William Sulzer (March 18, 1863 – November 6, 1941) was an American lawyer and politician, nicknamed Plain Bill Sulzer. He was the 39th Governor of New York and a long-serving congressman from the same state. Sulzer was the first, and to date only, New York governor to be impeached and the only governor to be convicted on articles of impeachment. He broke with his sponsors at Tammany Hall, and they produced convincing evidence that Sulzer had falsified his sworn statement of campaign expenditures. William Sulzer was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on March 18, 1863, the son of Lydia (Jelleme), who was Frisian, and Thomas Sulzer, a German immigrant. He was the second in a family of eight children, and his siblings included Charles August Sulzer, who pursued a successful political career in Alaska. He was reared on his family farm and attended the public schools of Elizabeth. At age 12 he left home and sailed as a cabin boy aboard a brig, the William H. Thompson. He returned to the family home a year later and became a clerk in a grocery store. Sulzer took night classes at Cooper Union before attending lectures at Columbia Law School and studying law with the New York City firm of Parish & Pendleton. He was admitted to the bar in 1884, and commenced practice in New York City. Even before beginning his law practice, he was a member of Tammany Hall political machine serving as a popular stump speaker. He married Clara Rodelheim in 1908. Sulzer's career in politics began in 1884 when he worked for the Tammany Hall political machine on New York's East Side as a stump speaker for various Democratic campaigns including the presidential campaign of then-Governor Grover Cleveland Sulzer was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1890, 1891, 1892 (all three New York Co., 14th D.), 1893 and 1894 (both New York Co., 10th D.). His participation in the machine helped assure that he was appointed to the Committee on General Laws in his first term.^[5] During his time in the Assembly he introduced bills seeking to abolish debtors' prisons, and to limit hours for workers. His popularity and loyalty to Tammany machine were such that in 1893, Tammany Boss Richard Croker selected Sulzer to be elected as Speaker of the New York State Assembly. The term was noted as being highly corrupt and highly partisan, as the Democratic machine dominated all committees, and with them the state budget. Sulzer himself declared during the term " all legislation came from Tammany Hall and was dictated by that great statesmen, Richard Croker." During his time in the Assembly, Sulzer was a delegate to the 1892 Democratic National Convention, and returned as such to every national convention until 1912. Sulzer was elected to the 54th United States Congress in 1894, and served as a U.S. Representative in the eight succeeding Congresses, from March 4, 1895, to December 31, 1912, representing the 10th Congressional District. In Congress he was a Populist, known for his oratory. Declaring himself to be a "friend to all humanity and a champion of liberty", he supported the Cuban rebels during their War of Independence, and during the Second Boer War introduced a resolution supporting the Boer Republics and banning the sale of military supplies and munitions to the British Empire. Repeatedly he called for resolutions condemning Czarist Russia over the issue of pogroms. In the Sixty-second United States Congress he chaired the Committee on Foreign Affairs, from which he proposed a resolution praising the Revolution of 1911. He also opposed United States intervention in the Mexican Revolution, and proposed a unanimously supported bill to annul the Treaty of 1832 with Russia due to a Russian refusal to recognize the passports of Jewish-Americans. Sulzer during his time in Congress supported numerous Progressive goals in terms of popular democracy and efficiency. He was a supporter of the creation of the United States Department of Labor, the direct election of senators --- for which he proposed a resolution in support of --- and the eight-hour day. In the Election of 1896 he supported the nomination of and campaigned for William Jennings Bryan. In 1896, for the first time he announced his candidacy for the governorship but was rejected by Tammany and the Democratic Party at large. In 1898 Richard Croker openly opposed his attempt for the Democratic nomination. For the next six elections Sulzer was continually rejected for the Democratic nomination for governor, losing to Tammany supported politicians such as William Randolph Hearst, and John Alden Dix. In 1912 though, the split between the Republicans and the Progressives meant that the Democratic nomination was likely to win. This in turn prompted a fight in the Democrats, as reformers disappointed in Governor Dix's support for Tammany moved to oust him from contention. The Empire State Democracy Party was even founded by reformers such as State Senator Franklin D. Roosevelt to run against Dix or any other clear Tammany candidate. In this crisis Sulzer found himself selected as a compromise candidate, acceptable to reform-minded and Tammany Democrats. The party united, Sulzer went on to defeat Republican Job E. Hedges and Progressive Oscar S. Straus. He resigned from Congress effective December 31, 1912, having been elected Governor of New York in November 1912 for the term beginning on January 1, 1913. Sulzer was elected with the support of William Jennings Bryan, William Randolph Hearst and Woodrow Wilson, as well as the reform and Tammany factions of the state Democratic Party. Upon taking office Sulzer and Croker's successor "Silent Charlie" Murphy began to turn against each other as Sulzer claimed control of the state Democratic Party, rather than staying loyal to Tammany.