U.S. Vice Presidents: Schuyler Colfax

Vice President Colfax...

• ...was an only child due to his father passing away four months before he was born.
• ...left school at age ten to help with the family finances.
• ...wrote for both the New York Tribune and the Indiana State Journal reporting on the politics of Indiana.

Schuyler Colfax, (born March 23, 1823, New York City—died Jan. 13, 1885, Mankato, Minn., U.S.), 17th vice president of the United States (1869–73) in the Republican administration of President Ulysses S. Grant. Colfax was the posthumous son of a bank clerk, Schuyler Colfax, and Hannah Stryker. After moving with his mother to Indiana in his youth, Colfax founded the St. Joseph Valley Register (1845), which became one of the most influential papers in the state during his 18 years as editor. In the fluctuating political situation preceding the American Civil War (1861–65), he shifted from the Whig Party to the Know-Nothing Party and finally to the Republicans, who elected him to Congress in 1854. He served until 1869, the last six years as speaker of the House of Representatives.

 “These martyrs of patriotism gave their lives for an idea.”

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