John Van Buren (1810-1866)
Named after uncle ex-Guv of RI, father murdered in famous case, into family biz Sprague Mfr. Co, largest calico weaving and printing mills in US, into politics and Guv at age 29, ’60-63, supports Lincoln’s call-up and participates at 1st Bull Run w horse shot under him, resigns to return to Guv, backs Emancipation Proc, US Senate ’63-75, marries Kate Chase ’63, daughter of Salmon P Chase, belle of DC, but later divorced over affairs of both, dies in Paris where he and second wife living during WWI.
William Boss Tweed (1823-1878)
Pennsylvania -- Statehood Granted: Dec 12, 1787 State Motto: Virtue, liberty, and independence
Prosperous owner of company manufacturing paint & pigments, he is elected Mayor of NYC in 1857 on a Fusion Party ticket put together by merchants such as August Belmont, John Dix and Peter Cooper who oppose Fernando Wood. Serves one term and helps his friend found the Cooper Union university.
Justin Morrill (1810-1898)
Senator, Minister to Russia, Secretary of War
Rhode Island-- Statehood Granted: May 20, 1790 State Motto: Hope
Thurlow Weed (1797-1882)
Raised by widowed mother on 400 acre farm, Amherst, lawyer in office of Cong. David Wilmot, who endorses him, US House at age 26 as Dem in’51, pro-western settles and land grants, opposes KN Act of ’54 and becomes a Republican, on 2/5/58 physically assaulted on floor of House by Keitt of SC during slavery debate, chosen Speaker ’61-63, oversees 3 key acts: College Land Grants, Trans RR, Homestead, Loses seat in ’63 as Radical Republican, RR man.
Born in Vt. w club foot (“sign” of parental sin), father abandons, poverty, mom pushes school, Dartmouth, law, opens office in Gettysburg, slowly succeeds and invests in real estate and the iron biz, local politics, a virulent anti-Mason (bars “cripples”), supporter of public education and Gettysburg College, next cause is abolition, underground rr station, hires mulatto Lydia Smith ’48 to long-term “whispers,” finally US House as Whig ’49-53, floppy wig and sarcasm, joins Chase in opposing Clay’s 1850 Compromise, defends 38 blacks in ’51 Christiana Riot, decides not to run again ’52, joins Know Nothing then Republicans, back in House ’59-68, opposes compromise with South, bills to seize all So property and free slaves defeated, pushes Lincoln to the Emancipation, drives passage of 13th Amendment, war financing, Freedman’s Bureau.
Farm family, little education, cabin boy & apprentice printer, serves in War of 1812, Albany Register job, into politics, works for DeWitt Clinton and JQ Adams,State assembly where befriends Seward for life, start Anti-Masons to defeat Jackson and Van Buren, runs Albany Evening Journal a Whig paper, backs Clay, runs Seward win for Gov of NY ’38, “boss” of NY Whig faction, strategist, picks Harrison ’40, opposes slavery but not outright abolitionist, supports Z Taylor ’48, former protégé Fillmore abandons him, NY Central RR efforts, backs Fremont ’56, Seward over Lincoln ’60, both support as unofficial envoy to UK & France during war, opposes Emancipation, backs Johnson vs. Radical Republicans goal to crush South, retires ’67.
Modest start in Pa, moves to NYC, public schools, bar owner, success as shipping merchant, into politics, the Tammany Society, the Dem political machine dominating NYC, US House ’41-43, “Grand Sachem” (top chief) of Tammany, runs all city levers, including police department as Mayor of NYC ’55-58 and ’60-62, real estate speculation, master of patronage, vote fraud, bribes, anything for power, anti- Lincoln and proposes plan for NYC to secede as “free city” ’61, southern sympathies as shipper, fear of Republicans in Albany (Seward), secession idea costs him next election, his pro-Southern views contribute to ’63 Draft Riot in NYC, back in US House ’63-65 as anti-war Democrat (“Copperhead”), endorses McClellan ’64, back in US House ’67-81 until death.
Thad Stevens (1792-1868)
Daniel Tierman (1805-1899)
Jacob Collamer (1791-1865)
Born in NYC, immigrant hood,little school, apprentice chair maker, bookkeeper, captain of vol. fireman, joins Society of St. Tammany (club for lower classes, focus on patriotism, charity work), also Masons and Odd Fellows, leverages this to become alderman ’50 at 26, then US House ’51-53, NY Board of Supervisors ’58, platform for patronage and corruption, 15% skim to do biz with city, opens law firm w/o training, runs for sheriff, tight org. known as “Tweed Ring,” rich via graft, in control of NYC government by ’69, unravels after Orange March Riot ’71 and city elites campaign vs. misuse of city money, Dem power Samuel Tilden leads, Tweed arrested ’71, jailed, escapes to Spain, extradited, confesses, dies in jail ’78.
Vermont-- Statehood Granted: March 4, 1791 State Motto: Freedom and Unity
Fernando Wood (1812-1881)
William Wilkins (1779-1865)
Politicians/Diplomats
Very wealthy land-owner family, Harvard, Yale, law, manages family estate, philanthropist, politics first as Democrat, helps found Free Soil party, Republican, at Washington Peace Conference to avoid war ‘61, no military experience, but named MG in NY Militia, BG in regular army, loses Gov NY election ’62, commands First Div of I Corp, Chancellorsville, valiant on Day 1 at Gettysburg, promoted to MG day before mortal wound to head on May 6 at the Wilderness.
Galusha Grow (1822-1907)
George Dallas (1792-1864)
Wealthy merchant family, law career, then US House ’45-51 as Jackson Democrat until deciding that South is manipulating gov to its own ends, pushes back ’46 with “Wilmot Proviso” aimed at banning slavery in Mexican lands “to preserve to free white labor a fair country,” leads to Free Soil movement and sectional divide leading to war, pushed out by Buchanan wing, builds Republican Party in Pa, pro-Lincoln, peace commissioner in ’61, US Senate ’61-63, judge til death.
Photography Book
William Sprague (1830-1915)
James Wadsworth (1807-1864)
Simon Cameron (1799-1889)
David Wilmot (1814-1868)
Orphaned early and apprentices with printer, to DC politics before back to Pa as editor in ’24 of the Republican, shifts into rr & banking ventures,then politics backing Jackson and Van Buren, opposes slavery, US Senate ’45-49 and ’57-61, one of Republican Prez candidates in ’60, but backs Lincoln, in return named Sec of War, after corruption sent in ’62 to Amb Russia post, after war forms political machine in Pa, back to US Senate ’67-77, mover & shaker, dead at 90.
Father was Sec of Treasury under Madison, born to wealth, Princeton, bar in ’13, sent to Russia at 21 during War of 1812, learns politics in DC as his father serves, supports 2nd US Bank, back to Pa as asst atty general, elected mayor of Phila in ’28 then US Senate ’31-33, Van Buren names him Amb to Russia ’37 and offered cabinet slot as Atty Gen, but turns it down, opposes fellow Pa Buchanan over time, Polk selects him as VP in ’45-49, backs Mexican War, annex of Mexico itself, lower tariffs, and “Popular Sovereignty” proposal on expanding slavery, Pierce makes him Amb to Britain and Buchanan retains him there ’56-61, loses Pa political base over vote to lower protective tariff, out of politics after ’61.
As a first year Democratic congressman from PA, his amendment to Polk’s war appropriation bill – known as the “Wilmot Proviso” – surfaces the profound North vs. South division over expanding slavery into the new Mexican Cession lands. He is not an anti-slavery man; rather wants to preserve the land for free white settlers. This leads to the “Free Soil Party,” secession and war.
Successful merchant in Vt, gentleman farmer, into politics as a Whig, US House 1855-67, a founder of Republican Party, fame for 1861 Morrill Tariff (protective) and 1862 Land Grant College Act (e.g. University of Wisconsin is one), Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, US Senator 1867-1898, 43+ years in Congress
Serves in 1st Vt militia in War of 1812 before law degree, three terms in US House, Postmaster General under Taylor/Fillmore, then US Senator & a leading member of the Committee of 33 member trying in 1861 to save the Union
Northeastern States (Continued)
Son of President MVB, Yale, studies law with Butler, extensive European travels, NY States Atty ’45-47, leader of NY “Barnburners” who favor his father over Cass in ’48 race, denounces “degrading effects of slavery on white labor.”
Dickinson College, law, state house, local judge ’20, then Monroe names Western District Judge ’24-31, US Senate as Jackson Dem ’31-34, Minister to Russia, US House, then Sec of War under Tyler ’44-45, back to law practice in Pittsburgh and state politics until he dies.
Jeremiah Black (1810-1883)
New York-- Statehood Granted: July 26, 1788 State Motto: Excelsior (Ever Upward)
Son of a Whig congressman and largely self-educated, he earns fame as a lawyer before becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Pennsylvania. He joins Buchanan’s cabinet, first as AG in 1857 and then as Sec of State during the crises of 1860. He supports defending Ft. Sumter and says that secession is illegal. Buchanan nominates him to the US Supreme Court, but he falls one short vote of approval in the Senate.