A Man of Politics

Ezra Cornell was deeply interested and involved in politics. As early as 1837, he was chosen as a delegate to the Tompkins County convention of the Whig party, and he backed William Henry Harrison and John Tyler in the 1840 election. His antislavery feelings led him to support Henry Clay in 1844 and to bitterly oppose the war with Mexico in 1846, which he saw as a bid to extend the reach of slavery.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 provided for Kansas and Nebraska to be organized as U.S. territories on the basis that they would allow slavery or not according to the wishes of their own inhabitants. Chaos and bloodshed ensued in Kansas, as pro- and antislavery factions vied for control of the territory. Popular dissatisfaction led to a realignment of political forces in the North and West. In 1854, a coalition of Whigs, Free-Soilers, and antislavery Democrats met to recommend the formation of a new party, and suggested the name Republican. Cornell early identified himself with the new party, serving as a delegate to the first national Republican convention in February 1856. The party nominated John C. Frémont on a platform which included the upholding of congressional authority to control slavery in the territories and the admission of Kansas to the Union as a free state. That year, the Democratic Party nominated James Buchanan and the Know-Nothing Party nominated Millard Fillmore. Cornell supported Frémont and continued to be active in the Republican Party, campaigning for Lincoln in the 1860 election. He was present at Lincoln’s inauguration in 1861.

That same year, Cornell was elected to the New York State Legislature. Because of his experience with farm issues and his position as President of the State Agricultural Society, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture. In 1863, he was elected to the State Senate, where he served for four years, representing Broome, Tioga, and Tompkins counties. In 1866, there was talk of nominating Cornell for governor of New York State. His son Alonzo B. Cornell served as governor from 1880 to 1883.

	Political memorabilia from the Harrison campaign, 1840. [zoom] | Additional images: From the Susan H. Douglas Collection of Political Americana
	Political memorabilia from the Clay campaign, 1844. [zoom] | Additional images: From the Susan H. Douglas Collection of Political Americana
	Ezra Cornell. Letter to Alonzo Cornell. Auburn, New York, December 20, 1846. [zoom] | View/download a PDF of this item I am so thurorly disgusted with the whole of this miserable Mexican War that I have no patience even to consider the good qualities of some of our best and bravest men. This war I firmly believe was provoked by our rulers to gratify a lust for conquest and extend the curse of human slavery. I don’t believe that our constitution authorises the waging [of] a war of invasion and it only authorises a defensive war through the sanction of the peoples representatives in Congress. This is not such a war as any man in my opinion can justify by the sacred document the Constitution of the United States.
	Ezra Cornell. Letter to the Editor of the American Citizen of Ithaca. Albion, Michigan, August 20, 1856. Contemporary copy. [zoom] | View/download a PDF of this item By 1854, the anti-Catholic and anti-immigration movement had emerged as an important political force. Officially called the American Party, it was popularly known as the Know-Nothing Party. As for the Pope, I am too old to be frightened by his shadow, and am quite sure his shadow or Substance will do less harm to the liberties of my country than will a party, who seek to acquire political power by exciting religious bigotry in the minds of their duped followers.
	Ezra Cornell. Letter to Mary Ann Cornell. Washington, D. C., March 11, 1860. [zoom] | View/download a PDF of this item Last Tuesday being the Presidents reception night . . . I called up at the White house, shook hands with “James the Usurper,” circulated through the gaudy apartments and gay throng untill the crowd became to dense to be pleasant when I returned to my hotel.
	Political memorabilia from the Buchanan Campaign, 1856. [zoom] From the Susan H. Douglas Collection of Political Americana
	Daniel B. Cornell. Letter to Ezra Cornell. Washington, D. C., October 27, 1860. [zoom] | View/download a PDF of this item We are now having a series of political mass meetings in this section of country, the Hon. John P. Hale is stumping the state for Old Abe. I heard him last Wednesday, we expect to give him a rousing majority in this state—Douglas stock is down low and still declining.
	Ezra Cornell. Pocket Diary. Entry for Monday, March 4, 1861, in Washington, D. C. [zoom] Joined the N.Y. Delegation at Willard and called on Gov. Seward who responded with a speach. Closed with the prediction that Lincoln’s administration would close with the refreshed Union healed and whole country united. Delegation then formed in procession and attended inauguration, got near enough to hear most of the President’s address which was forcibly delivered.
	Political memorabilia from the Lincoln campaign, 1860. [zoom] | Additional images: From the Susan H. Douglas Collection of Political Americana
	Ezra Cornell, ca. 1864. From the Photographic Senatorial Album of the Empire State, 1864-65. Albany, N. Y.: Churchill & Dennison, [1865]. [zoom]

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