Great Winnebago." He built a large fortune by canal and railway
contracts, and later by rolling-mills and furnaces. He was one
of the first men in American politics to purchase political power
by the lavish use of cash, and to use political power for the
gratification of financial greed. In 1857 he was elected to the
United States Senate as a Republican by a legislature in which
the Democrats had a majority. Three Democrats voted for him, and
so bitter was the feeling against the renegade trio that no hotel
in Harrisburg would shelter them.

In 1860 he was a candidate for the Republican presidential
nomination. President Lincoln made him Secretary of War. But his
management was so ill-savored that a committee of leading
business men from the largest cities of the country told the
President that it was impossible to transact business with such a
man. These complaints coupled with other considerations moved
Lincoln to dismiss Cameron. He did so in characteristic fashion.
On January 11, 1862, he sent Cameron a curt note saying that he
proposed to appoint him minister to Russia. And thither into
exile Cameron went. A few months later, the House of
Representatives passed a resolution of censure, citing Cameron's
employment of irresponsible persons and his purchase of supplies
by private contract instead of competitive bidding. The
resolution, however, was later expunged from the records; and
Cameron, on his return from Russia, again entered the Senate
under circumstances so suspicious that only the political
influence of the boss thwarted an action for bribery. In 1877 he
resigned, naming as his successor his son "Don," who was promptly
elected.