GEORGE

See also:

• FRANKLIN
• FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN (1706-1790)
• FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN (1786-1847)
• FRANKLIN, WILLIAM BUEL (1823-1903)

FRANKLIN

See also:

• GEORGE FRANKLIN EDMUNDS (1828– )

EDMUNDS (1828– )  , American • lawyer and political leader, was born in Richmond, Vermont, on the 1st of February 1828 . He began the practice of law in 1849 . He was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1854, 1855, 1857, 1858 and 1859, acting for the last two years as speaker, and was a member and president pro tem. of the state Senate in 1861-1862 . In 1866 he became a member, as a Republican, of the United States Senate, where he remained until 1891, when he resigned in order to have more time for the practice of his profession . He took an active part in the attempt to impeach President Johnson . He was influential in providing for the electoral commission to decide the disputed presidential election of 1876, and became one of the commissioners . In the national Republican nominating conventions of 188o and 1884 he was a candidate for the presidential nomination . From 1882 to 1885 he was president pro tem. of the Senate . As senator he was conspicuous on account of his legal and parliamentary attainments, his industry and his liberal opinions . He was the author of the so-called Edmunds Act (22nd of March 1882) for the suppression of polygamy in Utah, and of the anti-trust law of 189o, popularly known as the Sherman Act .