Charles R. Buckalew

Charles R. Buckalew
Buckalew c. 1860–1865
United States Senator from Pennsylvania
In office March 4, 1863 – March 4, 1869
Preceded by	David Wilmot
Succeeded by	John Scott
United States Minister Resident in Ecuador
In office September 20, 1858 – July 10, 1861
President	James Buchanan Abraham Lincoln
Preceded by	Philo White
Succeeded by	Frederick Hassaurek
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
In office March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1891
Preceded by	John B. Storm
Succeeded by	Simon P. Wolverton
Constituency	11th district (1887–1889) 17th district (1889–1891)
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate
In office 1851–1854
Preceded by	Robert Chambers Sterrett
Succeeded by	Bartram A. Schaffer
Constituency	16th district
In office 1857–1858
Preceded by	Samuel Wherry
Succeeded by	Henry Fetter
Constituency	13th district
In office 1869–1870
Preceded by	David Mumma
Succeeded by	Butler B. Strang
Constituency	16th district
Personal details
Born	Charles Rollin Buckalew (1821-12-28)December 28, 1821 Fishing Creek Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	May 19, 1899(1899-05-19) (aged 77) Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Permelia Wadsworth Buckalew
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

Charles Rollin Buckalew (December 28, 1821 – May 19, 1899) was an American lawyer, diplomat, and Democratic Party politician from Pennsylvania. He represented the state for one term in the United States Senate, where he was an advocate for proportional representation and cumulative voting, from 1863 to 1869.

Buckalew also served three nonconsecutive terms in the Pennsylvania Senate (1851–1854, 1859–1860, and 1869–1870) and two consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1887 to 1891. He served as Minister Resident for Ecuador under President James Buchanan from 1858 to 1861.

Buckalew was born in Fishing Creek Township, Pennsylvania on December 28, 1821, to John McKinney Sr. and Martha Funston Buckalew. He was a graduate of Harford Academy, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1843.^[1]

Buckalew was the most influential early advocate of proportional representation in the United States. His proposals for a type of voting system known as cumulative voting gained significant support in Congress, and he played a central role in the adoption of cumulative voting in several places, including Illinois for state legislative elections in 1870, a system that lasted in that state until 1980.

Buckalew was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the U.S. Senate in 1863. In a number of speeches, notably in the Senate on July 11, 1867; at a large public meeting in Philadelphia in November of the same year; before the Social Science Association at Philadelphia in October 1870; and in the Senate of Pennsylvania on March 27, 1871; as well as in the report of the Select Committee on Representative Reform of the United States Senate, of which be was chairman, Buckalew argued persuasively for the use of cumulative voting in the election of representatives in Congress, state legislatures, town councils and other bodies.^[2]

Buckalew's bill in the Senate would have allowed all the electors of a state to have the number of votes equal to the number of house of representatives members to be elected from that state. The voter could give all his votes to one candidate, or distribute them in any fashion, equally or unequally, among candidates. The candidates with the highest number of votes would be elected.^[3]

In addition to serving in Congress and the Pennsylvania state legislature, Buckalew was commissioner to exchange ratifications of a treaty with Paraguay in 1854; chairman of the Democratic State committee in 1857; appointed one of the commissioners to revise the penal code of Pennsylvania in 1857; Minister Resident to the Republic of Ecuador 1858–1861;^[4] unsuccessful candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1872; and a delegate to the Pennsylvania constitutional convention of 1873.

He resumed the practice of law when he left Congress in 1891, age 69, in Bloomsburg, Columbia County, where he died on May 19, 1899. He is interred in Rosemont Cemetery in Bloomsburg.^[1]

Buckalew's writings and speeches on cumulative voting were collected in an 1872 book titled Proportional Representation. 1872, Philadelphia, J. Campbell & Son.

Media related to Charles R. Buckalew at Wikimedia Commons

• United States Congress. "Charles R. Buckalew (id: B001019)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2009-04-01
• "Charles R. Buckalew". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
• Proportional Representation, by Charles R. Buckalew at the University of Michigan Making of America online library