Nathaniel P. Banks - Postbellum Career

Postbellum Career

In August 1865, Banks was mustered out of the service by President Andrew Johnson. He was elected as a representative to Congress, serving from 1865 to 1873, when he held the positions of chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and sometimes as chair of the Republican caucus. He played a key role in the final passage of the Alaska Purchase legislation, supported women's suffrage, and was one of the strongest early advocates of Manifest Destiny. Banks's financial records strongly suggest he received a large gratuity from the Russian minister after the Alaska legislation passed. Banks wanted the United States to acquire Canada and the Caribbean islands to reduce European influence in the region. He also served on the committee investigating the Crédit Mobilier scandal.

Unhappy with the administration of President Ulysses Grant, in 1872 he joined the Liberal-Republican revolt in support of Horace Greeley. While Banks was campaigning across the North for Greeley, an opponent successfully gathered enough support in his Massachusetts district to defeat him as the joint Liberal-Republican and Democratic candidate. Banks thought his involvement with a start-up Kentucky railroad and other railroads would substitute for the political loss. But the Panic of 1873 doomed the railroad, and Banks went on the lecture circuit and was elected to the Massachusetts Senate.

In 1874, he was elected to Congress again as an independent and served the following two terms, again as a Republican (1875–1879). He was a member of the committee investigating the irregular 1876 elections in South Carolina. When he was defeated in 1878, the president appointed him as United States marshal for Massachusetts, a post he held from 1879 until 1888. That year, Banks was elected to Congress as a Republican.

During his final term, colleagues saw significant mental deterioration, and did not renominate him. He died at Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1894, and is buried there in Grove Hill Cemetery.