Everything about David Tod totally explained
David Tod (
February 21 1805 –
November 13 1868) was a politician and industrialist from the
U.S. state of
Ohio. As the 25th
Governor of Ohio, Tod gained recognition for his forceful and energetic leadership during the
American Civil War.
A Democrat who supported the war effort, Tod held together a fragile alliance between the state's
Republicans and
War Democrats and took steps to secure Ohio's borders. In 1864, the state's pro-Union party failed to nominate Tod for a second term because of his tepid support for the
abolition of slavery and his unpopularity among the state's myriad political factions.
After completing his two-year term as Ohio governor, Tod turned down an invitation to serve in the government of President
Abraham Lincoln, citing poor health. Tod died of a stroke in 1868, four years after the end of the war.
Early life
Tod was born in
Youngstown, Ohio, to a family actively involved in local and state politics. His father,
George Tod, born to a
Scottish immigrant in
Suffield, Connecticut, had relocated to the
Connecticut Western Reserve in 1800. There, he pursued a career in public life, serving as an Ohio lawmaker between 1804 and 1806, and winning a seat as a justice on the
Ohio Supreme Court in 1807.
David Tod attended Burton Academy in
Geauga County and studied law in
Warren, where he was appointed postmaster. Admitted to the Ohio bar in 1827, he made a fortune as a lawyer involved in the coal and iron industries of the
Mahoning Valley, and rose to become president of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad.
Early political career
Tod was a candidate for Ohio's governorship as a
Democrat in 1843 and 1845, running on a strongly anti-national bank platform, but lost both elections. He was appointed by President
James K. Polk as minister (ambassador) to
Brazil from 1847 to 1851. He presided over the
1860 Democratic National Convention in Baltimore after the resignation of
Caleb Cushing as convention president.
Although previously a strong Democratic, Tod joined the pro-Union alliance between the Republican Party and Ohio's War Democrats at the outset of the Civil War. On
September 5,
1861, Republicans and War Democrats met in
Columbus, Ohio, to form the
National Union Party. The newly established party promptly abandoned the state's beleaguered Republican governor,
William Dennison, and threw its support behind Tod – a move designed to strengthen solidarity between War Democrats and Republicans. Several months later, when
Confederate troops under the leadership of
Stonewall Jackson threatened
Washington, D.C., Tod was able to secure 5,000 volunteers to provide three months of service. At the same time, as historian Richard H. Abbott observed, Tod also "battled with recalcitrant Democrats, unruly newspaper editors, draft rioters, and strange secret societies".
He recommended the federal military arrest of
Copperhead leaders such as Dr.
Edson B. Olds—who sued him for kidnapping and actually had the governor briefly arrested, before the
Supreme Court of Ohio issued a writ of
habeas corpus–and
Clement Vallandigham. In 1862, he attended the Loyal
War Governors' Conference in
Altoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately backed Abraham Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation and the Union war effort. At the same time, Tod resisted the idea of using black troops in the war effort. When black
abolitionist leader
John Mercer Langston urged the governor to enlist
African-American soldiers to help the state fill its draft quotas, Tod responded sharply, saying, "Do you not know, Mr. Langston, that this is a white man's government; that white men are able to defend and protect it?" Nevertheless, by 1863, blacks were being enrolled in Ohio's volunteer units, and more than 5,000 served in state or federal units.
Later years
Tod was unable to secure the pro-Union renomination in 1863, losing it to another War Democrat,
John Brough, who enjoyed greater popularity among Ohioans and proved less tentative in his support of the anti-slavery direction the Northern war effort had by then taken.
Since his death, Tod has gained recognition as an effective political leader who guided his state through a difficult period. As Delmer J. Trester wrote, "His administration was characterized by intense patriotism, devotion to duty, administrative ability, and unflagging energy. Ohio was fortunate to have David Tod as one of its war governors".
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