Schuyler Colfax Jr. (/ˈskaɪlər ˈkoʊlfæks/ SKY-lər KOHL-fax; March 23, 1823 – January 13, 1885) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th speaker of the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869.

[1] Colfax suffered a heart attack and died at a railroad station in Mankato, Minnesota, on January 13, 1885, while en route to a speaking engagement in Iowa.

[8] Colfax attended school in New York City until he was 10, when family financial difficulties caused him to end his formal education and take a job as a clerk in the store of George W.

[5][12] In addition to covering the state senate, Colfax contributed articles on Indiana politics to the New York Tribune, leading to a friendship with its editor, Horace Greeley.

[16] The organization's success led it to create a moot state legislature, in which members introduced, debated, and voted on bills in accordance with the rules of the Indiana General Assembly.

[17] Colfax was the 1851 Whig nominee for Congress in the district which included South Bend, but narrowly lost to his Democratic opponent,[17] primarily because he voted against a measure at the constitutional convention that stopped free African Americans from moving to Indiana.

[19] In 1854, Colfax ran for Congress again, this time as nominee of the short-lived Indiana People's Party, an anti-slavery movement which formed to oppose the Kansas–Nebraska Act.

[2] Then, as the 1860 presidential election approached, Colfax traveled frequently, delivered many speeches, and helped bind the various Republican and antislavery factions together into a unified party that could win the presidency.

[15] President Lincoln wrote him a warm letter stating that he considered him qualified and foretelling "a bright future" for the 37-year-old, but that he had already promised a cabinet position to another Hoosier, Caleb Blood Smith.

[33] On September 6, Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, under Frémont's authority, took Paducah without a fight and established a Union supply base in Kentucky.

[34] After his arrival in St. Louis, Colfax met Frémont on September 14, 1861, and petitioned him to send troops to cut off Price from capturing Lexington.

Frémont declined, recognizing that he had a reputation for being insubordinate because he had earlier imposed a controversial August 30 edict that put Missouri under martial law and emancipated rebel slaves beyond what was included in Lincoln's Confiscation Act, and not wanting to appear unwilling to follow the instructions of his superiors.

[37] On November 1, seven weeks after Colfax's visit, Frémont ordered Grant to make demonstrations along the Mississippi against the Confederates, but not to directly engage the enemy.

In February 1862, Grant, in combination with the Union navy, captured Confederate Forts Henry and Donelson, forcing Polk to abandon Columbus.

Colfax faced a difficult reelection campaign in 1862 due to strong antiwar sentiments in Indiana, but won a narrow victory over Democrat David Turpie.

[41] In 1865, Colfax, along with author Samuel Bowles and Illinois Lieutenant Governor William Bross, set out across the western territories from Mississippi to the California coast to record their experiences.

Included in their book were details of the views of Los Angeles, with its wide panorama of vast citrus groves and orchards, and conversations with Brigham Young.

[42] Colfax said Congressional reconstruction would give security and peace to the nation as opposed to President Johnson and his southern Democratic policies.

Immediately afterward, the House passed a motion declaring Theodore Pomeroy duly elected speaker in place of Colfax.

On Friday, January 6, 1871, in a letter from Washington, D.C., published in the New York Times, Colfax recognized and rejoiced in King Victor Emmanuel II's victory of unifying Italy and setting up a new government in Rome.

Colfax encouraged Italy to form a Republican government that protected religious freedom, regardless of faith, and the civil rights of all individuals, including those who lived in poverty.

[44] Colfax's announcement failed to garner prominent support among Republicans for a presidential bid, as he had planned, while Grant decided to run for a second term.

Henry Wilson was among those accused, but after initially denying a connection, he provided a complicated explanation to a Senate investigating committee, which involved his wife having purchased shares with her own money, and then later canceling the transaction over concerns about its propriety.

Colfax also denied involvement to the press, and defended himself in person before a House investigative committee, testifying in January 1873 that he had never received a dividend check from Ames.

In it, the president wrote, I sympathize with you in the recent congressional investigations; that I have watched them closely, and that I am satisfied now as I have ever been of your integrity, patriotism and freedom from the charges imputed as if I knew of my own knowledge your innocence.

[52]After leaving office in March 1873, Colfax began to recover his reputation, embarking on a successful career as a traveling lecturer offering speeches on a variety of topics.

[53] On February 12, 1875, having returned to Washington, D.C., to give a lecture, he advised his friends in Congress who were frustrated over the slow pace of action: "Ah!

In 1850, Colfax and members William T. Martin of Mississippi and E. G. Steel of Tennessee were appointed to prepare a ritual pertaining to the Rebekah Degree and present a report at the 1851 annual meeting.

[65] Towns in the U.S. states of California, North Carolina, Illinois, Washington, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Texas, and Louisiana are named after him.

There is also a Colfax Avenue in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles[67] and in Concord, California, as well as in Benton Harbor, Michigan.