Kinsley Scott BINGHAM, Congress, MI (1808-1861)

BINGHAM, Kinsley Scott, a Representative and a Senator from Michigan; born in Camillus, Onondaga County, N.Y., December 16, 1808; attended the common schools; studied law in Syracuse, N.Y.; moved to Green Oak, Mich., in 1833; admitted to the bar and practiced law; engaged in agricultural pursuits; held a number of local offices, including those of justice of the peace, postmaster, and first judge of probate of Livingston County; member, Michigan house of representatives 1837; reelected four times and served as speaker for three terms; elected as a Democrat to the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congresses (March 4, 1847-March 3, 1851); chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Thirty-first Congress); was not a candidate for reelection in 1850; resumed agricultural pursuits; elected Governor in 1854 and was reelected in 1856; instrumental in establishing the Michigan Agricultural College and other educational institutions; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1859, until his death on October 5, 1861; chairman, Committee on Enrolled Bills (Thirty-seventh Congress); died in Green Oak, Livingston County, Mich.; interment in Old Village Cemetery, Brighton, Livingston County, Mich.

Bibliography

McDaid, William. “Kinsley S. Bingham and the Republican Ideology of Slavery, 1847-1855.” Michigan Historical Review 16 (Fall 1990): 43-73.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present