Colfax, Schuyler

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Schuyler Colfax (skī´lər kōl´făks), 1823–85, Vice President of the United States (1869–73), b. New York City. He moved in boyhood to Indiana. First a Whig editor, he later helped to organize Indiana's Republican party. He was a member of the House of Representatives (1855–69), serving (1863–69) as speaker. In 1868 he became vice president under Ulysses S. Grant. Colfax was involved in the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal, which ended his political career.

See biography by W. H. Smith (1952).