CHANDLER, Zachariah, American mer chant and statesman: b. Bedford, N. H., 10 Dec. 1813; d. 1 Nov. 1879. He received a com mon school education, and early in life went to i Detroit, and engaged in the dry goods business, in which his energy and ability soon brought success and put him in possession of a hand some fortune. He was mayor of Detroit in 1851, the defeated Whig candidate for governor of Michigan in 1852, an active organizer of the Republican party in 1854, and in January 1857 was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Gen. Lewis Cass. The same energy and ability which had made him successful in business he now applied to the organiza tion of the Republican party and he was soon recognized as one of the most for midable opponents of all plans in favor of slavery. He opposed the admission of Kan sas under the Lecompton constitution 1858, and he was the author of the famous ablood in which he said °without a little blood-letting, this Union will not, in my esti mation, be worth a rusk)) Though a warm friend of Lincoln, he was more radical than the latter, and often differed from him in matters of public policy. In July 1861 he introduced a
sweeping confiscation bill which failed to pass and in July 1862 violently assailed McClellan in a speech in the Senate. He was re-elected to the Senate in 1863 and in 1869; served as Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Grant from 1875-77; was chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1876; was re-elected to the Senate in 1879, where he led the attacks on Jefferson Davis. He was a man of imposing presence, great energy and perseverance. He was found dead in bed on the morning after delivering a political address in Chicago. Consult Curtis, W. E.,