Schuyler Colfax (March 23, 1823-January 13, 1885) was a Representative from Indiana and the 17th Vice President of the United States. Colfax was born in New York City. In 1836 he moved with his parents to New Carlisle, Indiana. He was appointed deputy auditor of St. Joseph County, Indiana in 1841. He became a legislative correspondent for the Indiana State Journal. He purchased an interest in the South Bend Free Press and changed its name in 1845 to the St. Joseph Valley Register, the Whig organ of northern Indiana.
Colfax was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1850 and an unsuccessful Whig candidate for election to the Thirty-second Congress. He was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fourth and to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1869). He was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1863. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1868, having become the Republican nominee for Vice President.
In 1868 he was elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket headed by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. He was inaugurated March 4, 1869 and served through March 3, 1873. Colfax was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1872, owing to charges of corruption in connection with the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal.
He was a lecturer after leaving public office, and died in Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. He is interred in the City Cemetery, South Bend, Indiana.
The town of Colfax, California, is named in his honor as is the town of Colfax, Washington. The "Jewel of the Midwest," Schuyler, Nebraska, is also named after Colfax. The city is the county seat of Colfax County, Nebraska. Colfax County, New Mexico is named after the Speaker as well. In addition, the "main street" traversing Aurora, Denver, and Lakewood, Colorado and abutting the Colorado State Capitol is named "Colfax Avenue" in the politician's honor.
