Impeached New York Governor Writes Of Democracy On The Shores Of Time For Justice And Equality

WILLIAM SULZER (March 18, 1863 – November 6, 1941) was a lawyer, the 39^th Governor of New York and the longest serving congressman from the state. He was the first New York governor to be impeached and removed from office.  After he broke with his sponsors from Tammany Hall, they produced convincing evidence that he had falsified his campaign expenditures.

Sulzer was elected to the 54^th United States Congress in 1894 and served in eight succeeding Congresses, representing the 10^th Congressional District.  In Congress, he was a Populist, known for his oratory. He worked to abolish debtors’ prisons and limit hours for workers. Declaring himself a “friend to all humanity and a champion of liberty,” he supported the Cuban rebels during their War of Independence, and during the Second Boer War, he introduced a resolution supporting the Boer Republics and banning the sale of military supplies to the British Empire.  He repeatedly called for resolutions condemning Czarist Russia and in the Sixty-second Congress, he chaired the Committee on Foreign Affairs from which he proposed a resolution praising the Revolution of 1911.

Sulzer’s impeachment trial went poorly.  He didn’t even testify and was found guilty of three articles of impeachment: filing a false report concerning campaign contributions, committing perjury and advising another person to commit perjury.  Sulzer was removed from office by a vote of 43-12.  A few weeks after the impeachment, he was elected on the Progressive ticket to the New York State Assembly. He later attempted to gain the Progressive Party nomination for governor but was defeated in the primary due to the intervention of Theodore Roosevelt, who declared that “the trouble with Sulzer is that he does not tell the truth.”  The Prohibition Party nominated him for governor in 1914 after he made a speech denouncing rum. He came in third. Sulzer claimed that that the result was a moral victory as the Democrats who had impeached him were swept out of power. In the election of 1916, Sulzer was the Presidential nominee of the American Party.  After politics, he engaged in the practice of law in New York City.

Offering a one-page, 5 ½ x 6 ¾, on Fifty-Eighth Congress, Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives U.S., Washington, April 23, 1906 to John E. Christie, Esq.   “Your letter just rece’d and in reply I send you my sentiments on Democracy with my signature. Democracy is the cry of humanity on the shores of Time for justice and equality to all.

“However to be a Democrat—it must be in his bone and fiber.

“Very truly yours

“William Sulzer”

Fold, light toning but in excellent condition. Comes with a print of his image.  Insignificant adhesive residue to verso from previous mounting.

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