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History Behind the Leon Hess Name - Leon Hess Cancer Center - Monmouth... mmccancer.com | DE LEON NURSING HOME (DE LEON, TX) Detailed Hospital Profile hospital-data.com | FasterCures - Leon D. Black fastercures.org | About Decatur County Hospital : Leon Iowa decaturcountyhospital.org |
Leon Abbett (October 8, 1836 – December 4, 1894) was an American Democratic Party politician, and lawyer, who served two separate terms as the 26th Governor of New Jersey, from 1884-1887 and from 1890-1893. He was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, New Jersey Senate, a democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, and a Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
[edit] BiographyHe was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Ezekiel and Sarah (Howell) Abbett. He attended Central High School and graduated in 1853. He was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1858. In April 1861, he moved to New York to open a law firm and formed a partnership with William Fuller. Abbett married Mary Briggs of Philadelphia in 1862 and the couple moved to Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1864, Abbett entered politics and was elected as a Democrat to the New Jersey General Assembly, where he served from 1864-1866; and 1869-1870 when he was also the Speaker. He also served one term in the New Jersey Senate from 1875-1877 and was Senate President in the '77 session. Abbett was elected governor of New Jersey in 1883 (defeating Jonathan Dixon in '83 and Civil War hero E. Burd Grubb in '89) and served two non-consecutive terms from 1884-1887 and again from 1890-1893. Abbett was endearingly known as the "Great Commoner," and he was well liked by the impoverished urban lower class as well as the poor, agrarian community. Abbett was a natural leader and he successfully arouse enthusiasm among the lower classes who had been demoralized by big business and concentrated wealth, due to labor unrest, ethnic conflict and a generation of agricultural malcontent. He worked to voice the concerns of the common man who had been oppressed by unrestrained capitalism and special privilege. A series of laws were initiated by Abbett, designed to better industrial employment conditions. The use of Pinkerton detectives in strikes and yellow-dog contracts were outlawed. He also banned convict and child labor and established wage, maximum hours, and occupational health and safety standards. The most significant act of Abbett's career was his effort to tax the railroads. This was a risky venture for Abbett and although he succeeded, he paid a heavy price. Using their political influence, the powerful railroads defeated him when he ran for U.S. Senate in 1887. In 1893, he was appointed a judge on the state supreme court after again, unsuccessfully running for Senate. Abbett died in 1894, in his Jersey City, New Jersey home after an attack of sugar diabetes. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. [edit] References
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Categories: 1836 births | 1894 deaths | Governors of New Jersey | Members of the New Jersey General Assembly | New Jersey Democrats | New Jersey state court judges | New Jersey State Senators | New Jersey Supreme Court justices | People from Jersey City, New Jersey | People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | American Presbyterians | Presidents of the New Jersey Senate | American political bosses from New Jersey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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