William
Darrah Kelley was born in Philadelphia on 12th
April, 1814. His father died in 1816 and to help support the family
Kelley began work at eleven years old. He became a jeweler's assistant
but as a result of his political activities Kelley was forced to leave
Philadelphia.
Kelley settled in Boston where he became a leading figure in the anti-slavery
movement. He returned to Philadelphia in 1840 where he studied law.
Admitted to the bar in 1841, he became deputy prosecuting attorney
for Philadelphia (1845-46) and judge (1846-1856).
An active member of the Republican Party,
Kelley was elected to Congress in 1861 and remained there for twenty-nine
years. Kelley became associated with the Radical
Republicans, a group who were not only in favour of the abolition
of slavery but believed that freed slaves
should have complete equality with white citizens.
This group were also critical of Abraham
Lincoln during the Civil War, when
he was slow to support the recruitment of black soldiers into the
Union Army. Radical Republicans such as as Thaddeus
Stevens, Charles Sumner, Benjamin
Wade, William D. Kelley, Henry
Winter Davis and Benjamin Butler,
were also critical of Lincoln's Reconstruction
Plan.
In Benjamin Wade and Henry
Winter Davis, sponsored a bill that provided for the administration
of the affairs of southern states by provisional governors until the
end of the war. They argued that civil government should only be re-established
when half of the male white citizens took an oath of loyalty to the
Union. The Wade-Davis Bill was passed
on 2nd July, 1864, but was vetoed by Abraham
Lincoln.
However, the Radical Republicans were
able to get the Reconstruction Acts
passed in 1867 and 1868. Considered one of the best orators in Congress,
a collection of his speeches was published in 1872. Other books by
Kelley included Lincoln and Stanton
(1885) and The Old South and the New
(1888).
William Darrah Kelley died in Washington
on 9th January, 1890. His daughter, Florence
Kelley, was an important social reformer and helped form the National
Consumer's League (NCL).
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