Which of the following people won a Republican seat in the Connecticut State Legislature in 1865?

The celebrated circus owner and entertainment impresario Phineas Taylor "P.T." Barnum (July 1810 - April 1891) won a Republican seat in the Connecticut State Legislature in 1865. During a professional life that ran for more than 50-years, he held many different jobs. By the age of 21, he had an interest in a general store, a small lottery, and even a newspaper, “Herald of Freedom.”

Regarding politics, Barnum first got into politics in 1865. He won a seat in the Connecticut General Assembly as a Republican. Despite his past ownership of a slave (Joice Heth), he quickly distinguished himself as one of the legislature’s most impassioned advocates of African American equality and voting rights. He told the legislature, "A human soul, ‘that God has created and Christ died for,’ is not to be trifled with." He was not indifferent, intolerant, or opposed to policies that helped blacks. Many worked for him.

He was best known as a self-described “Prince of Humbugs”. He made himself the world’s premier purveyor of spectacle and hucksterism. He wowed huge public audiences with larger than life hoaxes. Plus, to make huge amounts of money, he even helped to popularize (stage) opera in the United States.

In 1854, he released a book: “The Life of P.T. Barnum". Much of his personal fame and popularity was due to the overall global success of this tell all autobiography. More than 1 million copies of this book were sold during Barnum’s lifetime. Another million was sold at his death.