Political Career
Ruggles was a Whig member from New York County of the New York State Assembly in 1838, and was Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means.
In 1839, he was elected by the New York State Legislature as a Canal Commissioner to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Stephen Van Rensselaer. In 1840, he was the only canal commissioner to remain in office when the new Whig majority removed all Democratic commissioners. In 1842, the Whig commissioners, including Ruggles, were removed by the Democrats.
After leaving the Canal Commission, Ruggles became a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce. There he wrote numerous pamphlets and articles about public policy, economics and related issues, which were published by the Chamber.
He became a trustee of Columbia College. In 1854, concerned about its decline in enrollment and number of faculty in mid-century, and its trustees' decision against appointing a respected scientist, Dr. Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, because he was Unitarian, that year Ruggles self-published the 60-page pamphlet, "The Duty of Columbia College to the Community". It had started as a letter to the trustees but he decided to expand it and publish it. He urged appointment of Gibbs on the basis of his qualifications and also the upgrading of Columbia's curriculum to include more of the physical sciences, and made a plea for a strong college. At the time, some people considered Gibbs' Unitarian orientation controversial. The university has long been secular.
In July 1858, Ruggles was appointed by Governor John Alsop King as a canal commissioner again, this time to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Samuel S. Whallon, and serving briefly until the end of the year.
In the 1860s Ruggles was selected as a United States delegate and representative to several European assemblies, such as the International Statistics Congress in Berlin in 1863, the Paris Exposition of 1867, and the 1869 International Statistics Conference at The Hague.
Read more about this topic: Samuel B. Ruggles
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