Alexander
Long was born on a farm in Mercer County, PA, on December
24, 1816. When he was 21, he decided to move out west
and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, around 1838. He attended
Cary's academy for two years and then studied law. Long
married Cynthia Parker Sammons October 27, 1842. From
1840-1848, while studying law, he also worked as a school
teacher in the rural schools of Green Township. He passed
the bar in 1845, but became involved in politics shortly
afterward.
Long was an ardent Free-Soil Democrat, and for most of
his life was one of the more extreme among the small group
of influential men in Ohio who strongly opposed the North's
actions regarding the Civil War. In 1848, Long was elected
to the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1850, he left
the state House to begin a successful law practice.
By 1862, discontent with the hardships of the Civil War
and dissatisfaction with the Lincoln administration were
spreading through Ohio. Long took advantage of the antipathy
toward Republicans that year and ran for Congress from
the 2nd District as an anti-war Democrat, defeating Republican
incumbent John Gurley.
On April 9, 1864, Long gave his first major speech on
the House floor, attacking President Lincoln, denouncing
the war and emancipation, and opposing the suppression
of civil liberties by Lincoln's administration and the
North's actions toward the South. He said declaring war
on other states was unconstitutional and predicted the
North would lose. Had he said such things on the street,
he could have been arrested for treason. Long's remarks
caused a great uproar in Congress and in the national
press, especially since it was the middle of a Presidential
election year. His supporters defended his rights to free
speech and praised his courage and honesty. His opponents
called for his expulsion from Congress and called the
Democratic Party traitors. For five days afterward further
business in the House gave way to raging debates. For
his part, Long refused to retract any of his statements;
and though Republicans lacked the necessary votes to expel
Long from Congress, the House did censure him for "treasonable
utterances."
Long failed to win the election that year, and returned
to his law practice in Cincinnati. In the years following
his time in Congress, Long served as delegate to the Democratic
National Conventions in 1864, 1868, 1872, and 1876. Though
he had established himself as one of the more extreme
Peace Democrats, he declined any position of leadership
in the party. Instead he tried to exert his influence
on the Democratic Party through articulating and forming
its political philosophy, especially in his insistence
that the Democratic platform be mostly based on the doctrine
of states' rights. Yet he failed largely to persuade the
party to act according to many of his principles, particularly
in their nomination of War Democrat George B. McClellan
in 1864. Further political frustrations came when he strongly
supported Salmon P. Chase for the Presidency and later
Samuel Tilden, both of whom lost. He did see Grover Cleveland
in the White House though, before he died.
Despite failures in politics, Long's community still respected
him. In the 1870's, Long was elected to the Cincinnati
school board. He was also chosen to serve as trustee of
the Commercial Hospital, the public library, and the University
of Cincinnati. On November 28, 1886, Alexander Long died
in Cincinnati, Ohio and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery.
Sources:
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress The Autobiography of Alexander Long, 1858, edited
by Louis Harlan—found in the Bulletin of the Historical
and Philosophical Society of Ohio; April, 1961 Vol. 19,
No. 2—found online in the Digital Journals of Cincinnati
Historical Society
