Cydnor Bailey Tompkins

author

Cydnor Bailey Tompkins

1810–1862

A lawyer, newspaper editor, and Ohio congressman, he brought sharp political conviction to his public life. Best remembered for an 1860 anti-slavery speech, he was part of the fierce national debate just before the Civil War.

1 Audiobook

Slavery: What it was, what it has done, what it intends to do

Slavery: What it was, what it has done, what it intends to do

by Cydnor Bailey Tompkins

About the author

Born in 1810, he became closely identified with St. Clairsville, Ohio, where he worked in law and journalism before entering national politics. He served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Ohio from 1857 to 1859.

Tompkins is especially associated with a published speech on slavery delivered in Congress in 1860, later circulated in print as Slavery: What It Was, What It Has Done, What It Intends To Do. That work helps explain why his name still appears in historical and digital library collections today.

He died in 1862. Although he is not widely known now, the surviving record shows a figure shaped by the legal, political, and moral conflicts of his era.