Levi P. Morton | |
---|---|
22nd Vice President of the United States | |
In office March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1893 |
|
President | Benjamin Harrison |
Preceded by | Thomas A. Hendricks |
Succeeded by | Adlai E. Stevenson |
31st Governor of New York | |
In office January 1, 1895 – December 31, 1896 |
|
Lieutenant | Charles T. Saxton |
Preceded by | Roswell P. Flower |
Succeeded by | Frank S. Black |
United States Minister to France | |
In office March 21, 1881 – May 14, 1885 |
|
Appointed by | James A. Garfield |
Preceded by | Edward Follansbee Noyes |
Succeeded by | Robert Milligan McLane |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 11th district | |
In office March 4, 1879 – March 21, 1881 |
|
Preceded by | Benjamin A. Willis |
Succeeded by | Roswell P. Flower |
Personal details | |
Born |
Levi Parsons Morton May 16, 1824 Shoreham, Vermont, U.S. |
Died | May 16, 1920 Rhinebeck, New York, U.S. |
(aged 96)
Nationality | American |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) |
|
Children | 7 |
Religion | Episcopalian |
Signature |
Levi Parsons Morton (May 16, 1824 – May 16, 1920) was a Representative from New York and the 22nd Vice President of the United States (1889–93). He later served as the 31st Governor of New York.
Morton was born in Shoreham, Vermont. His parents were the Reverend Daniel Oliver Morton (1788–1852), a Congregationalist minister of old New England stock, and Lucretia Parsons (1789–1862). His older brother, Daniel O. Morton (1815–59), was Mayor of Toledo, Ohio, from 1849 to 1850.
He left school early and worked as a clerk in a general store in Enfield, Massachusetts, taught school in Boscawen, New Hampshire, engaged in mercantile pursuits in Hanover, New Hampshire, moved to Boston, entered the dry-goods business in New York City, and engaged in banking there. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1876 to the 45th Congress, but he was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes to be an honorary commissioner to the Paris Exhibition of 1878.
Morton was elected, as a Republican, to the 46th and 47th Congresses representing Manhattan. He served from March 4, 1879, until his resignation, effective March 21, 1881. The 1880 Republican presidential nominee, James A. Garfield, asked Morton to be his vice presidential running mate, but Morton declined the offer.