Zachariah Chandler

Zachariah Chandler
United States Senator
from Michigan
In office
February 22, 1879 – November 1, 1879
Preceded byIsaac P. Christiancy
Succeeded byHenry P. Baldwin
In office
March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1875
Preceded byLewis Cass
Succeeded byIsaac P. Christiancy
Chair of the Republican National Committee
In office
June 1876 – November 1, 1879
Preceded byEdwin D. Morgan
Succeeded byJ. Donald Cameron
12th United States Secretary of the Interior
In office
October 19, 1875 – March 11, 1877
PresidentUlysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded byColumbus Delano
Succeeded byCarl Schurz
Mayor of Detroit
In office
1851–1852
Preceded byJohn Ladue
Succeeded byJohn H. Harmon
Personal details
Born(1813-12-10)December 10, 1813
Bedford, New Hampshire, U.S.
DiedNovember 1, 1879(1879-11-01) (aged 65)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyWhig (before 1854)
Republican (1854–1879)
SpouseLetitia Douglas
Signature

Zachariah Chandler (December 10, 1813 – November 1, 1879) was an American businessman, politician, and one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose radical wing he dominated as a lifelong abolitionist. He was mayor of Detroit, a four-term senator from the state of Michigan, and Secretary of the Interior under President Ulysses S. Grant.

As a successful young businessman in Detroit, Chandler supported the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, he advocated for the Union war effort, the abolition of slavery, and civil rights for freed African Americans. As Secretary of the Interior, Chandler eradicated serious corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, fully endorsing President Grant's Peace Policy initiative to civilize American Indian tribes. In 1879, he was re-elected U.S. Senator and was a potential presidential candidate, but he died the following morning after giving a speech in Chicago.