Samuel Sullivan "Sunset" Cox (September 30, 1824 – September 10, 1889) was an American congressman and diplomat. He represented both Ohio and New York in the United States House of Representatives and served as United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
During and before the American Civil War, Cox was a moderate member of the Copperhead faction, who supported peace with the South at any cost. He voted against the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. After moving to New York, he focused his advocacy on trade liberalization, civil service reform, and railroad regulation.
Early life and education Samuel Sullivan Cox was born on September 30, 1824, in Zanesville, Ohio, to Ezekiel Taylor and Maria Matilda (née Sullivan) Cox.
Family Ezekiel Taylor Cox was a journalist and politician in Zanesville, descended from a prominent New Jersey family. His ancestors include Thomas Cox, one of the original proprietors of the Province of East New Jersey, Congressman James Cox, who fought for George Washington's Continental Army, and Joseph Borden, the founder of Bordentown, New Jersey. Ezekiel Cox was a cousin by marriage of U.S. Senator James J. Wilson. In politics, Ezekiel was an uncompromising Jacksonian Democrat.
Cox was named for his maternal grandfather, Samuel Sullivan. Samuel Sullivan served as Ohio Treasurer from 1820–23 and, like Ezekiel Cox, represented Zanesville in the Ohio State Senate.
At fourteen, Cox began serving as an assistant to his father, who was then clerk of the Ohio Supreme Court and of the Court of Common Pleas.
As a child, Cox was described by neighbors as "bright, sunny, genial, fond of fun, sparkling with wit, always truthful, fearless, and generous, never hesitating to confess a fault of his own, and ever ready to defend the weak and oppressed." He was a star student and dreamed of traveling the world. Among his classmates at the academy in Zanesville were future Supreme Court Justice William Burnham Woods and geologist James M. Safford.
Education In 1842, Cox entered Ohio University at Athens, which was dominated by a rivalry between the locals and university students. In a memorable incident during his freshman year, the town won a court case against the university and Cox sabotaged a cannon scheduled to be fired in celebration. He soon became determined to leave Athens, which he referred to as a "scaly vale of mud."
By 1844, he was re-enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. There, he joined the fraternity Delta Phi and delivered speeches in support of temperance and Fourierism and in opposition to abolition of slavery, once delivering a rebuttal to visiting lecturer Wendell Phillips.
The subject and manner of his speeches were sometimes controversial, and Cox had some difficulty fitting in with Yankee society. He wrote home, "There are some monstrous mean fellows among the Yankees." In general, however, he was highly praised for his wit, work ethic, and energy. Among his friends were Franklin J. Dickman, James Burrill Angell, and future Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Thomas Durfee. He graduated in 1846 and returned to Ohio.
Early career Legal career As a student, Cox read legal treatises in his spare time, including Blackstone's Commentaries and William Cruise's Digest of the Laws of England Respecting Real Property. Upon returning to Ohio, Cox continued his study of law, first in the offices of Judge C.W. Searle, and then with Judge Convers. In Judge Convers's office, Cox's fellow student was future Governor of Ohio George Hoadly. He completed his studies under Vachel Worthington in Cincinnati.
After admittance to the Ohio bar, Cox formed a partnership with George E. Pugh, who later represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate.
Journalism While on his honeymoon in Europe in 1851, Cox wrote "A Buckeye Abroad," a collection of letters about his travels. It was greeted with praise, leading Cox to abandon the law for the field of journalism. In 1853, he purchased a controlling interest in the Ohio Statesman, a Democratic newspaper in Columbus, Ohio. He became its editor and engaged, as was typical of newspaper men of the time, in political activity.
As a young editor (and as an erstwhile writer at Brown), Cox expounded some of his political beliefs, including his opposition to the American System of the Whig Party and support for free trade.
Entry to politics In 1853, Ohio Democratic State Committee chairman Washington McLean resigned on the condition that Cox be his successor. As Party chair, Cox was tasked with managing the 1853 campaign of William Medill for Governor. Medill was elected by an overwhelming majority, launching Cox as a rising star in Ohio politics. He was summoned to meet President Franklin Pierce.
In 1855, Pierce offered Cox the position of Secretary of Legation at the Court of St. James's, but Cox declined and requested to join the legation to Peru. He set sail for Peru but fell ill, returned to the United States, and resigned his commission.
U.S. Representative from Ohio
In 1856, Cox accepted the Democratic nomination to represent the Columbus region in the U.S. House of Representatives. He narrowly defeated Republican Samuel Galloway to win the seat. In his first term, Cox chaired the committee on Revolutionary Claims.
On December 16, 1857, Cox delivered the maiden speech in the newly completed House chamber in the south wing of the Capitol building. The bold speech positioned Cox squarely as a supporter of Senator Stephen A. Douglas's "popular sovereignty," as opposed to President James Buchanan and the proposed Lecompton constitution for Kansas. Cox's speech was credited as helping sink the Lecompton constitution and leading to the eventual admission of Kansas as a free state. Buchanan had his revenge by removing Cox's friend from the office of Postmaster of Columbus.
Cox was re-elected in 1858 by a slightly larger majority. He remained an opponent of the Buchanan administration and an ally of Senator Douglas amid growing sectional and political divide in Congress. In 1860, despite growing divisions and the election of Abraham Lincoln, Cox expanded his majority again, in a rematch with Galloway. As Southern states began to secede in the winter of 1860–61, Cox issued a plea for unity and caution. When Senator Douglas died in 1861, Cox delivered a eulogy to him in the House.
Civil War Initially, Cox resolved to sustain the Lincoln administration "in every constitutional endeavor to put down the rebellion." However, he opposed "that abolition policy which sought to convert this holy war for the defence of the government and the union into a mere anti-slavery party war."
In 1862, Cox's already-Republican district was redrawn to become even more Republican, but he defeated Samuel Shellabarger by a small majority.
In 1863, Cox opposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish slavery, on the grounds that peace was near at hand and the amendment would scuttle negotiations. "As slavery was already dead by the bullet, I figured it would be better to stop the bloodshed," he told a crowd seven years later. That mattered more than "the mere empty, abstract ceremonial of burying the dead corpse of slavery."New York World, October 2, 1872
In 1864, Cox took an active part in the campaign against Lincoln's re-election, denouncing Republicans for allegedly supporting miscegenation. He was defeated for reelection by Shellabarger in a landslide, largely by the vote of Union soldiers. Six weeks after he left Congress, the Civil War was over and President Lincoln was assassinated.
Despite his steadfast opposition to abolition efforts, Cox remained on positive terms with Lincoln months before his assassination and was praised in later years by Lincoln's Secretary of State William H. Seward as a member of the loyal opposition.
U.S. Representative from New York After leaving Congress, Cox moved to New York City to return to the practice of law, in partnership with Charlton Thomas Lewis. Cox published memoirs of his time in Congress, titled Eight Years in Congress.
During the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson in the winter of 1867–68, Cox was summoned to Washington to lobby the decisive vote, Senator John B. Henderson of Missouri, against impeachment. Cox and Henderson were on close terms. Henderson did vote against impeachment, though Cox disclaimed any credit to his own influence.
Reconstruction In 1868, the Democratic Party selected Cox as the nominee for Congress to represent Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and the West Village. He won the general election in a landslide. Tammany Hall elected Cox to Congress in New York, and it kept him there, but he was never the subject of serious accusations of corruption. "Mr. Cox is ... almost the only honest man I know who passed through a portion of the Tweed Ring period," another politician said later.Cincinnati Enquirer, May 7, 1883
After a second trip to Europe, limited to the Mediterranean coast by his ill health, Cox returned to find Congress dominated by the issue of Reconstruction. Cox supported reconciliation with the South and the restoration of voting rights for Confederate veterans. In 1869, he introduced a general amnesty bill to this effect, but failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority by two votes.
In 1870, Cox defeated Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, by 1,000 votes. Cox spent much of the next Congress in an effort to abolish the test oath system, which required all civil servants and military officers to swear they had not engaged in disloyal conduct during the War. The effort succeeded as to members of Congress but not other offices. A complete repeal of the test oath was not passed until 1884.
In 1872, Cox was nominated by a fusion ticket of Democrats and anti-Grant Republicans for U.S. Representative at-large. Horace Greeley, his opponent in 1870, was the ticket's presidential nominee, putting Cox in the unusual position of stumping for his most recent rival. Cox lost the election to Republican Lyman Tremain. In the lame duck session, Cox unsuccessfully opposed a salary increase for members of Congress and returned the excess salary ($4,812) he received to the Treasury.
Soon after his departure from Congress, U.S. Representative James Brooks died, leaving a vacant seat along the East River, stretching from the Lower East Side to Murray Hill. Cox consented to be nominated in the special election, and won in a landslide. Ultimately, Cox did not miss a single day of the Congressional session. Along with Pennsylvania Representative Samuel J. Randall, he led the opposition to the civil rights for freedmen. He was returned to the House from a slightly redrawn Lower East Side district in a landslide in 1874.
House leadership The 1874 House elections gave the Democrats their first post-War majority. Cox, who had been nominated for the position as a matter of party honors under Republican majorities, was one of three candidates for Speaker of the House. The other candidates were Samuel Randall and Michael C. Kerr. Cox drew enthusiastic support from the West and South, but ultimately finished third behind Kerr and Randall. As consolation and in recognition of his years of service, Cox was named Chairman of the powerful Committee on Banking and Currency in 1875.