John
Palmer Usher
was
born in New York in 1816. After studying
law he moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he worked as a lawyer.
Usher joined the Whig Party and did not
become a member of the Republican Party
until 1856. In 1860 he supported Edward Bates
for the party's presidential nomination but later switched to Abraham
Lincoln.
When Caleb Smith became Secretary of
the Interior he appointed Usher as his assistant. Indifferent to African
American civil rights and a supporter
of racial segregation, he devised a scheme to accommodate former slaves
on land confiscated from Texas. However, the plan was rejected by
Abraham Lincoln.
On 8th January, 1863, Lincoln selected Usher to replace Caleb
Smith as his Secretary of the Interior. Lincoln had not been impressed
with Usher's abilities but needed to keep the support of the Republican
Party in Indiana. Over the next two years Usher championed the
gathering of Native Americans on reservations in the Southwest. He
was guilty of taking political decisions that helped his fellow shareholders
in the Union Pacific Railroad Company.
A strong opponent of the Radical Republican,
Usher constantly warned Lincoln that Salmon
Chase was after replacing him as president. Lincoln's need for
Usher in the Cabinet came to an end when Henry
McCulloch, a fellow Republican
from Indiana, became Secretary of the Treasury. Lincoln sacked Usher
but he did not leave office until the arrival of President Andrew
Johnson.
After leaving the Cabinet Usher worked as chief counsel of the Union
Pacific Railroad. John Palmer
Usher died in 1889.
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