Politicians

James Mitchell Ashley was a five-term Ohio Congressman and Radical Republican leader who introduced the House proposal that would become the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Nathaniel Prentice Banks was one of President Abraham Lincoln's political Generals during the Civil War. He was also a ten-time member of the United States House of Representatives and served as Governor of Massachusetts.

John Armor Bingham was an influential congressman from Ohio (1865–1873). He is most famous for drafting the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. He also served as Minister to Japan (1873–1885).

U.S. Vice-president John C. Breckinridge was an American political leader who represented Kentucky in the U.S. House and Senate before serving as a general officer in the Confederate Army and as the fifth, and final, Confederate Secretary of War.

James Buchanan was the 15th President of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. During his time in office, the regional divide over slavery intensified, leading to the Secession Crisis. Buchanan is most well-known for his handling of the crisis — or lack thereof — which led to the secession of Southern States during his final months in office, leaving a divided nation for his successor, Abraham Lincoln.

A prominent Confederate commander during the American Civil War, General Simon B. Buckner also served one term as governor of Kentucky after the conflict.

Aaron Burr (1756–1836) was a U.S. Senator and Vice President of the United States under Thomas Jefferson. Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in an infamous duel in 1804. He was also tried and acquitted of treason against the United States for allegedly trying to establish a separate empire in the southwest.

A prominent Union officer, Major General Benjamin F. Butler also served as a United States Congressman and as Governor of Massachusetts after the American Civil War.

John Caldwell Calhoun was a staunch defender of slavery, States' Rights, and Nullification. He served the nation as a Congressional Representative and Senator from South Carolina, U.S. Secretary of War and Secretary of State, and Vice President of the United States during the Antebellum Era. Calhoun’s policies inspired the Southern Secession Movement, which triggered the Civil War.

Salmon Portland Chase was the 23rd Governor of Ohio, a U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War, and the sixth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 22nd and 24th U.S. President, Grover Cleveland is the only chief executive to serve two nonconsecutive terms in the White House.

Long-time Ohio politician Thomas Corwin sponsored the Corwin Amendment in the U.S, House of Representatives in 1861 as an eleventh-hour attempt to avert the American Civil War.

Samuel Sullivan "Sunset" Cox was a prominent lawyer, newspaper editor, and Peace Democrat who represented Ohio and, later, New York in Congress.

Jefferson Davis was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a veteran of the Mexican-American War. Afterward, he served as a U.S. Congressman, Senator, and Secretary of War. He is most famous for being the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.

William Dennison Jr. was the 24th Governor of Ohio, serving from January 9, 1860 through January 13, 1862. Dennison also served as Postmaster General of the United States from 1864 to 1866.

John Dickinson was a Founding Father, known as the "Penman of the Revolution" for his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania. Although he refused to sign the Declaration of Independence, his name was signed to the United States Constitution.

Stephen Douglas was a prominent Congressman and Senator from Illinois. He supported Manifest Destiny and Popular Sovereignty and helped pass the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. In 1858, he participated in a series of public debates with Abraham Lincoln.

Thomas Ewing, Jr. was a prominent lawyer and politician who served as a Union general in the West during the American Civil War. He is most well-known for his role in establishing Kansas as a Free State.

Thomas Ewing Sr. was an influential lawyer and politician who served in the United States Senate and as Secretary of the Treasury. He is best known as the first Secretary of the Interior and the foster father of William Tecumseh Sherman.

Thirteenth President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, was the last Whig president and the last U.S. President not affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties.