Alexander Ramsey

Alexander Ramsey
34th United States Secretary of War
In office December 10, 1879 – March 5, 1881
President	Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded by	George W. McCrary
Succeeded by	Robert Todd Lincoln
4th United States Senator from Minnesota
In office September, 1863 – July, 1875
Preceded by	Henry M. Rice
Succeeded by	Samuel J. R. McMillan
2nd Governor of Minnesota
In office January 2, 1860 – July 10, 1863
Lieutenant	Ignatius L. Donnelly
Preceded by	Henry Hastings Sibley
Succeeded by	Henry Adoniram Swift
1st Territorial Governor of Minnesota
In office June 1, 1849 – May 15, 1853
Appointed by	Zachary Taylor
Preceded by	Territory Created
Succeeded by	Willis A. Gorman
Personal details
Born	September 8, 1815(1815-09-08) Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
Died	April 22, 1903(1903-04-22) (aged 87) St. Paul, Minnesota
Political party	Whig, Republican
Spouse(s)	Anna Jenks
Alma mater	Lafayette College
Profession	Politician, Lawyer
Religion	Methodism

Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815 – April 22, 1903) was an American politician. He was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Alexander Ramsey was elected from Pennsylvania as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the 28th and 29th congresses from March 4, 1843 to March 4, 1847. He served as the first Territorial Governor of Minnesota from June 1, 1849 to May 15, 1853 as a member of the Whig Party.

Ramsey's house in Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1960.

Ramsey was of Scottish and German ancestry.^[1] In 1855, he became the mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota. Ramsey was elected the second Governor of Minnesota after statehood and served from January 2, 1860 to July 10, 1863. Ramsey is credited with being the first Union governor to commit troops during the American Civil War (he happened to be in Washington, D.C. when fighting broke out). He resigned the governorship to become a U.S. Senator, having been elected to that post in 1863 as a Republican. He was re-elected in 1869 and held the office until March 3, 1875, serving in the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, and 43rd congresses.

Ramsey is also noted for his stern statements calling for the killing or removal of specific Native Americans, chiefly the Sioux (Dakota) people that lived in the state of Minnesota. Ramsey declared on September 9, 1862: "The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state." ^[2]

Ramsey served as Secretary of War from 1879 to 1881, under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Legacy

The Minnesota Historical Society preserves his home, the Alexander Ramsey House as a museum. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Alexander Ramsey Park, located in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, is the largest municipal park in Minnesota. Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County, North Dakota, the city of Ramsey, Minnesota, the city of Ramsey, Illinois,^[3] Ramsey Park in Stillwater, Minnesota, Ramsey Junior High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Alexander Ramsey Elementary School in Montevideo, Minnesota and Ramsey International Fine Arts Center (formerly Alexander Ramsey Junior High School) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are also named for him.

References

• Alexander Ramsey at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2009-03-22

• Alexander Ramsey U.S. Army biography
• The Political Graveyard

External links

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alexander Ramsey

• Biographical information, gubernatorial records, and Ramsey's personal papers are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society.
• "Alexander Ramsey". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5969. Retrieved 2009-03-22. 

v t e Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army Secretaries at War B. Lincoln Knox Secretaries of War Knox Pickering McHenry Dexter Dearborn Eustis Armstrong Monroe W. Crawford Calhoun Barbour P. Porter Eaton Cass Poinsett Bell Spencer J. Porter Wilkins Marcy G. Crawford Conrad J. Davis Floyd Holt S. Cameron Stanton Schofield Rawlins Belknap A. Taft J. Cameron McCrary Ramsey R. Lincoln Endicott Proctor Elkins Lamont Alger Root W. Taft Wright Dickinson Stimson Garrison Baker Weeks D. Davis Good Hurley Dern Woodring Stimson Patterson Royall Secretaries of the Army Royall Gray Pace Stevens Brucker Stahr Vance Ailes Resor Froehlke Callaway Hoffmann C. Alexander Marsh Stone West Caldera White Harvey Geren McHugh Assistant Secretaries of War Scott Dana Eckert Grant Doe Meiklejohn Sanger Oliver Breckinridge Ingraham Crowell Williams Wainwright D. Davis MacNider Hurley Payne Woodring L. Johnson Patterson McCloy Petersen Under Secretaries of the Army Draper Gray Voorhees A. Alexander Bendetsen E. Johnson Slezak Finucane Milton Ailes Ignatius Resor McGiffert Beal BeLieu Staudt Augustine LaBerge Ambrose Stone Shannon Reeder Walker Rostker Dahlberg Brownlee Geren Ford Westphal

v t e Governors of Minnesota Territorial (1849–1858) Ramsey Gorman Medary State (since 1858) Sibley Ramsey Swift Miller Marshall Austin Davis Pillsbury Hubbard McGill Merriam Nelson Clough Lind Van Sant Johnson Eberhart Hammond Burnquist Preus Christianson Olson Petersen Benson Stassen Thye Youngdahl E. Anderson Freeman Andersen Rolvaag LeVander W. Anderson Perpich Quie Perpich Carlson Ventura Pawlenty Dayton

v t e United States Senators from Minnesota Class 1 Rice Ramsey McMillan Davis Towne Clapp Kellogg Shipstead Thye McCarthy H. Humphrey M. Humphrey Durenberger Grams Dayton Klobuchar Class 2 Shields Wilkinson Norton Windom Stearns Windom Edgerton Windom Sabin Washburn K. Nelson Johnson Schall Benson Howard Lundeen Ball A. Nelson Ball H. Humphrey Mondale Anderson Boschwitz Wellstone Barkley Coleman Franken

v t e Cabinet of President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881) Vice President William A. Wheeler (1877–1881) Secretary of State William M. Evarts (1877–1881) Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman (1877–1881) Secretary of War George W. McCrary (1877–1879) Alexander Ramsey (1879–1881) Attorney General Charles Devens (1877–1881) Postmaster General David M. Key (1877–1880) Horace Maynard (1880–1881) Secretary of the Navy Richard W. Thompson (1877–1880) Nathan Goff, Jr. (1881) Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz (1877–1881)