1850s/1860s US Secretary Of Interior Senator James Harlan Autograph Card For Sale

This 1850s/1860s US Secretary Of Interior Senator James Harlan Autograph Card is the exact item you will receive and has been certified Authentic by REM Fine Collectibles.
James Harlan (August 26, 1820 – October 5, 1899) was an attorney and politician, a member of the United States Senate, a U.S. Cabinet Secretary at the United States Department of Interior under President Andrew Johnson, and a Federal Judge.
Harlan was born on August 26, 1820, in Clark County, Illinois, and raised in Indiana.
He was the son of Silas Harlan (1792–1868) and Mary (née Connolly) Harlan (1796–1896).As a boy, Harlan attended local schools before graduating from Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) in 1845. In 1845, he moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where he served as Superintendent of Schools. He also studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1850.
He joined the Whig Party and became active in politics. In 1850, Harlan declined the Whig nomination for Governor of Iowa. From 1853 to 1855, Harlan was president of Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
In 1855, Harlan was elected by the Iowa legislature to the United States Senate as a Free Soil Party candidate. In 1857, the U.S. Senate declared the seat vacant because of irregularities in that legislative election. He was re-elected by the legislature and seated as a Republican, serving until 1865. In 1861, Harlan was a Delegate to the Peace Conference that tried to arrange a compromise to prevent the American Civil War.
Harlan was a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln and his family. In 1865, after Lincoln\'s assassination, he resigned from the Senate when he was appointed as Secretary of the Interior under President Andrew Johnson, an appointment he held until 1866. As secretary he announced that he intended to \"clean house\" and fired \"a considerable number of incumbents who were seldom at their respective desks\".
He had done so after requesting, in late May 1865, a report listing all employees who (1.) uttered disloyal statements since the bombardment of Fort Sumter, (2.) all those not known to entertain loyal sentiments or who had associated with those known to be disloyal, (3.) those who were inefficient or not necessary to transact public business, (4.) all such persons \"as disregard in their conduct, habits, and associations, the rules of decorum andpropriety proscribed by a christian civilization.\"
In 1867, he was elected again by the Iowa legislature to the United States Senate and served until the end of his term in January 1873. During his senate service, Harlan was chairman of the committees of Public Lands; District of Columbia; Education; and Indian Affairs.
Harlan was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1872, and was also an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1895. After his Senate career ended, Harlan turned a previous house of his into the Harlan House Hotel.
From 1882 to 1886, Harlan was appointed by President Chester A. Arthur as presiding judge for the Court of Commissioners, which heard cases related to the Alabama claims.