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David Bennett Hill

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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DAVID BENNETT HILL (1843-1910), American politician, was born at Havana, New York, on the 29th of August 1843. In 1862 he removed to Elmira, New York, where in 1864 he was admitted to the bar. He at once became active in the affairs of the Democratic party, attracting the attention of Samuel J. Tilden, one of whose shrewdest and ablest lieutenants he became. In 1871 and 1872 he was a member of the New York State Assembly, and in 1877 and again in 1881 presided over the Democratic State Convention. In 1882 he was elected mayor of Elmira, and in the same year was chosen lieutenant-governor of the state, having been defeated for nomination as governor by Grover Cleveland. In January 1885, however, Cleveland having resigned to become president, Hill became governor, and in November was elected for a three-year term, and subsequently re-elected. In 1891-1897 he was a member of the United States Senate. During these years, and in 1892, when he tried to get the presidential nomination, he was prominent in working against Cleveland. In 1896 he opposed the free silver plank in the platform adopted by the Democratic National Convention which nominated W. J. Bryan; in the National Convention of 1900, however, the free-silver issue having been subordinated to anti-imperialism, he seconded Bryan's nomination. After 1897 he devoted himself to his law practice, being prominently associated with appeals in several notorious criminal trials.