William McKendree Springer

Who was William McKendree Springer?

William McKendree Springer was a United States Representative from Illinois. He was born near New Lebanon, Sullivan County, Indiana, May 30, 1836; moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, with his parents in 1848; attended the public schools in New Lebanon and Jacksonville and the Illinois College at Jacksonville where he was a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society; graduated from Indiana University in 1858; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1859 and practiced in Lincoln, Illinois and Springfield, Illinois; was secretary of the State constitutional convention in 1862 at the young age of 26 and briefly served as assistant secretary of the state’s senate; traveled in Europe 1868-1871; was member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1871 and 1872; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and to the nine succeeding Congresses. During his service in Congress he was involved in the investigation of election frauds during the Hayes-Tilden campaign. He was chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State, Committee on Elections, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice, Committee on Claims, Committee on Territories, Committee on Ways and Means, Committee on Banking and Currency. While on the Committee on Territories Springer framed the bills that organized Oklahoma Territory and also created a federal judicial system for the Indian Territory. Springer created an Amendment as a "rider" to the Indian Appropriations Act for 1890. The Springer Amendment began the process of placing the Unassigned Lands of Indian Territory within the federal public domain and open to homesteaders. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress. He again resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., in 1895. He was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as a United States judge for the northern district of Indian Territory and chief justice of the United States Court of Appeals of Indian Territory.