BLAIR.
BLAIR.
convention in 1860 that nominated Abraham Lin-
coln for the presidency, and in the same year was
elected governor of Michigan. He was re-elected
in 18(53, and served nearly the entire period of
the civil war He was the first to receive the
popular sobriquet of " War Governor." Michi-
gan, from a population of 750,000, sent 90,000
men to the front, and Governor Blair's herculean
efforts in his difficult and continuous task of
equipping, forwarding and sustaining the troops
broke down his health. In 1866 he was elected to
represent his district in the 40th Congress. He
was re elected to the 41st and 42d congresses,
serving in the 42d as chairman of the committee
on claims On this committee he opposed the
Republican administration, and in 1872 supported
Horace Greeley for the presidency. In 1883 he
was elected a regent of the state university, and
held the position until 1890. He died Aug. 6, 1894.
BLAIR, Francis Preston, statesman, was born
at Abingdon, Va., April 12, 1791; son of James
Blair, attorney-general of Kentucky. He was
graduated at the Transylvania xmiversity in 1811,
and soon afterwards was appointed clerk of the
supreme court of Kentucky. In 1828 he was
elected by the legislature president of the bank
of Kentucky. This office he resigned in 1830,
when invited by President Jackson to establish
the Globe newspaper at Washington, as the
organ of his administration. As editor of the
Globe, and as a member of the famous " Kitchen
Cabinet," Mr. Blair exerted a wide influence
during the eight years of the Jackson administra-
tion. He became first known as a political writer
during a controversy that arose in Kentucky
over the attempt of its legislature to destroy the
business of the United States bank by taxing its
branches. The contest lasted ten years. It
involved the right of a state to change the laws
enforcing contracts, to abolish imprisonment for
debt, to extend the replevin laws, and other im-
portant questions. Mr. Blair advocated the
power of a state to change existing laws without
reference to pre-existing contracts, and to keep
the judicial system under control by repeal and
modification. He was beaten at the time, but
when these questions became national, as they
did in the controversy over the United States
bank, his views were sustained by a large ma-
jority of the American people. Mr. Blair con-
tinued to conduct the Globe during the Jackson
and Van Buren administrations, but on the ac-
cession of Mr. Polk he surrendered his editorial
jjosition, declined a foreign mission, and retired
to his farm at Silver Spring, Md. After that he
took no further part in politics than to strenu-
ously opjKDse the extension of slavery in the new
territories, and to do all that a private citizen
could do to prevent an armed collision between
the north and south. During the civil war he
was a zealous upholder of the Union, and believed
that a satisfactory and honorable adjustment of
the controversy might be accomplished by bring-
ing together the leaders or officials on both sides.
He obtained a pass to Richmond and unofficially
visited President Davis and other leaders of the
rebellion and finally brought about, at much
personal inconvenience, what is known as the
Hampton Roads conference, which resulted in a
failure to secure even the basis of an under-
standing. Mr. Blair opposed the reconstruction
policy of President Johnson, and he thereafter
supported the principles of the Democratic party,
although not always approving the measures
adopted. He died at Silver Spring, Oct. 18, 1876.
BLAIR, Francis Preston, soldier, was born
in Lexington, Ky., Feb. 19, 1821; son of Francis
Preston Blair, statesman. He was graduated at
Princeton in 1841, and was admitted to the bar
in 1843. After practising two years at St. Louis,
Mo., his health failed and he joined a party of
trappers and spent the following two years in the
Rocky Mountains. He enlisted as a private and
served through the Mexican war, after which
he returned to St. Louis and resumed the prac-
tice of his profession. He took an active part in
politics, as a Free Soil Democrat, and from 1852
to 1856 served his district in the Missouri legisla-
ture. He acted for a time as editor of the
Missouri Democrat. He attached himself to the
Republican party upon its organization in 1856,
was sent as a representative from Missouri to the
35th Congress, and while there favored the plan
for colonizing Central America with negroes
from the United States. In 1858 he was a candi-
date for re-election and contested his seat in the
36th Congress, won it, and then resigned. In
the election following he was defeated, but was
elected to the 37th and 38th congresses. Mr.
Blair, addressing a gathering of prominent
Union men at St. Louis in November, 1860, urged
the necessity of protecting the local arsenal,
which contained sixty-five thousand stacks of
government arms, from seizure by the state
authorities. An independent military force was
organized and he assumed command, and guarded
the arsenal until May 10, 1861, when, without
awaiting orders from Washington, he captured
the state militia under General Frost. He then
joined the Union army as colonel of volunteers
and was promoted brigadier-general in August,
1861, and major-general, November, 1862. In
1863 he resigned his seat in Congress and com-
manded a division in the Vicksburg campaign ;
also at the battles of Lookout Moimtain and Mis-
sionary Ridge, and led the 17th army corps in
Sherman's campaigns of 1864-'65. He opposed the
reconstruction measures of Congress, and when
