " Kitchen Cabinet," Mr. Blair exerted a wide influence during the eight years of the Jackson administra- tion. He became first known as a political writer during a controversy that arose in Kentucky over the attempt of its legislature to destroy the business of the United States bank by taxing its branches. The contest lasted ten years. It involved the right of a state to change the laws enforcing contracts, to abolish imprisonment for debt, to extend the replevin laws, and other im- portant questions. Mr. Blair advocated the power of a state to change existing laws without reference to pre-existing contracts, and to keep the judicial system under control by repeal and modification. He was beaten at the time, but when these questions became national, as they did in the controversy over the United States bank, his views were sustained by a large ma- jority of the American people. Mr. Blair con- tinued to conduct the Globe during the Jackson and Van Buren administrations, but on the ac- cession of Mr. Polk he surrendered his editorial jjosition, declined a foreign mission, and retired to his farm at Silver Spring, Md. After that he took no further part in politics than to strenu- ously opjKDse the extension of slavery in the new territories, and to do all that a private citizen could do to prevent an armed collision between

the north and south. During the civil war he was a zealous upholder of the Union, and believed that a satisfactory and honorable adjustment of the controversy might be accomplished by bring- ing together the leaders or officials on both sides. He obtained a pass to Richmond and unofficially visited President Davis and other leaders of the rebellion and finally brought about, at much personal inconvenience, what is known as the Hampton Roads conference, which resulted in a failure to secure even the basis of an under- standing. Mr. Blair opposed the reconstruction policy of President Johnson, and he thereafter supported the principles of the Democratic party, although not always approving the measures adopted. He died at Silver Spring, Oct. 18, 1876. BLAIR, Francis Preston, soldier, was born in Lexington, Ky., Feb. 19, 1821; son of Francis Preston Blair, statesman. He was graduated at Princeton in 1841, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. After practising two years at St. Louis, Mo., his health failed and he joined a party of trappers and spent the following two years in the Rocky Mountains. He enlisted as a private and served through the Mexican war, after which he returned to St. Louis and resumed the prac- tice of his profession. He took an active part in politics, as a Free Soil Democrat, and from 1852 to 1856 served his district in the Missouri legisla- ture. He acted for a time as editor of the Missouri Democrat. He attached himself to the Republican party upon its organization in 1856, was sent as a representative from Missouri to the 35th Congress, and while there favored the plan for colonizing Central America with negroes from the United States. In 1858 he was a candi- date for re-election and contested his seat in the 36th Congress, won it, and then resigned. In the election following he was defeated, but was elected to the 37th and 38th congresses. Mr. Blair, addressing a gathering of prominent Union men at St. Louis in November, 1860, urged the necessity of protecting the local arsenal, which contained sixty-five thousand stacks of government arms, from seizure by the state authorities. An independent military force was organized and he assumed command, and guarded the arsenal until May 10, 1861, when, without awaiting orders from Washington, he captured the state militia under General Frost. He then joined the Union army as colonel of volunteers and was promoted brigadier-general in August, 1861, and major-general, November, 1862. In 1863 he resigned his seat in Congress and com- manded a division in the Vicksburg campaign ; also at the battles of Lookout Moimtain and Mis- sionary Ridge, and led the 17th army corps in Sherman's campaigns of 1864-'65. He opposed the reconstruction measures of Congress, and when