• James Garfield grew up on a farm in Ohio. His father died when James was a baby and he helped his mother farm before embarking on a variety of careers: He spent a short time as a teen working on canal boats between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, but became sick after falling overboard a number of times. He worked as a carpenter, teacher and janitor while going through school, then after graduating college taught courses at one of the schools he attended. He would serve as president of the institute for a short time, then, after studying law independently, passed the bar exam.
• Garfield was an abolitionist and entered the political world as an Ohio state legislator before fighting in the Civil War and being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
• He spent eight terms in the House, gaining valuable financial experience serving on a number of important committees.
• Garfield won a tight election in 1880, by about 7,000 votes.
How he defined the office
• Garfield brought his financial expertise to his plans for the presidency: Before his assassination he was able to recall government bonds that were refinanced and save millions of dollars on the country’s budget.
• Although he was not a big supporter of President Lincoln, Garfield recognized his importance to the country’s history and named Lincoln’s son Robert as his secretary of war.
Successes and failures
• Garfield’s short time in office didn’t allow him to accomplish much other than the appointing of cabinet and other government positions. Some of these appointments led to disagreements which, when Garfield stuck to his picks, established him as the leader of his political party.
• Garfield was shot and killed by Charles Guiteau four months into his presidency, at Washington’s Baltimore and Potomac train station. Guiteau, known as emotionally disturbed, killed Garfield because he wasn’t given a position in the government. Garfield was shot July 2, 1881, and died Sept. 19 that year from blood poisoning and complications.
• “The finances of the government shall suffer no detriment which it may be possible for my administration to prevent.” – from his inaugural address March 4, 1881.