The New Student's Reference Work/Wilson, William Lyne

Wilson, William Lyne, LL.D., American statesman and late president of Washington and Lee University, was born in Jefferson County, Va., May 3, 1843, and died at Lexington, Va., Oct. 17, 1900. After an education at Columbian College (D. C.), and at the University of Virginia, he served for a time in the Confederate army, subsequently becoming a professor of Latin in Columbian College and president of West Virginia University. He also studied and practiced law, and from 1883 to 1895 was a member of Congress, regent of Smithsonian Institution and president of the national Democratic convention of 1892. Between 1895 and 1897 he was postmaster-general of the United States, and in the latter year he accepted the presidency of Washington and Lee University. While in Congress, he drafted the bill for the revision and reduction of tariff-duties, known as the Wilson tariff-bill. See Tariff.