Leon Abbett (October 8, 1836 – December 4, 1894) was an American Democratic Party politician and lawyer who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 26th Governor of New Jersey from 1884 to 1887 and 1890 to 1893.
[1] He was popularly known as the "Great Commoner" for his advocacy on behalf of ordinary citizens,[1] and presided over a wide range of reforms during his time as governor.
In April 1861, he moved to New York City and formed a law partnership with William J. Fuller, a distinguished patent and admiralty lawyer,[1] until 1866.
In 1871, Abbett spoke out against the state revision of the Jersey City charter, which removed many Irish officeholders in the name of anti-corruption and replaced them with appointed commissioners.
[1] He drafted an additional statute giving employees of the bankrupt Jersey Central Railroad the right to claim their salaries as a prior lien on the assets of the company.
[1] Abbett left office at the end of his term but remained a major player in Hudson County and state politics as corporation counsel for Jersey City.
During the Ludlow administration, Abbett was active in efforts to tax the state's railroad monopoly, bringing him into direct conflict with the established order of business and politics.
[1] Abbett made the rail tax issue a major thrust of his inaugural message, setting up his first term for conflict with the railroads.
[1] Several other bills were enacted to cope with urban industrialism, including the abolition of convict labor for private profit, tighter regulations on working conditions for women and children, and refinancing provisions for the bankrupt cities of Elizabeth and Rahway.
[1] As governor, Abbett dramatically reversed his earlier positions on race, urging the passage of a bill to allow former slaves burial at an all-white cemetery and serving as the godfather of a black child in Newark baptized as Leon Abbett DeKalb in days when interracial baptism was rare.
[1] However, conservative pro-rail Democrats identified with the State House Ring withheld their support from Abbett, leading to the election of Rufus Blodgett instead.
Abbett took the defeat hard and became legal counsel for the state liquor dealers' association, an important source of campaign funds.
He faced Republican iron magnate and Civil War hero Edward Burd Grubb Jr. and defeated him by a wide margin of over 14,000 votes, though at least some of his support in Jersey City was fraudulent.
[1] In 1890, Abbett defused a labor strike at the Clark Thread Mills in Kearney, where management had hired Pinkerton detectives as strikebreakers, by deputizing the Jersey City police to restore order.
[1] In 1891, Abbett again intervened in a labor dispute at the Oxford Iron and Nail Company in Warren County, where workers were starved by a winter lockout.
[1] In his second term, Abbett also vetoed bills legalizing gambling at horse-racing tracks and incorporating the Reading Railroad Coal Combine.
He had a round face with a high forehead, broad shoulders, brown wavy hair, bright blue eyes, and large bushy eyebrows.