Julian, George W.

▪ American politician

in full  George Washington Julian  

born May 5, 1817, Wayne County, Indiana, U.S.

died July 7, 1899, Irvington, Indiana

 American reform politician who began as an abolitionist, served in Congress as a Radical Republican during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras, and later championed woman suffrage and other liberal measures.

      After a public school education and a brief stint as a teacher, Julian studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and thereafter practiced in several Indiana towns. By the mid-1840s Julian was a Whig member of the Indiana state legislature and a frequent author of antislavery newspaper articles. His abolitionist (abolitionism) views prompted him to switch to the Free Soil Party (Free-Soil Party), and in 1848 he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, running on the Free Soil ticket.

      In Congress, Julian opposed the Compromise of 1850 (1850, Compromise of). Defeated for reelection that year, he returned to his law practice and antislavery agitation in Indiana. In 1852 Julian was the vice presidential nominee of the Free Soil Party, and four years later he was a prominent figure in the formation of the Republican Party.

      Elected to Congress as a Republican in 1860, Julian played an important role in passage of the Homestead Act and in making emancipation a Northern war aim during the Civil War. He served on the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, and he became well known for his advocacy of such Radical Reconstruction measures as punishment of Confederate leaders (including confiscation of their lands) and suffrage for the former slaves.

      During the Reconstruction era, Julian joined with other Republican Radicals in blocking President Andrew Johnson (Johnson, Andrew)'s Reconstruction policies. In 1867 he was one of seven representatives selected to prepare articles of impeachment against Johnson.

      Julian was defeated for renomination in 1870 and two years later broke with the Republican Party to support the Liberal Republicans (Liberal Republican Party) and their presidential nominee, Horace Greeley (Greeley, Horace). Throughout most of the 1870s and the first half of the 1880s, he championed a number of reform causes—including woman suffrage—primarily as a writer of books and articles.

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