Roscoe Conkling (October 30, 1829-April 18, 1888) was a politician from New York who served both as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He was the leader of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party (or GOP). He was born in Albany, New York; his father, Alfred Conkling, was a U.S. Representative and Federal judge and his brother, Frederick Augustus Conkling, was also a U.S. Representative.
He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He began a practice in Utica, New York. He served as the district attorney for Oneida County in 1850; mayor of Utica in 1858; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1863); chairman, Committee on District of Columbia (Thirty-seventh Congress); unsuccessful candidate in 1862 for reelection; elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1865, until he resigned to become Senator, effective March 4, 1867; elected in 1867 as a Republican to the United States Senate; reelected in 1873 and again in 1879 and served from March 4, 1867, until May 16, 1881, when he resigned as a protest against the federal appointments made in New York State; was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation; chairman, Committee on Revision of the Laws of the United States (Fortieth through Forty-third Congresses), Committee on Commerce (Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-seventh Congresses), Committee on Engrossed Bills (Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses); resumed the practice of law in New York City; declined to accept a nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1882; died in New York City, on April 18, 1888; interment in Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, N.Y.
