Alphonso Taft
Alphonso Taft was born in Townshend, Vermont, United States on November 5th, 1810 and is the Politician. At the age of 80, Alphonso Taft biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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Alphonso Taft formed a law firm with Thomas Marshall Key and William M. Dickson in April 1854. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856, and also that year made an unsuccessful run for the United States House of Representatives against George H. Pendleton. Taft supported the Union during the Civil War. He was a judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati from 1866 to 1872 when he resigned to practice law with two of his sons. He was the first president of the Cincinnati Bar Association, serving in 1872.
In the court case Board of Education of Cincinnati vs. Minor (1872), Taft dissented against the decision made by the Superior Court of Cincinnati regarding the reading the Bible in public schools. Taft asserted that the school board was within its rights to stop the practice of reading the Bible in public schools, arguing that religious liberty demands that "The government is neutral, and, while protecting all [religious sects], it prefers none, and it disparages none." Taft's dissent helped to sway the Ohio Supreme Court, and they ruled in favor of the school board, overturning the Superior Court ruling. In his discourse, Taft specifically referenced Jewish groups opposed to the reading of the Bible in public schools. As taxpayers, Taft argued, Jews also had the right to take advantage of a public secular education. In addition, religion was a matter of the home and protected by the Bill of Rights. To suggest that the Bill of Rights only reflects Protestant values was inappropriate, according to Taft, as religious liberty was given to all religious denominations and Christianity "is not to be regarded as sectarian under our constitution."
Many believe that Taft's opinion was the cause of much opposition to him, and contributed to his 1875 loss of the Republican nomination for Governor of Ohio to Rutherford B. Hayes. However, the opinion that defeated his nomination was unanimously affirmed by the Supreme Court of Ohio. The independence of Taft's opinion commanded widespread respect, a sentiment freely expressed when President Ulysses S. Grant in March 1876 made him Secretary of War and three months later Attorney General of the United States.
Taft was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in October 1876.
