Edward Bates was born in Belmont, Goochland county, Va., September,
1793. He was of Quaker descent, and inherited all the virtues of that
peace-loving people. In 1812, he received a midshipman's warrant, and
was only prevented from following the sea by the influence of his
mother, to whom he was greatly attached. Edward emigrated to Missouri
in 1814, and entered upon the practice of law, and, in 1816, was
appointed prosecuting lawyer for the St. Louis Circuit. Toward the
close of the same year, he was appointed Attorney General for the new
State of Missouri, and in 1826, while yet a young man, was elected
representative to congress as an anti-Democrat, and served one term.
For the following twenty-five years, he devoted himself to his
profession, in which he was a shining light. His probity and
uprightness attracted to him a class of people who were in the right
and only sought justice, while he repelled, by his virtues, those who
traffic in the miseries or mistakes of unfortunate people, for they
dared not come to him and seek counsel to aid them in their villainy.

In 1847, Mr. Bates was delegate to the Convention for Internal
Improvement, held in Chicago, and by his action he came prominently
before the whole country. In 1850, President Fillmore offered him the
portfolio of Secretary of War, which he declined. Three years later,
he accepted the office of Judge of St. Louis Land Court.

When the question of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was
agitated, he earnestly opposed it, and thus became identified with the
"free labor" party in Missouri, and united with it, in opposition to
the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution. He
afterwards became a prominent anti-slavery man, and in 1859 was
mentioned as a candidate for the presidency. He was warmly supported
by his own State, and for a time it seemed that the opposition to