today we're looking at President James A Garfield
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the questions down in the description James A Garfield was the 20th president of the United
States from March 4th 1881 until September 19 1881 when he died from an Assassin's bullet
Garfield was a member of the Republican party and was the second president in history to be
assassinated with Abraham Lincoln being the first James Garfield was born in Moreland Hills Ohio on
November 19 1831 the youngest of five children born to Abram and Eliza Garfield interestingly
Garfield would be the final president to be born in a log cabin at the age of two his father Abram
died in Garfield's family basically lived in poverty Garfield later noted that he had a
difficult childhood dealing with living in poor conditions and with little means in education at
the age of 17 in 1848 he was accepted to attend classes at giaga Seminary not far from his home
while attending giaga he met and fell in love with Lucretia Rudolph and the two would later
marry in 1858 and have seven children together to support himself during this time Garfield worked
as a carpenter and part-time school teacher after graduating from giaga in 1850 he then
went on to attend Hiram College in Hiram Ohio where he studied Greek and Latin after graduating
from Hiram College Garfield took his education even further by enrolling at Williams College
in Massachusetts he gained the attention of many of his professors for being a brilliant student
and he also began to teach many classes himself while at Williams College Garfield began to get
involved in the Abolitionist Movement and began to become very interested in politics and government
after graduating from Williams College in 1856 he returned to Ohio and began working in the law
office of Albert Gallatin riddle in Cleveland he also joined the Republican party and was elected
to the Ohio State Senate in 1860. soon after in April of 1861 the opening shots of the Civil War
were fired at Fort Sumter and Garfield was eager to join the union cause as he viewed the war as a
crusade to end slavery although Garfield wanted to sign up to fight at the outset of the war he
did not immediately join the Union Army rather he helped raise funds and traveled throughout Ohio
recruiting troops to form regiments by August of 1861 he was commissioned as a colonel of the
42nd Ohio infantry Garfield would go on to see action fighting in Eastern Kentucky then taking
part of the Battle of Shiloh and Southwestern Tennessee and also being present at the union
defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga while serving in the Union Army in the war Garfield was elected
to the U.S House of Representatives basically without even campaigning at all he resigned
his command in late 1863 to serve in the house having reached the rank of Major General Garfield
aligned himself with the Radical Republicans in Congress and was at many times frustrated with
President Lincoln's lenient stance dealing with the Confederacy Garfield favored policies that
would have confiscated Confederate property and either banished or executed Confederate leaders as
the war concluded Garfield remained in the House of Representatives and strongly supported the 13th
Amendment abolishing slavery and also argued for more rights for former enslaved people helping to
push through the 14th and 15th amendments Garfield would take part in the impeachment hearings of
President Andrew Johnson and would also be embroiled in political scandals surrounding
railroads being constructed into the West at the same time throughout the 1870s Garfield attempted
to maintain a law practice while also serving in Congress in 1880 Garfield was elected to
the U.S Senate but never officially took a seat in the senate in that same year he attended the
Republican National Convention to help his friend John Sherman win the nomination for president out
of nowhere Garfield himself garnered enough votes to be the Republican candidate for president and
took on Chester Arthur as his vice president in the general election Garfield defeated Democrat
Winfield Scott Hancock barely winning the popular vote by 10 000 votes out of over 9 million cast
but winning the Electoral College easily 214 to 155. Garfield would be the only sitting
member of the House of Representatives to be elected directly to the White House Garfield
was inaugurated on March 4th 1881 as the 20th president of the United States in his few
months as President Garfield primarily worked on assembling his cabinet and challenging the power
of factions within the Republican Party he also began to push for civil service reform or in other
words he wanted to change what was known as the spoil system in which winners of Elections could
simply appoint their supporters to government offices that many times led to corruption and
inefficiency in fact one could argue the spoil system led to Garfield's assassination on July
2nd 1881 when about to board a train at the 6th Street Station in Washington D.C Garfield was
shot twice once in the arm and once in the back with the bullet in his back shattering a rib
and then embedding somewhere in his abdomen the Assassin was Charles gateau who had been seeking
an appointment from the president but had been refused Garfield survived the initial attack but
the wound became infected and doctors could not locate the bullet to remove it Garfield lingered
in terrible pain and Agony for nearly two months losing over 60 pounds and then died on September
19 1881 at the age of 49. so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching