Chester A. Arthur's Life

Chester Alan Arthur was born on October 5, 1829 in Fairfield, Vermont. His father was a teacher and minister. Arthur entered Union College in Schnectady, New York at age fifteen. He taught school to pay for his education and graduated with honors in 1848. He then went on to study law while continuing to teach to support himself until 1853 when he went to New York City to start his career as a lawyer. He took on two very controversial and groundbreaking cases. His law firm gained freedom for eight runaway slaves. He also represented Lizzie Jennings in a segregation case. She was told not to ride on a New York City streetcar because she was black; she was awarded five hundred dollars in damages. The court decision stated that Negroes had the same rights to ride on a New York City streetcar as anyone else. Chester A. Arthur married Ellen Lewis Herndon in 1859. During the Civil War Arthur was appointed quartermaster general of New York state, supplying food, guns, and tents to to the soldiers. Fifteen years later, Chester Arthur was elected Vice President under James Abram Garfield. In 1881, James A. Garfield was assassinated on September 19. The next day on September 20, 1881, Chester succeeded former President Garfield as the twenty-first President of the U.S. He only served a partial term because in 1884, Chester was not re-elected as President. He was the last President to not have a Vice President. After he left office, he had a kidney disease. He died twenty months later on November 18, 1886. Note: Chester Alan Arthur was President from 1881 to 1885 and since he was completing Garfield's term, there was no Vice President.