| George Ellis Pugh | |
| Jr/Sr: | United States Senator |
| State: | Ohio |
| Term Start: | March 4, 1855 |
| Term End: | March 3, 1861 |
| Predecessor: | Salmon P. Chase |
| Successor: | Salmon P. Chase |
| Order2: | 3rd |
| Office2: | Ohio Attorney General |
| Term Start2: | January 12, 1852 |
| Term End2: | January 9, 1854 |
| Governor2: | Reuben Wood William Medill |
| Preceded2: | Joseph McCormick |
| Succeeded2: | George Wythe McCook |
| State House3: | Ohio |
| District3: | Hamilton County |
| Term Start3: | December 4, 1848 |
| Term End3: | December 1, 1850 |
| Preceded3: | four others |
| Succeeded3: | five others |
| Alongside3: | Alexander Long and five others |
| Birth Date: | 28 November 1822 |
| Birth Place: | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Death Place: | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Restingplace: | Spring Grove Cemetery |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Spouse: | Theresa Chalfant |
| Children: | three |
| Alma Mater: | Miami University |
George Ellis Pugh (November 28, 1822July 19, 1876) was a Democratic politician from Ohio. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1855 to 1861.
Pugh was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the son of Lot and Rachel (née Anthony) Pugh, who were married in Hamilton County, Ohio, on July 7, 1814. George had three brothers and a sister.
George Ellis Pugh descended from Ellis Pugh, Sr. (1656–1718), an early Welsh immigrant to Pennsylvania and Quaker minister who, with his wife Sinah, emigrated to Pennsylvania to escape religious persecution in 1686.
Pugh attended Miami University.
He began practicing law in 1843, later serving as a captain in the 4th Ohio Regiment in the Mexican–American War. He was commended for gallantry and bravery in action at the Battle of Atlexco. After serving in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1848 to 1850, he served as State Attorney General from 1852 to 1854. Pugh served a single term in the United States Senate from 1855 to 1861, losing a re-election bid to Salmon P. Chase, whom he had replaced.
In the Senate, he became a champion of the Western Democracy, that is, Midwestern Democrats, first against the Republicans,[1] and later against Stephen A. Douglas' opponents inside the Democratic Party.[2] He spoke in favor of the Lecompton Constitution on March 16, 1858, but followed the instructions of the Ohio legislature in voting against that constitution.[3]
On February 23, 1859, during the lame-duck session, Albert Gallatin Brown attacked Douglas over popular sovereignty. Douglas defended his position, and was joined by Charles E. Stuart of Michigan, David C. Broderick of California, and Pugh. Pugh said, "In the whole Dred Scott case, there was no act of a Territorial legislature before them [the justices] in any shape or form." Pugh explained, "This is the first time I ever heard, in a case where nine judges pronounce their opinions seriatim, that because one of them in illustration collaterally makes a reference, that becomes the decision of the court." Pugh answered the demand for a federal slave code, to be imposed on all territories, in this way: "Never; while I live, never! I consider it a monstrous demand."[4]
Pugh later had an exchange with Jefferson Davis about the difference, if any, between Douglas' Freeport Doctrine on popular sovereignty and the doctrine Davis had set forth in a speech at Portland, Maine.[5]
Despite his loss to Republican Salmon P. Chase in his attempt to secure a second term to the Senate in 1860, Pugh would continue to vocally politically during his remaining time in office. Most notably, during the secession crisis following the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, Pugh would be one of the most vocal voices in Congress in arguing against the use of coercion to force the seceding Southern states back into the Union. In leaving Congress, he would leave the mantle of being the leading voice for this position to fellow Ohioans Clement L. Vallandigham and George H. Pendleton in the House of Representatives.
He is best known as a member of the counsel for the defense of Clement L. Vallandigham in 1863. During the Civil War, he fell into disfavor with the citizens of Ohio because he was a Democrat and for defending Vallandigham and later in 1863, he lost the election for the office of Lieutenant Governor. He also lost in the election for Congress in 1864 and refrained from seeking public office for several years while continuing his legal profession.
He emerged to the political front again in 1873 when he was elected to become a delegate to the Ohio State Constitutional Convention but withdrew from the deliberations and declined to serve. He died in Cincinnati in 1876 when he was 53 years old.
Pugh ran for the lieutenant governorship in 1863 and the United States House of Representatives in 1864, losing both times.
Pugh married Theresa Chalfant in 1840 and had three children, Robert Chalfont, Nina Theresa and Thomas. He became a Roman Catholic in 1855.