Levi P. Morton

Morton decided on a business career, and in 1838 he began work as a general store clerk in Enfield, Massachusetts.[2] He taught school in Boscawen, New Hampshire and engaged in mercantile pursuits in Hanover, New Hampshire, then moved to Boston to work in the Beebe & Co. importing business.[2] He eventually settled in New York City, where he entered the dry goods business in partnership with George Blake Grinnell and became a successful cotton broker.[2] He then established himself as one of the country's top investment bankers in a firm he founded, Morton, Bliss & Co., which was later reorganized as the Morton Trust Company.[2]

During the American Civil War, Morton supported the Union.[8] Unable to obtain cotton from the southern states because of the Union blockade, Morton suspended his cotton business for the duration of the conflict.[8] After the war, Morton and his British partner, Sir John Rose, recovered their financial positions and improved their political fortunes by using their contacts to assist the United States and England to settle the Alabama Claims.[8] When England agreed to pay a $15 million settlement (about $307 million in 2020), Morton's bank was chosen to facilitate payments to claimants in the United States.[8]

In addition to operating Morton, Bliss & Co., Morton was active in several other businesses. These included the board of directors of the New York Viaduct Railway Company,[9] Guaranty Trust Company,[10] Washington Life Insurance Company,[11] Home Insurance Company,[12] and Equitable Life Assurance Society.[13] In addition, he was an investor in numerous ventures, including the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre & Pacific Railway,[14] Virginia Iron, Coal & Coke Company,[15] and Intercontinental Rubber Company.[16] Morton also maintained a farm on his estate, where he raised prizewinning horses and cattle.[17]

In 1909, Morton received an offer from J. P. Morgan to merge the Morton company with the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company.[8] He accepted, after which he retired from most business pursuits.[8]

Active in politics as a Republican, in 1876, Morton was named finance chairman for the Republican National Committee.[8] Morton was also an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1876 to the 45th Congress.[8] In recognition of his service to the party, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Morton as an honorary commissioner to the Paris Exhibition of 1878.[18]

Morton was involved in many civic and charitable causes. In 1883, he was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Opera.[19] In 1886, he was appointed to the Hobart College board of trustees.[20] He served for several years, including a term as chairman of the board.[20] He also served on the board of trustees of the American Museum of Natural History.[21]

Identified with the Stalwart faction of Republicans led by Roscoe Conkling, in 1878 Morton was elected to represent Manhattan in the 46th Congress.[2] He was reelected to the 47th Congress in 1880, and served from March 4, 1879 until his resignation on March 21, 1881.[2] During Morton's House tenure, he served as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.[22] On the currency issue, which dominated discussions of U.S. economic policy for several decades, Morton consistently advocated for the gold standard.[22]

The 1880 Republican National Convention was dominated by Half-Breed supporters of James G. Blaine and Stalwart supporters of Ulysses S. Grant for the presidential nomination.[23] James A. Garfield, who was not affiliated with either faction, but was a friend of Blaine's, won the nomination[23] and attempted to win over Stalwarts by asking Morton to be his vice presidential running mate.[22] Conkling, who had managed Grant's campaign, advised Morton to decline, which Morton did.[22] Garfield's supporters then turned to Chester A. Arthur, a fellow Stalwart and close Conkling friend.[23] Conkling also advised Arthur to decline, but Arthur accepted; Garfield and he were narrowly elected over their Democratic opponents.[23]

During the 1880 campaign, Morton and other Stalwarts believed that Garfield had committed to appoint Morton as Secretary of the Treasury.[8] After Garfield won, they were incensed when he claimed he had never made such a promise.[8] As a consolation, Garfield offered Morton appointment as Secretary of the Navy.[8] Morton initially accepted, but then declined after Conkling advised him to turn it down.[2][8]

After Morton declined to join the cabinet, Garfield appointed him as Minister to France.[2][8] Morton accepted, and served from 1881 to 1885, continuing in office after Garfield died and Arthur became president.[8]

Morton was very popular in France.[2] He helped commercial relations between the two countries run smoothly during his term, and in Paris on October 24, 1881, he placed the first rivet in the construction of the Statue of Liberty.[2] After completion of the statue, he accepted it on behalf of the United States in a ceremony on July 4, 1884 when he signed an agreement with the Union Franco Americaine, the organization formed in France to finance the creation of the statue.[24]

After returning to the United States, Morton was a candidate for U.S. Senator in 1885.[2] He lost the Republican nomination to William M. Evarts, who went on to win election by the full New York State Legislature.[2] He was again a candidate in 1887.[2] Republicans controlled the legislature, meaning their nominee would win the election.[2] Incumbent Warner Miller was recognized as a member of the Half-Breed faction, and had succeeded state Republican boss Thomas C. Platt in the Senate.[2] Platt had succeeded Conkling as leader of the Stalwarts, and was determined to see Miller defeated, so he backed Morton against Miller.[25] A third candidate, Frank Hiscock, was not affiliated with either faction and had little initial support.[25] After 17 ballots failed to produce a nominee, Morton withdrew and asked his supporters to back Hiscock to ensure that Miller would not be reelected.[2] Hiscock was chosen on the 18th ballot, and won the election by defeating Democrat Smith Mead Weed.[7]^:326–327

From 1889 until 1895, Morton lived at this residence in Washington, DC.

At the 1888 Republican National Convention, Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison for president.[8] For vice president, the delegates considered Morton, William Walter Phelps, William O'Connell Bradley and several other candidates.[8] James G. Blaine's support had helped Harrison attain the presidential nomination.[8] In an echo of the Stalwart-Half Breed rivalry, Blaine backed Phelps for vice president, but the New York delegation, led by Thomas C. Platt refused to consider him.[26] Though he had been an opponent of the Stalwarts, Former senator Warner Miller, a member of the New York delegation, nominated Morton.[26] It quickly became apparent that Morton had enough delegate support to win, and he attained the nomination on the first ballot with 591 votes to 119 for Phelps, 103 for Bradley, and 11 for Blanche K. Bruce.[26]

In the general election, Harrison and Morton lost the popular vote to the Democratic candidates, incumbent president Grover Cleveland and Allen G. Thurman, but won the electoral college vote.[27] Harrison and Morton took office on March 4, 1889 and served until March 4, 1893.[2]

Harrison's wife Caroline was frequently ill during his administration, and she died in 1892.[8] As Second Lady of the United States, Morton's wife Anna frequently served as Harrison's hostess and performed the duties of the First Lady.[8]

As vice president, Morton presided over the U.S. Senate.[8] He was not close to Harrison personally, and Harrison did not often consult with him on political matters.[8] A major Harrison initiative was the Lodge Bill, which would permit the use of federal force to ensure the voting rights of male African Americans in the former Confederacy.[8] Conservative Democrats from the southern states conducted a filibuster, believing the bill would restore Reconstruction era-like Republican rule.[8] Republicans from the western states who supported free silver believed the most pressing issue was the need for an inflated currency to stimulate the economy.[8] As a result, the free silver Republicans joined Democrats in opposing consideration of the Lodge Bill.[8]

The Lodge Bill reached the Senate floor when a tie enabled Morton to cast the deciding vote in favor of consideration.[8] Conservative Democrats filibustered again, and Morton refused to aid Republican senators in ending it.[8] Republicans in the Senate then attempted to persuade Morton to allow a Republican senator to preside, but Morton insisted on remaining in the chair.[8] On January 26, 1891, a resolution to replace consideration of the Lodge Bill with a bill on a different subject passed by a vote of 35 to 34, and the Lodge Bill died.[8]

Harrison blamed Morton for the Lodge Bill's failure.[8] At the 1892 Republican National Convention, Harrison was nominated for reelection but delegates replaced Morton with Whitelaw Reid.[28] Harrison and Reid went on to lose the 1892 election, to the Democratic candidates, Grover Cleveland and Adlai E. Stevenson.[29]

Gubernatorial portrait of Levi P. Morton

In 1894, Morton was elected governor of New York, defeating Democratic nominee David B. Hill and several minor party candidates.[2] He served one two-year term, January 1, 1895 to December 31, 1896.[18] One initiative in which Morton was involved as governor was the consolidation of several New York City-area municipalities as the City of Greater New York, which took effect on January 1, 1898.[22]

Another Morton priority was civil service reform.[8] Morton pursued a moderate course on the issue, but remained firm in his support, which placed him in opposition to political party bosses who favored the spoils system.[8] As a result, in 1896 the Republican Party nominated Frank S. Black, who was perceived as closer to the party bosses than Morton.[8]

Morton was a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1896, but the delegates chose William McKinley.[22] Morton was then considered for the vice presidential nomination, but McKinley's campaign manager, Mark Hanna, was opposed and the nomination went to Garret Hobart.[30] After he completed his term as governor, Morton returned to his business career and management of his investments.[18]

In 1890, Morton became one of the first members of the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.[31] He was also a member of the General Society of Colonial Wars.[32]

In retirement, he served as president of the Metropolitan Club.[33] He was preceded in that office by J. Pierpont Morgan and succeeded by Frank Knight Sturgis[33] He was also a member of the Union League Club of New York, and served as president of the New York Zoological Society from 1897 to 1909.[32]

Morton became ill during the winter of 1919 to 1920; a cold developed into bronchitis, and he eventually contracted pneumonia, which proved fatal.[34] He died in Rhinebeck, New York, on May 16, 1920, his 96th birthday.[35] After a memorial service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, he was interred at Rhinebeck Cemetery.[36] At age 96, Morton is the second-longest living vice president; only John Nance Garner, who died at age 98, lived longer.[37]