Rutherford
B. Hayes Presidential Center
Edwin Wallace Stoughton
Introduction
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content
Inventory
Introduction
The Stoughton materials were acquired by the
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in 1986 and 1987.
Biographical
Sketch
Edwin Wallace Stoughton
was born in Springfield, Vermont on May 14, 1818 to Thomas Potwine
Stoughton and Susan Bradley. At the age of 18, he left his father’s farm and
relocated to New York City
to study law with the firm Seely & Glover until he was admitted to the bar
in 1840. He then published a series of articles in Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine regarding marine warranty policies and
the opium trade. He also wrote articles for New World. Following his
admission to the bar, Stoughton
practiced law individually. His rise to
prominence in the legal profession began with his involvement in a number of
significant patent law cases. Stoughton
first served as associate counsel in the Woodworth Planning Machines cases in
1846. By 1849, he had risen to senior counsel. Stoughton argued successfully for the
continued renewal of the Woodworth Planning Machine patent in 1846, much to the
dismay of the lumber industry. Following the Woodworth heirs’ attempt to renew
the patent yet again in 1850, Stoughton
was unsuccessful primarily due to organized lobbying by the lumber industry.
The Woodworth Planning Machine cases and Stoughton’s
involvement were a driving force behind the patent law amendments of 1861,
which restricted renewal of patents to 17 years with no extension. In his most
celebrated case, Stoughton
worked with his friend and neighbor William Evarts in which they argued for the
Charles Goodyear heirs in Goodyear v. The
Providence Rubber Company (1864). The result was a declaration of
Goodyear’s patent as “impregnable.”
Stoughton appeared before the courts in a
great number of other patent cases. He met success in Ross Winans v. The New York and Erie Railroad (1856);
Wheeler and Wilson sewing machine patents (1860); Aspinwall; and the Corliss
steam-engine cases. He also represented the United States in U.S. v. Callicott.
His other significant law
suits include arguing for property owners against the West Side and Yonkers
Patent Railway Company, which built and operated the first elevated rail line
in New York City
in 1868. However, the court ruled in favor of West Side and Yonkers, which was represented by William
Evarts. Stoughton
won in United States v. Rosenburg in
the U.S. Supreme Court against Evarts, issuing the latter one of his only defeats
before the Supreme Court. In contrast, Peik v. The Chicago and Northwestern Railway
Company (1876) saw Stoughton
and Evarts successfully argue together before the United States Supreme Court.
.
While Stoughton often argued against the future
Secretary of State William Evarts, the two remained close friends. Stoughton’s home in Vermont,
“Blow-Me-Down,” was adjacent to Evarts’ estate “Runnemede.” Their homes are
still preserved today (2010) in Windsor,
Vermont.
Under Evarts’ leadership, Stoughton joined his
friend as a founding member of the Bar Association of New York City, which
represented a firm response to corruption of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall
politics. It was also through Evarts that Stoughton
became a patron of American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens of the American Renaissance School. Stoughton secured a number of commissions for
Saint-Gaudens and was the subject of a classical style bust and cameo now
located in the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida.
Evarts was also responsible
for Stoughton’s
entry into the political arena. While Stoughton
considered himself a War Democrat, he extended his support to the Grant
administration. He spoke publicly in favor of Grant’s actions when the
president utilized federal troops in Louisiana
to confront the White League. For this he gained Grant’s friendship and was
later asked to take part in a bipartisan commission to investigate and report
on the Hayes-Tilden election in Louisiana.
Stoughton
personally observed the canvassing of votes by the Returning Board and
testified in favor of Hayes before the Electoral Commission in two major
speeches. The result was the acceptance of all disputed Republican votes in Louisiana. Stoughton later published his experiences with the
Electoral Commission in Louisiana
in an article in the North American
Review titled “The ‘Electoral Commission’ Bubble Exploded.”
His work in the disputed
election gained the attention of President Hayes, who appointed Stoughton to the position
of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Russian Empire.
During his time there the U.S.
enjoyed good relations with Russia
symbolized in a visit by President Ulysses S. Grant in August 1878. In Stoughton’s diary, he
makes reference to accompanying Grant on various trips and meetings. However, Stoughton’s ministry ended
abruptly due to ill health. The inhospitable climate of St. Petersburg forced him to resign after
only a year. Stoughton
returned home and died three years later on January 7, 1882.
In 1855, Stoughton married Mary Bound Fiske, a widow
and the mother of prominent historian and philosopher John Fiske. Edwin and
Mary Fiske Stoughton had no children.
Scope
and Content
The collection
consists of 49 incoming letters and telegrams, along with several newspaper
clippings. The collection extends from 1857 to 1881, however, the bulk of the material
spans the years from 1876 to1879. The collection also contains a handwritten
diary kept by Stoughton while serving as envoy
to Russia
during the Hayes administration. Of particular interest are Stoughton’s
remarks written while accompanying President Ulysses S. Grant during his visit
to Russia
in August 1878.
The collection is
largely incoming correspondence from prominent nineteenth century Americans,
including: John Jacob Astor, businessman and real estate tycoon in New York and
multi-millionaire; Charles Dana, a prominent journalist and close friend of
U.S. Grant; Roscoe Conkling, New York Senator and political mentor of Chester
Arthur; William Hunt, Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Arthur and
Garfield; and John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury during the Hayes
Administration. Much of the correspondence is of a business or personal nature.
However, some of the correspondence documents the political situation
surrounding the Disputed Election of 1876 and the Radical Republican Stephen B.
Packard and his Democratic opponent Francis T. Nicholls in Louisiana. A certified copy of the vote of
the “Electors for President in Louisiana in
1876” and a document relating to the presidential election in South Carolina in 1876 are also part of this
collection. The collection is largely arranged alphabetically by the correspondent’s
surname.
.
Ac. 4822, 4928
49 items
Inventory
Folder #1: John Jacob Astor and Charles Dana
Astor, John Jacob, New
York [undated]
Dana, Charles, Union Club, New York, Jan. 14
Folder #2: Roscoe Conkling, 1874-1881
Conkling, Roscoe, Dec. 24, 1874
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Washington,
D.C., Jan. 20, 1875
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Washington,
D.C, Mar. 17, 1875
----- Apr. 7, 1875
----- Washington,
D.C., Feb. 21, 1876
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Washington,
D.C., May 5, 1876
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Washington,
D.C., May 27, 1876
----- Washington,
D.C., May 30, 1876
----- Utica,
Sept. 17, 1876
----- Utica,
Oct. 7, 1876
----- Utica,
New York, Oct. 25, 1876
----- Utica,
New York, Nov. 10, 1876
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Washington,
D.C., Dec. 18 1876
----- Washington,
D.C., Jan. 1, 1877
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Washington,
D.C., Oct. 14, 1877
----- Utica,
New York, June 28, 1878
----- Utica,
New York, Aug. 17, 1879
----- Utica,
New York, Aug. 29, 1879
----- Utica,
New York, Oct. 14, 1879
----- Utica,
New York, Oct. 18, 1879
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Washington,
D.C., Feb. 11, 1880
----- Dec. 12, 1880
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Feb. 26, 1881
----- U.S.
Senate Chamber, Mar. 2, 1881
----- Utica,
Oct. 24, 1881
Folder #3: William M. Evarts, 1858-1878
Evarts, William M., New
York, Dec. 28
----- Windsor,
Vermont, Sept. 24, 1858
----- Apr., 16, 1859
----- New York,
June, 28, 1867
----- Washington,
D.C., Nov. 10, 1868
----- Dec. 25, 1871
----- Windsor,
Vermont, Aug. 22, 1878
Folder #4: Ulysses S. Grant, 1876
Grant, U.S., Wilmington,
Delaware, Nov. 11, 1876 [String
Telegram]
----- Washington,
D.C., Nov. 11, 1876 [Telegram]
----- Washington,
D.C., Nov. 12, 1876 [Telegram]
Folder #5: William Hunt, 1875-1879
Hunt, William H., Washington,
D.C., Mar. 2
----- Arlington,
Mar. 8,
----- Washington,
D.C., Mar. 13
----- New Orleans,
Louisiana, Jan. 27, 1875
----- New York,
November 11, 1876
----- New Orleans,
Louisiana, Feb. 21, 1877
----- Washington,
D.C. , Mar. 17, 1877
----- New Orleans,
Louisiana, Mar. 22 1877
----- New Orleans,
Louisiana, July 5, 1877
----- New Orleans,
Louisiana, Nov. 27, 1877
----- Washington,
D.C., Mar. 8, 1879
----- Washington,
D.C., May 4, 1879
Folder #6: John Sherman, 1877
Sherman, John,
U.S. Senate Chamber, Washington, D.C.,
Jan. 8, 1877
----- To J.W. Stevenson, Treasury Department, Washington,
D.C., Mar. 16, 1877
----- Treasury
Department, Washington,
D.C., Sept. 6, 1877
----- Treasury
Department, Washington,
D.C., Oct. 3, 1877
Folder #7: Correspondence 1876-1877
Anonymous, State of New Jersey,
Attorney General’s Office, Trenton,
Nov. 3, 1876
Chandler, Zachariah, Washington, D.C.,
Nov. 11, 1876 [Telegram]
----- Nov. 12, 1876 [Telegram]
Cisco and Son, J.A., New
York, Aug. 15, 1878
Davis, Noah, Supreme Court, New York, Jan. 8, 1877
Frémont, Jesse Benton, [Undated]
Hunt, William. M., New Orleans,
Louisiana,
Nov. 11, 1876 [Telegram]
Kellogg, W.P., New
Orleans, Nov. 12, 1876 [Telegram]
MacDowell, General Irvin, San Francisco, California,
Nov. 25, 1877
Morton, Rose & Co., London, U.K.,
Dec. 19, 1877
Neilson, J., Brooklyn,
New York, Nov. 1, 1877
Oglesby, J.A., Paris,
France, Sept.
21, 1878
Parker, Courtlandt, Newark,
Nov. 3, 1877
Phelps, E.J., Burlington,
Aug. 6, 1878
Stoughton, E.W., St. Petersburg, Russia, Sept. 2, 1878 [Draft
Letter]
Welch, John, London,
U.K., June 20,
1878
----- London,
U.K., June 26,
1878
[Unknown] June 20, 1878
Hitt, R.R., Paris,
France, June 8,
1878
Folder #8: Newspaper Clippings
Newspaper Clippings regarding President U.S. Grant and E.W.
Stoughton
Newspaper Clipping, New
York, Jan. 21, 1875
Folder #9: Stoughton Diary
while serving in Russia,
July 4, 1878 - April 1, 1879
Diary July 4th, 1878 through April 20, 1879
Folder #10: Vote of the Electors for President in Louisiana, 1876
Testimony signed by William P. Kellogg, J. Henri Burch,
Peter Joseph, Lionel A. Sheldon, Morris Marks, Aaron B. Levisee, Orlando H.
Brewster. [handwritten document]
Folder #11: 1876 Presidential Election in South Carolina
Statement regarding the 1876 Presidential Election in South Carolina and “historical
background since the close of the Civil War” [handwritten document, 16 pp.]
Folder #12: Voided Check, St. Petersburg, Russia,
Dec. 31, 1878
OVERSIZE
Speech of Senator Trumbull, Delivered at Belleville, Illinois,
[Undated]
Editorial, “Contested Elections” New Jersey
Standard, [Undated]
Editorial, “What is to be done in Louisiana?” New York Times, Feb. 5, 1875
Editorial, “The Louisiana
Question” New York,
Feb. 5, 1875
Reprint of Speeches by Rutherford B. Hayes and John Sherman
in reply to Senator A.G. Thurman, New York Tribune, September 6, 1878