WILLIAM DARRAH KELLEY


William Darrah Kelley
William Darrah Kelley
  • Born: April 12, 1814
  • Died: January 9, 1890
  • Nationality:
  • Profession: Proofreader

William Darrah Kelley was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. As an abolitionist, he was one of the founders of the Republican Party in 1854, and a friend of Abraham Lincoln. Kelley was a man of strict principles, advocating the recruitment of black troops in the civil war, and the extending of the vote to them afterwards. His belief in protective tariffs was so extreme that he refused to wear a single imported garment.