born Feb. 1, 1828, Richmond, Vt., U.S.
died Feb. 27, 1919, Pasadena, Calif.
U.S. senator and expert on constitutional law.
Despite little formal education, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He was a Republican member (1854–59) and speaker (1856–59) of the Vermont House of Representatives and a member and president pro tem (1861–62) of the Vermont Senate. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1866 and served until 1891; he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (1872–79; 1882–91) and president pro tem of the Senate (1883–85). Edmunds was active in the impeachment (1868) of President Andrew Johnson and was a founding member of the commission that decided the election of 1876. The act for the suppression of polygamy (1882) bears his name, and he was principal author of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890).