View source for Timothy O. Howe

{{short description|19th century American politician}}
{{redirect|Senator Howe}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = The Honorable
|name            = Timothy O. Howe
|image           = Timothy O. Howe - Brady-Handy.jpg
|order           = 30th 
|office          = United States Postmaster General
| president      = [[Chester A. Arthur]]
| term_start     = December 20, 1881
| term_end       = March 25, 1883
| predecessor    = [[Thomas Lemuel James]]
| successor      = [[Walter Q. Gresham]]
|jr/sr1          = United States Senator
|state1          = [[Wisconsin]]
| term_start1    = March 4, 1861 
| term_end1      = March 3, 1879 
| predecessor1   = [[Charles Durkee]]
| successor1     = [[Matthew H. Carpenter]]
|office2         = Justice of the {{nowrap|[[Wisconsin Supreme Court]]}}
| status2        = ''[[ex officio]]''
| term_start2    = January 1, 1851 
| term_end2      = June 1, 1853
|office3         = [[Wisconsin circuit courts|Wisconsin Circuit Court]] Judge {{nowrap|for the 4th Circuit}}
| term_start3    = January 1, 1851 
| term_end3      = 1855
| predecessor3   = [[Alexander W. Stow]]
| successor3     = [[William R. Gorsline]] 
|birth_name     = Timothy Otis Howe
|birth_date     = {{birth date|1816|2|24}}
|birth_place    = [[Livermore, Maine|Livermore]], {{nowrap|[[District of Maine]]}}, [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
|death_date     = {{death date and age|1883|3|25|1816|2|24}}
|death_place    = [[Kenosha, Wisconsin]], U.S.
|restingplace   = [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Green Bay, Wisconsin)|Woodlawn Cemetery]] <br />[[Green Bay, Wisconsin]]
|party          = {{unbulleted list|
 | [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
 | [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (before 1854)
}}
|spouse         = {{unbulleted list
 | Linda Ann Haines
 | (died 1881)
}}
|children     = {{unbulleted list
 | Mary (Totten)
 | {{sup|(b. 1844; died 1913)}}
 | Frank Howard Howe
 | {{sup|(b. 1850; died 1897)}}
}}
|relatives    = [[James Henry Howe]] (nephew)
|education    = [[Kents Hill School|Maine Wesleyan Seminary]]
}}
'''Timothy Otis Howe''' (February 24, 1816{{spaced ndash}}March 25, 1883) was an American lawyer, jurist, [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician, and [[Wisconsin]] pioneer.  He was a [[United States senator]] for three terms, representing the state of Wisconsin from March&nbsp;4, 1861, to March&nbsp;3, 1879.  He later served as the 30th [[United States Postmaster General|U.S. Postmaster&nbsp;General]] under President [[Chester&nbsp;A. Arthur]], from 1881 until his death in 1883.  While he was serving as U.S. senator, President [[Ulysses&nbsp;S. Grant]] offered to appoint Howe as [[Chief Justice of the United States]], following the death of [[Salmon&nbsp;P. Chase]], but Howe declined because he believed that it would result in his U.S. Senate seat being claimed by a Democrat.

Earlier in his career, he was a justice of the [[Wisconsin Supreme Court]], at the time that the Wisconsin Supreme Court was simply a panel of the state's circuit court judges.<ref>[http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=2270&search_term=howe www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=2270&search_term=howe]</ref>

His nephew, [[James Henry Howe]], became a United&nbsp;States district judge in Wisconsin.

==Biography==
Howe was born in [[Livermore, Maine]] (then, part of the commonwealth of [[Massachusetts]]), to Timothy Howe and Betsey Howard, attended Readfield Seminary now [[Kents Hill School]], in [[Readfield, Maine]], and studied law with local judges.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mecreadf/rdfldkhs.htm | title=Kents Hill School Notables }}</ref> In 1839, Howe was admitted to the Maine Bar and began practicing law in Readfield. In 1845, he was elected to the [[Maine House of Representatives]].<ref>[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/howarth-howe.html politicalgraveyard.com/bio/howarth-howe.html]</ref> Shortly thereafter, Howe moved to [[Green Bay, Wisconsin]], and opened a law office. He was an ardent [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] and ran an unsuccessful campaign for [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] in 1848.

Howe married Linda Ann Haines and together the couple had 2 children, Mary E. Howe and Frank K. Howe.

Howe was elected circuit judge in Wisconsin and served in that position from 1851 to 1855.  As a circuit judge, he also served as a justice of the [[Wisconsin Supreme Court]] until a separate Supreme Court was organized in 1853.

In 1857, Howe ran unsuccessfully for the [[Senate of the United States|U.S. Senate]].<ref name="Post">{{cite news|title=Post Master General Howe Dead |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2090608/timothy_o_howe_18161883/|newspaper=Greensboro North State|date=March 29, 1883|page=2|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = March 29, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref> In 1861, Howe ran again and won election to the Senate,<ref name="Post"/> serving during the [[American Civil War]] and [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]].  During his time in the Senate, he was an abolitionist and supporter of the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth Amendment]]. Howe argued against the claims of contemporary Democrats that blacks were inherently racially inferior, and remarked that their claim that abolition would cause a war of racial extermination was "a libel upon humanity, black or white."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Oakes|first=James|title=Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865|publisher=[[W.W. Norton]]|year=2013|isbn=|location=|pages=451}}</ref>  During this time he was considered one of the "[[Radical Republicans]]" due to his support for racial equality and his opposition to discrimination.<ref>War and Taxes By Steven A. Bank, Kirk J. Stark, Joseph J. Thorndike pg. 39</ref>

1865 Congressional Hearings chaired by Senator Doolittle looked into Sioux Complaints from the Yankton and Dakota tribes.<ref>Speeches to the Special Joint Committee on the Condition Of the Indian Tribes, 1865, Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin sub-committee chairman [https://www.stolaf.edu//people/fitz/COURSES/Siouxcomplaints.htm]</ref>  The Senator found: "Many agents, teachers, and employees of the government, are inefficient, faithless, and even guilty of peculations are fraudulent practices upon the government and upon the Indians."  Yankton Chief Medicine Cow testified that Government Agents were the cause of the Minnesota problems.  What those agents did in Minnesota was a harbinger of the history coming for the other tribes of the plains.

While in the Senate, President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] offered Howe the position of [[Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court|Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court]]. However, Howe declined the offer because he feared his successor to the Senate would be a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]. Howe lost his senate seat in 1879 to fellow Republican [[Matthew H. Carpenter]]. In 1881, he was appointed [[United States Postmaster General]] by President [[Chester A. Arthur]], a position he held until his death in [[Kenosha, Wisconsin]], on March&nbsp;25, 1883.<ref name="Post"/>

==Electoral history==
===U.S. House of Representatives (1848)===
{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District Election, 1848<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wisconsin U.S. House Election Results |url=http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/cspg/research/election_data_archive/pdf/WI_US_House_Election_Results.pdf |publisher=Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405132933/http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/cspg/research/election_data_archive/pdf/WI_US_House_Election_Results.pdf |archive-date=April 5, 2012 |access-date=August 27, 2014 }}</ref>}}
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''General Election, November 7, 1848'''
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[James Duane Doty]]
  |votes      = 5,746
  |percentage = 50.34%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Whig Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Timothy O. Howe
  |votes      = 3,338
  |percentage = 29.24%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Free Soil Party
  |candidate  = [[Stoddard Judd]]
  |votes      = 2,330
  |percentage = 20.41%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box plurality
  |votes      = 2,408
  |percentage = 21.10%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box total
  |votes      = 11,414
  |percentage = 100.0%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box new seat win
 |winner = Democratic Party (United States)
}}
{{Election box end}}

===Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor (1849)===
{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election, 1849<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58632563/wisconsin-general-election-1849/ |title= Official Canvass |newspaper= Wisconsin Democrat |date= December 15, 1849 |page= 3 |accessdate= December 19, 2021 |via= [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref>}}
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''General Election, November 6, 1849'''
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Samuel Beall]]
  |votes      = 16,446
  |percentage = 52.33%
  |change     = -5.37pp
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Whig Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Timothy O. Howe
  |votes      = 10,983
  |percentage = 34.95%
  |change     = -7.35pp
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Free Soil Party
  |candidate  = [[John Bannister (Wisconsin pioneer, born 1810)|John Bannister]]
  |votes      = 3,976
  |percentage = 12.65%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = 
  |candidate  = ''Scattering''
  |votes      = 21
  |percentage = 0.07%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box plurality
  |votes      = 5,463
  |percentage = 17.38%
  |change     = +1.98pp
}}
{{Election box total
  |votes      = 31,426
  |percentage = 100.0%
  |change     = -7.40%
}}
{{Election box hold with party link no swing 
 |winner = Democratic Party (United States)
}}
{{Election box end}}

===U.S. Senate (1861)===
{{Election box begin | title=United States Senate Election in Wisconsin, 1861<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal-senate-election/159744226/ |title= Joint Convention&mdash;Election of a Senator |newspaper= [[Wisconsin State Journal]] |date= January 23, 1861 |page= 2 |accessdate= November 25, 2024 |via= [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref>}}
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''Vote of the [[14th Wisconsin Legislature]], January 23, 1861'''
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Timothy O. Howe
  |votes      = 92
  |percentage = 72.44%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = [[Henry L. Palmer]]
  |votes      = 34
  |percentage = 26.77%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = 
  |candidate  = ''Absent or not voting''
  |votes      = 1
  |percentage = 0.79%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box plurality
  |votes      = 58
  |percentage = 45.67%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box total
  |votes      = 127
  |percentage = 100.0%
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box hold with party link no swing 
 |winner = Republican Party (United States)
}}
{{Election box end}}

==Sources consulted==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060926231629/http://www.wicourts.gov/about/judges/supreme/retired/howe.htm Wisconsin Supreme Court biographical sketch]
{{CongBio|H000856}}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|Timothy O. Howe}}
* William H. Russell, "Timothy O. Howe, Stalwart Republican," ''Wisconsin Magazine of History,'' vol. 35, no. 2 (Winter 1951), pp.&nbsp;90–99. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4632365 In JSTOR]

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{{s-ttl|title  ={{nowrap|[[Wisconsin circuit courts|Wisconsin Circuit Court]] Judge for the {{nowrap|4th Circuit}}}}|years=1851{{spaced ndash}}1855}}
{{s-aft|after  =William R. Gorsline}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{s-bef|before =[[Charles Durkee]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  =[[List of United States Senators from Wisconsin|U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Wisconsin]]|years=1861{{spaced ndash}}1879
|alongside     =[[James Rood Doolittle|James R. Doolittle]] (1861–1869)<br />[[Matthew H. Carpenter]] (1869–1875)<br />[[Angus Cameron (American politician)|Angus Cameron]] (1875–1879)}}
{{s-aft|after  =[[Matthew H. Carpenter]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{U.S. Cabinet official box
| before= [[Thomas L. James]]
| after= [[Walter Q. Gresham]]
| years= 1881{{spaced ndash}}1883
| president= [[Chester A. Arthur]]
| office= [[United States Postmaster General]]}}
{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Timothy O.}}
[[Category:1816 births]]
[[Category:1883 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Green Bay, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:People from Livermore, Maine]]
[[Category:United States postmasters general]]
[[Category:Members of the Maine House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Wisconsin circuit court judges]]
[[Category:People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People of the Six Years' War]]
[[Category:Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court]]
[[Category:Wisconsin Republicans]]
[[Category:Wisconsin Whigs]]
[[Category:Maine Whigs]]
[[Category:Republican Party United States senators from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Arthur administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:People from Readfield, Maine]]
[[Category:Kents Hill School alumni]]
[[Category:Wisconsin pioneers]]
[[Category:19th-century Wisconsin state court judges]]
[[Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Green Bay, Wisconsin)]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Maine Legislature]]