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The U.S. Senate refuses Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback his congressional seat after many oppose his election.
1876 (Mar 8)
The U.S. Senate, following three years of debate and controversy, refused to seat Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback of Louisiana. In the fall of 1872, Pinchback was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and later to the U.S. Senate in the winter of 1873. During the long debate over Pinchback's case, including nearly an entire extra session of Congress, the affable Pinchback became a national political figure as well as a prominent name in Washington society. Opponents of Pinchback argued that he had not been properly elected and was not qualified; others insisted that the opposition to Pinchback supposedly stemmed from senators' wives being against social intercourse with Pinchback's wife, thereby resulting in their husbands' negative votes.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.