{{Short description|American politician (1811–1892)}} {{redirect|Senator Drake}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Charles D. Drake | honorific_suffix = | image = Charles D. Drake - Brady-Handy (3x4 a).jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Chief Justice of the Court of Claims | term_start = December 12, 1870 | term_end = December 12, 1885 | nominator = | appointer = Ulysses S. Grant | predecessor = Joseph Casey | successor = William Adams Richardson | jr/sr1 = United States Senator | state1 = Missouri | term_start1 = March 4, 1867 | term_end1 = December 19, 1870 | predecessor1 = Benjamin Gratz Brown | successor1 = Daniel T. Jewett | pronunciation = | birth_name = Charles Daniel Drake | birth_date = {{Birth date|1811|04|11}} | birth_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1892|04|01|1811|04|11}} | death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = Bellefontaine Cemetery<br>St. Louis, Missouri | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = Republican | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = Daniel Drake | relatives = Benjamin Drake (uncle) | education = St. Joseph's College<br>Partridge's Military Academy<br>read law | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = Signature of Charles Daniel Drake.png | signature_alt = | website = <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | footnotes = }} '''Charles Daniel Drake''' (April 11, 1811 – April 1, 1892) was a United States senator from Missouri and Chief Justice of the Court of Claims.
Charles Drake was successively a Whig, a Know Nothing, and a Democrat.<ref>(Curry; Radicalism Racism and Party Realignment - Chapter 1 William E Parrish p7 1969)</ref>
==Education and career==
Born on April 11, 1811, in Cincinnati, Ohio,<ref name="fjc.gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/drake-charles-daniel|title=Drake, Charles Daniel - Federal Judicial Center|website=www.fjc.gov}}</ref> Drake attended St. Joseph's College in Bardstown, Kentucky in 1823 and 1824, and Partridge's Military Academy in Middletown, Connecticut in 1824 to 1825.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was a midshipman in the United States Navy from 1827 to 1830.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He read law with Benjamin Drake in Cincinnati.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He entered private practice in Cincinnati from 1833 to 1834.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He continued private practice in St. Louis, Missouri from 1834 to 1847, then returned to Cincinnati from 1847 to 1849.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was treasurer of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in 1849.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He resumed private practice in St. Louis from 1850 to 1867.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1859 to 1860.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was a delegate and Vice President of the Missouri constitutional convention in 1865.<ref name="fjc.gov"/>
==Leader of Radical Republicans==
During the American Civil War, Drake became a fierce opponent of slavery, and a leader of the Radical Republicans. From 1861 to 1863, he proposed without success the immediate and uncompensated emancipation of slaves. He was defeated by the conservative Republicans led by Governor Hamilton Rowan Gamble and supported by Lincoln. By 1863, Drake had organized his Radical faction and called for immediate emancipation, a new constitution, and a system of disfranchisement of all Confederate sympathizers in Missouri. He served as vice president of the 1865 state constitutional convention, where he stood out as the most active leader. Missouri German leader Carl Schurz commented about him, "in politics he was inexorable ... most of the members of his party, especially in the country districts, stood much in awe of him."<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl Schurz|title=The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz|publisher=J. Murray|url=https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofc0003schu|year=1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofc0003schu/page/294 294]}}</ref> The new Constitution was adopted and became known as the "Drake constitution." The Radicals maintained absolute control of the state from 1865 to 1871, with Drake as their leader. To maintain power, Drake and the Radical Republicans disfranchised every man who had supported the Confederacy, even indirectly. They made an 81-point checklists of actions. The United States Supreme Court reversed the imposition of the oath on ministers, and became a highly controversial political issue across the state. The German Republicans in particular were angry.<ref>Martha Kohl, "Enforcing a Vision of Community: The Role of the Test Oath in Missouri's Reconstruction." ''Civil War History'' 40.4 (1994): 292-307.</ref> To further bolster his voting base, he secured the franchise for all black men in Missouri, despite qualms held by many Republicans.
==Congressional service==
Drake was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1867, to December 19, 1870, when he resigned to accept a federal judicial position.<ref name="auto">{{CongBio|D000484|inline=yes}}</ref> He served as Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Education for the 41st United States Congress.<ref name="auto"/>
==Federal judicial service==
Drake was nominated by President Ulysses S. Grant on December 12, 1870, to the Chief Justice seat on the Court of Claims (later the United States Court of Claims) vacated by Chief Justice Joseph Casey.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 12, 1870, and received his commission the same day.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> His service terminated on December 12, 1885, due to his resignation.<ref name="fjc.gov"/>
==Later career and death== thumb|right|200px|Drake's grave at Bellefontaine Cemetery
Following his resignation from the federal bench, Drake resumed private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1885 to 1892.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> He died on April 1, 1892, in Washington, D.C.<ref name="fjc.gov"/> His remains were cremated and the ashes interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.<ref name="auto"/>
==Family==
Drake's father, Daniel Drake (1785–1852), was an American physician and author.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}} His uncle, Benjamin Drake (1795–1841), was an American historian, editor, and writer.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}}
==Works== * {{cite book |title= Treatise on the Law of Suits by Attachment in the United States |last= Drake|first=Charles D. |edition= 7th|year= 1891|publisher= Little, Brown and Co.|location= Boston |url=https://archive.org/details/atreatiseonlaws00drakgoog |lccn= 14016517 }} * {{cite book |title= Union and Anti-Slavery Speeches|last=Drake |first= Charles D. |year= 1864 |publisher= Applegate & Co. |location= Cincinnati|url=https://archive.org/details/unionandantisla00drakgoog |lccn= 77083961 }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Astor, Aaron. ''Rebels on the Border: Civil War, Emancipation, and the Reconstruction of Kentucky and Missouri'' (LSU Press, 2012). * Burchard, Chad. "'Country or Slavery': Charles Daniel Drake and the Rise and Fall of Radical Unionism in Missouri; 1860-1870" (BA Thesis, Vanderbilt University. 2006). [http://discoverarchive.vanderbilt.edu/bitstream/handle/1803/139/06BurchardHHT.pdf?sequence=1 online] * Erwin, James. ''The Homefront in Civil War Missouri'' (The History Press, 2014). * Parrish, William Earl. ''Turbulent Partnership: Missouri and the Union, 1861-1865'' (U of Missouri Press, 1963). * Parrish, William Earl. ''A History of Missouri: 1860 to 1875.'' Vol. 3. University of Missouri Press, 1973). * Parrish, William Earl. ''Missouri under Radical rule, 1865-1870'' (U of Missouri Press, 1965).
== External links== {{Portal|Biography}} {{wikisource|works=or|Charles Daniel Drake}} {{CongBio|D000484}} *{{NIE|title=Drake, Charles Daniel}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box |state=Missouri |class=3 |before=Benjamin Gratz Brown |after=Daniel T. Jewett |alongside=John B. Henderson, Carl Schurz |years=1867–1870 }} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Joseph Casey}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Justice of the Court of Claims}}|years=1870–1885}} {{s-aft|after=William Adams Richardson}} {{s-end}}
{{USSenMO}} {{SenHELPCommitteeChairmen}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Charles D.}} Category:1811 births Category:1892 deaths Category:American legal writers Category:American Presbyterians Category:Republican Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Category:People of the Six Years' War Category:Politicians from Cincinnati Category:United States Navy midshipmen Category:Judges of the United States Court of Claims Category:Republican Party United States senators from Missouri Category:Radical Republicans Category:Missouri Republicans Category:Norwich University alumni Category:United States Article I federal judges appointed by Ulysses S. Grant Category:19th-century Missouri state court judges Category:19th-century United States senators Category:19th-century members of the Missouri General Assembly Category:Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery