Benjamin A. Bidlack

Benjamin Bidlack
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 11th district
In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845
Preceded by	James Gerry
Succeeded by	Owen D. Leib
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 15th district
In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843
Preceded by	David Petrikin
Succeeded by	Henry Nes
Personal details
Born	Benjamin Alden Bidlack (1804-09-08)September 8, 1804 Paris, New York, U.S.
Died	February 6, 1849(1849-02-06) (aged 44) Bogota, Republic of New Granada
Political party	Democratic

Benjamin Alden Bidlack (September 8, 1804 – February 6, 1849) was an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and was appointed as a minister to New Granada.

Early life and education

Bidlack was born in Paris, New York, the son of Benjamin Bidlack, a pioneer farmer, and Lydia Alden Bidlack. When his family moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, he completed his education at local public schools and the Wilkes-Barre Academy. After graduation, he studied law in the office of a local attorney, Garrick Mallery.

Career

Shortly after admittance to the state bar in 1825, Bidlack was appointed deputy attorney of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. In 1830, he moved to Milford, Pennsylvania and entered the newspaper business. He began as publisher of the Republican Farmer. He later sold his interest in the paper and started the Northern Eagle, the first newspaper in Pike County, Pennsylvania. In 1834, he served as treasurer of Pike County.

Bidlack returned to Wilkes-Barre and was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1835-1836. In 1840 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and re-elected in 1842. As a congressman, Bidlack became sympathetic to the case of Frances Slocum, a white woman who had been abducted as a child and raised by the Miami people. Slocum was fully assimilated into the Native American culture and was accepted as one of its members. In 1845, Congress passed a joint resolution originally introduced by Bidwell that exempted Slocum and twenty-one of her Miami relatives from removal to Kansas Territory.

Bidwell lost his bid for reelection in 1844. He was appointed chargé d'affaires to New Granada on May 14, 1845. He successfully negotiated a “treaty of peace, amity, and navigation” with that secured for the United States the right to build a canal or railroad across the Isthmus of Panama. He died in Bogotá, Colombia in 1849, aged 44. He was interred in the English Cemetery.

Bidlack is remembered for signing the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty, a treaty between the Republic of New Granada (today Colombia and Panama) and the United States, on December 12, 1846. He negotiated the pact with New Granada's commissioner Manuel María Mallarino.

Death

While in the Republic of New Granada to negotiate the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty, Bidlack died on February 6, 1849.

Sources

• Lach, Edward L., Jr. (2001). "Bidlack, Benjamin Alden (1804-1849)". American National Biography. Oxford University Press.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Findling, John E. (1980). "Bidlack, Benjamin Alden (1804-1849)". Dictionary of American Diplomatic History. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 56.
• United States Congress. "Benjamin A. Bidlack (id: B000445)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Political Graveyard