
"LIB R.AR.Y 

OF THE 

U N IVE.R.SITY 
OF ILLINOIS 

$17.381 
7838 


IIUNOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY 


RECORD 


i^lr 
OF 


CHRISTIAN COUNTY, 

ILLINOIS. 


CONTAINING 


Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, 

Together with Biographies of all the 

lovernors nhe Itate, and f ie Iresidents 


OF= THE UNITED STMTES. 


LAKE CITY PUBLISHING CO. 

CHICAGO: 

1893 


97 T. 


}HE greatest of English historians, MACAULAY, and one of the most brilliant writers ot 
the present century, has said : "The history of a country is best told in a record of the 
lives of its people." In conformity with this idea the PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL 
RECORD i0 f ^is county has been prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and 
taking therefrom dry statistical matter that can be appreciated by but few, oui 
corps of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by theii 
enterprise and industry, brought the county to rank second to none among those 
comprising this great and noble State, and from their lips have the story of their life 
struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelli- 
gent public. In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the 
imitation of coming generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by 
industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited 
advantages for securing an education, have become learned men and women, with an 
influence extending throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who 
have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have 
become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to succeed, and 
records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very 
many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued "the even tenor of their way," content 
to have it said of them as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy "they have done what 
they could." It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left the plow and the 
anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's 
call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored and peace 
once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every woman is a lesson that should not 
be lost upon those who follow after. 

Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the fact 
that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records, and which would otherwise be 
inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the work and every opportunity possible 
given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and the publishers flatter them- 
selves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence. In addition to the biograph 
ical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given. 

The faces of some, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this the 
publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give the 
information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some member of 
the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested 
one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though repeated calls were made 
at their residence or place of business. 

November, 1893. LAKE CITY PUBLISHING Co. 


775679 


GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS, 


AND OF THE 


ft* Llbrirj 

of th 
I IMi 


FfJtST PRESIDENT. 


HE Father of our Country was 
born in Westmorland Co., Va., 
Feb. 22, 1732. His parents 
were Augustine and Mary 
(Ball) Washington. The family 
to which he belonged has not 
been satisfactorily traced in 
England. His great-grand- 
father, John Washington, em- 
igrated to Virginia about 1657, 
and became a prosperous 
planter. He had two sons, 
Lawrence and John. The 
former married Mildred Warner 
and had three children, John, 
Augustine and Mildred. Augus- 
tine, the father of George, first 
married Jane Butler, who bore 
him four children, two of whom, 
Lawrence and Augustine, reached 
maturity. Of six children by his 
second marriage, George was the 
eldest, the others being Betty, 
Samuel, John Augustine, Charles 
and Mildred. 

Augustine Washington, the father of George, died 
in 1743, leaving a large landed property. To his 
eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an estate on 
the Patomac, afterwards known as Mount Vernon, 
and to George he left the parental residence. George 
received only such education as the neighborhood 
schools afforded, save for a short time after he left 
school, when he received private instruction in 
mathematics. His spelling was rather defective 


Remarkable stories are told of his great physica 
strength and development at an early age. He was 
an acknowledged leader among his companions, and 
was early noted for that nobleness of character, fair- 
ness and veracity which characterized his whole life. 

When George was 1 4 years old he had a desire to go to 
sea, and a midshipman's warrant was secured for him, 
but through the opposition of his mother the idea was 
abandoned. Two years later he was appointed 
surveyor to the immense estate of Lord Fairfax. In 
this business he spent three years in a rough frontier 
life, gaining experience which afterwards proved very 
essential to him. In 1751, though only 19 years of 
age, he was appointed adjutant with the rank of 
major in the Virginia militia, then being trained for 
active service against the French and Indians. Soon 
after this he sailed to the West Indies with his brother 
Lawrence, who went there to restore his health. They 
soon returned, and in the summer of 1752 Lawrence 
died, leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter 
who did not long survive him. On her demise the 
estate of Mount Vernon was given to George. 

Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie, as Lieutcn- 
ant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia was 
reorganized, and the province divided into four mili- 
tary districts, of which the northern was assigned to 
Washington as adjutant general. Shortly after this 
a very perilous mission was assigned him and ac- 
cepted, which others had refused. This was to pro- 
ceed to the French post near Lake Erie in North- 
western Pennsylvania. The distance to be traversed 
was between 500 and 600 miles. Winter was at hand, 
and the journey was to be made without military 
escort, through a territory occupied by Indians. The 


GEORGE WASHINGTON. 


trip was a perilous one, and several times he came near 
losing his life, yet he returned in safety and furnished 
a full and useful report of his expedition. A regiment 
of 300 men was raised in Virginia and put in com- 
mand of Col. Joshua Fry, and Major Washington was 
commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Active war was 
then begun against the French and Indians, in which 
Washington took a most important part. In the 
memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as Brad- 
dock's defeat, Washington was almost the only officer 
of distinction who escaped from the calamities of the 
day with life and honor. The other aids of Braddock 
vere disabled early in the action, and Washington 
alone was left in that capacity on the field. In a letter 
to his brother he says : " I had four bullets through 
my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped 
unhurt, though death was leveling; my companions 
on every side." An Indian sharpshooter said he was 
not born to be killed by a bullet, for he had taken 
direct aim at him seventeen times, and failed to hit 
him. 

After having been five years in the military service, 
and vainly sought promotion in the royal army, he 
took advantage of the fall of Fort Duquesne and the 
expulsion of the French from the valley of the Ohio, 
to resign his commission. Soon after he entered the 
Legislature, where, although not a leader, he took an 
active and important part. January 17, 1759, he 
married Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis, the wealthy 
widow of John Parke Custis. 

When the British Parliament had closed the port 
of Boston, the cry went up throughout the provinces 
that "The cause of Boston is the cause of us all." 
It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a Con- 
gress of all the colonies was called to meet at Phila- 
delphia,Sept. 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, 
peaceably if possible. To this Congress Col. Wash- 
ington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the 
Congress re-assembled, when the hostile intentions of 
England were plainly apparent. The battles of Con- 
cord and Lexington had been fought. Among the 
first acts of this Congress was the election of a com- 
mander-in-chief of the colonial forces. This high and 
responsible office was conferred upon Washington, 
who was still a member of the Congress. He accepted 
it on June 19, but upon the express condition that he 
receive no salary. He would keep an exact account 
of expenses and expect Congress to pay them and 
nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to 
trace the military acts of Washington, to whom the 
fortunes and liberties of the people of this country 
were so long confided. The war was conducted by 
him under every possible disadvantage, and while his 
forces often met with reverses, yet he overcame every 
obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion 
and matchless skill he gained liberty for the greatest 
nation of earth. On Dec. 23, 1783, Washington, in 
a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned his 


commission as Commander-in-chief of the army t< 
to the Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. Hi 
retired immediately to Mount Vernon and resumec 
his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning all 
connection with public life. 

In February,i789, Washington was unanimously 
elected President. In his presidential career he wa: 
subject to the peculiar trials incidental to a new 
government ; trials from lack of confidence on the pan 
of other governments ; trials from want of harmonj 
between the different sections of our own country 
trials from the impoverished condition of the country 
owing to the war and want of credit; trials from the 
beginnings of party strife. He was no partisan. Hi; 
clear judgment could discern the golden mean ; anc 
while perhaps this alone kept our government front 
sinking at the very outset, it left him exposed tc 
attacks from both sides, which were often bitter anc 
very annoying. 

At the expiration of his first term he was unani 
mously re-elected. At the end of this term mani 
were anxious that he be re-elected, but he absolute!) 
refused a third nomination. On the fourth of March 
1797, at the expiraton of his second term as Presi- 
dent, he returned to his home, hoping to pass then 
his few remaining years free from the annoyances o 
public life. Later in the year, however, his repos( 
seemed likely to be interrupted by war with France 
At the prospect of such a war he was again urged t( 
take command of the armies. He chose his sub. 
ordinate officers and left to them the charge of mat 
ters in the field, which he superintended from hi; 
home. In accepting the command he made tht 
reservation that he was not to be in the* field unti 
it was necessary. In the midst of these preparation; 
his life was suddenly cut off. December 1 2, he tool 
a severe cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling 
in his throat, produced inflammation, and terminatec 
fatally on the night of the fourteenth. On the eigh- 
teenth his body was borne with military honors to it; 
final resting place, and interred in the family vault at 
Mount Vernon. 

Of the character of Washington it is impossible tc 
speak but in terms of the highest respect and ad- 
miration. The more we see of the operations o; 
our government, and the more deeply we feel the 
difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common interest 
the more highly we must estimate the force of his tal- 
ent and character, which have be*n able to challenge 
the reverence of all parties, and principles, and na- 
tions, and to win a fame as extended as the limits 
of the globe, and which we cannot but believe will 
be as lasting as the existence of man. 

The person of Washington was unusally tan, erect 
and well proportioned. His muscular strength was 
great. His features were of a beautiful symmetry, 
He commanded respect without any appearance o) 
haughtiness, and ever serious without V>*ingr dull. 


DM library 

f tk 

Wi 


SECON'D 'PRESIDENT. 


OHN ADAMS, the second 
President and the first Vice- 
President of the United States, 
was born in Braintree ( now 
Quincy ),Mass., and about ten 
miles from Boston, Oct. 19, 
1735. His great-grandfather, Henry 
Adams, emigrated from England 
about 1640, with a family of eight 
J> sons, and settled at Braintree. The 
parents of John were John and 
Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His 
father was a farmer of limited 
means, to which he added the bus- 
iness of shoemaking. He gave his 
eldest son, John, a classical educa- 
tion at Harvard College. John 
graduated in 1755, and at once took charge of the 
school in Worcester, Mass. This he found but a 
''school of affliction," from which he endeavored to 
gain relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the 
study of law. For this purpose he placed himself 
under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He 
had thought seriously of the clerical profession 
but seems to have been turned from this by what he 
termed " the frightful engines of ecclesiastical coun- 
jils, of diabolical malice, and Calvanistic good nature,'" 
of the operations of which he had been a witness in 
his native town. He was well fitted for the legal 
profession, possessing a clear, sonorous voice, being 
ready and fluent of speech, and having quick percep- 
tive powers. He gradually gained practice, and in 
1764 married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, 
and a lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his 
marriage, (1765), the attempt of Parliamentary taxa- 
tion turned him from law to politics. He took initial 
steps toward huldir. B a town meeting, and the resolu- 


tions he offered on the subject became very populai 
throughout the Province, and were adopted word for 
word by over forty different towns. He moved to Bos 
ton in 1768, and became one of the most courageous 
and prominent advocates of the popular cause, and 
was chosen a member of the General Court (the Leg- 
lislature) in 1770. 

Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first delegates 
from Massachusetts to the first Continental Congre&s, 
which met in 1774. Here he distinguished himsell 
by his capacity for business and for debate, and ad- 
vocated the movement for independence against tb 
majority of the members. In May, 1776, he moved 
and carried a resolution in Congress that the Colonies 
should assume the duties of self-government. H$ 
was a prominent member of the committee of vive 
appointed June n, to prepare a declaration of inde- 
pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, but 
on Adams devolved the task of battling it through 
Congress in a three days debate. 

On the day after the Declaration of Independence 
was passed, while his soul was yet warm with ths 
glow of excited feeling, he wrote a. letter to his wife 
which, as we read it now, seems to have been dictated 
by the spirit of prophecy. "Yesterday," he says, "the 
greatest question was decided that ever was debated 
in America; and greater, perhaps, never was or wil 
be decided among men. A resolution was passed 
without one dissenting colony, ' that these United 
States are, and of right ought to be, free and inde- 
pendent states.' The day is passed. The fourth of 
July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history 
of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated 
by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary 
festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of 
deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty 
God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows 


JOHN ADAMS. 


games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations 
from one end of the continent to the other, from this 
time forward for ever. You will think me transported 
with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of 
the toil, and blood and treasure, that it will cost to 
maintain this declaration, and support and defend 
these States; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the 
rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is 
worth more than all the means; and that posterity 
will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I 
hope we shall not." 

In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a 
delegate to France^ and to co-operate with Bemjamin 
Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in 
the endeavor to obtain assistance in arms and money 
from the French Government. This was a severe trial 
to his patriotism, as it separated him from his home, 
compelled him to cross the ocean in winter, and ex- 
posed him to great peril of capture by the British cruis- 
ers, who were seeking him. He left France June 17, 
1779. In September of the same year he was again 
cliosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readi- 
ness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce 
with Great Britian, as soon as the British Cabinet 
might be found willing to listen to such proposels. He 
sailed for France in November, from there he went to 
Holland, where he negotiated important loans and 
formed important commercial treaties. 

Finally a treaty of peace with England was signed 
Jan. 21, 1783. The re-action from the excitement, 
toil and anxiety through which Mr. Adams had passed 
threw him into a fever. After suffering from a con- 
tinued fever and becoming feeble and emaciated he 
was advised to goto England to drink the waters of 
Bath. While in England, still drooping and despond- 
ing, he received dispatches from his own government 
urging the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to 
negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health was 
delicate, yet he immediately set out, and through 
storm, on sea, on horseback and foot,he made the trip. 

February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. Adams 
envoy to the Court of St. James. Here he met face 
to face the King of England, who had so long re- 
garded him as a traitor. As England did not 
condescend to appoint a minister to the United 
States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accom- 
plishing but little, he sought permission to return to 
his own country, where he arrived in June, 1788. 

When Washington was first chosen President, John 
Adams, rendered illustiious by his signal services at 
home and abroad, was chosen Vice President. Again 
at the second election of Washington as President, 
Adams was chosen Vice President. In 1796, Wash- 
ington retired from public life, and Mr. Adams was 
elected President,though not without much opposition. 
Serving in this office four years,he was succeeded by 
Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics. 

Wh\\e Mr. Adams was Vice President the great 


French Revolution shook the continent of Europ 
and it was upon this point which he was at issue wit 
the majority of his countrymen led by Mr. Jeffersoi 
Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French peopl 
in their struggle, for he had no confidence in the 
power of self-government, and he utterly abhored th 
class of atheist philosophers who he claimed caused i 
On the other hand Jefferson's sympathies were strongl 
enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence o 
iginated the alienation between "these distinguishe 
men, and two powerful parties were thus soon orgar 
ized, Adams at the head of the one whose sympathi 
were with England and Jefferson led the other i 
sympathy with France. 

The world has seldom seen a spectacle of moi 
moral beauty and grandeur, than was presented by th 
old age of Mr. Adams. The violence of party feelin 
had died away, and he had begun to receive that jui 
appreciation which, to most men, is not accorded ti 
after death. No one could look upon his venerabl 
form, and think of what he had done and sufferec 
and how he had given up all the prime and stren^t 
of his life to the public good, without the deepe; 
emotion of gratitude and respect. It was his peculij 
good fortune to witness the complete success of th 
institution which he had been so active in creating an 
supporting. In r824, his cup of happiness was fille 
to the brim, by seeing his son elevated to the highe; 
station in the gift of the people. 

The fourth of July, 1826, which completed the ha 
century since the signing of the Declaration of Ind< 
pendence, arrived, and there were but three of tb 
signers of that immortal instrument left upon th 
earth to hail its morning light. And, as it i 
well known, on that day two of these finished the 
earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence so remarkable a 
to seem miraculous. For a few days before M 
Adams had been rapidly failing, and on the mornin 
of the fourth he found himself too weak to rise froi 
his bed. On being requested to name a toast for th 
customary celebration of the day, he exclaimed " Ii> 
DEPENDENCE FOREVER." When the day was ushere 
in, by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon 
he was asked by one of his attendants if he kne' 
what day it was? He replied, "O yes; it is the glo: 
ions fourth of July God bless it God bless you all 
In the course of the day he said, "It is a great an 
glorious day." The last words he uttered wer 
"Jefferson survives." But he had, at one o'clock, r< 
signed his spirit into the hands of his God. 

The personal appearance and manners of M 
Adams were not particularly prepossessing. Hisfaci 
as his portrait manifests,was intellectual ard exprei 
sive, but his figure was low and ungraceful, and h> 
manners were frequently abrupt and uncourteou! 
He had neither the lofty dignity of Washington, nc 
the engaging elegance and gracefulness which marke 
the manners and address of Jefferson. 


the 


THIRD PRESIDENT. 


1P1I DMAS JEFFE IRS OK 


HOMAS JEFFERSON was 
born April 2, 1743, at Shad- 
well, Albermarle county, Va. 
His parents were Peter and 
Jane ( Randolph) Jefferson, 
the former a native of Wales, 
and the latter born in Lon- 
don. To them were born six 
daughters and two sons, of 
whom Thomas was the elder. 
When 14 years of age his 
father died. He received a 
most liberal education, hav- 
ing been kept diligently at school 
from the time he was five years of 
age. In 1760 he entered William 
end Mary College. Williamsburg was then the seat 
of the Colonial Court, and it was the obode of fashion 
and splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then 17 
years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine 
horses, and much caressed by gay society, yet he 
was earnestly devoted to his studies, and irreproacha- 
able in his morals. It is strange, however, under 
such influences,that he was not ruined. In the sec- 
ond year of his college course, moved by some un- 
explained inward impulse, he discarded his horses, 
society, and even his favorite violin, to which he had 
previously given much time. He often devoted fifteen 
hours a day to hard study, allowing himself for ex- 
ercise only a run in the evening twilight of a mile out 
of the city and back again. He thus attained very 
high intellectual culture, alike excellence in philoso- 
phy and the languages. The most difficult Latin and 
Greek authors he read with facility. A more finished 
scholar has seldom gone forth from college halls ; and 


there was not to be found, perhaps, in all Virginia, a 
more pureminded, upright, gentlemanly young man. 

Immediately upon leaving college he began the 
study of law. For the short time he continued in the 
practice of his profession he rose rapidly and distin- 
guished himself by his energy and accuteness as a 
lawyer. But the times called for greater action. 
The policy of England had awakened the spirit of 
resistance of the American Colonies, and the enlarged 
views which Jefferson had ever entertained, soon led 
him into active political life. In 1769 he was chosen 
a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In, 
1772 he married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beauti- 
ful, wealthy and highly accomplished young widow 

Upon Mr. Jefferson's large estate at Shad well, there 
was a majestic swell of land, called Monticello, which 
commanded a prospect of wonderful extent and 
beauty. This spot Mr. Jefferson selected lor his new 
home; and here he reared a mansion of modest yet 
elegant architecture, which, next to Mount Vernon 
became the most distinguished resort in our land. 

In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, 
where, though a silent member, his abilities as a 
writer and a reasoner soon become known, and he 
was placed upon a number of important committees, 
and was chairman of the one appointed for the draw- 
ing up of a declaration of independence. This com- 
mittee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, 
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. 
Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was appointed 
to draw up the paper. Franklin and Adams suggested 
a few verbal changes before it was submitted to Con- 
gress. On June 28, a few slight changes were made 
in it by Congress, and it was passed and signed July 
4, 1776. What must have been the feelings of that 


28 


THOMAS JEFFERSON. 


man what the emotions that swelled his breast 
Who was charged with the preparation of that Dec- 
laration, which, while it made known the wrongs of 
America, was also to publish her to the world, free, 
Boverign and independent. It is one of the most re- 
markable papers ever written ; and did no other effort 
of the mind of its author exist, that alone would be 
sufficient to stamp his name with immortality. 

In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to 
Patrick Henry, as Governor of Virginia. At one time 
the British officer, Tarleton, sent a secret expedition to 
Moniicello, to capture the Governor. Scarcely five 
minutes elapsed after the hurried escape of Mr. Jef- 
ferson and his family, ere his mansion was in posses- 
sion of the British troops. His wife's health, never 
very good, was much injured by this excitement, and 
in the summer of 1782 she died. 

Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. 
Two yeirs later he was appointed Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary to France. Returning to the United States 
in September, 1789, he became Secretary of State 
in Washington's cabinet. This position he resigned 
Jan. i, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen Vice Presi- 
dent, and four years later was elected President over 
Mr. Adams, with Aaron Burr as Vice President. In 
1804 he was re-elected with wonderful unanimity, 
and George Clinton, Vice President. 

The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second adminstra- 
tion was disturbed by an event which threatened the 
tranquility and peace of the Union; this was the con- 
spiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election 
to the Vice Presidency, and led on by an unprincipled 
ambition, this extraordinary man formed the plan of a 
military expedition into the Spanish territories on our 
southwestern frontier, for the purpose of forming there 
a new republic. This has been generally supposed 
was a mere pretext ; and although it has not been 
generally known what his real plans were, there is no 
doubt that they were of a far more dangerous 
character. 

In 1809, at the expiration of the second term for 
which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he determined 
to retire from political life. For a period of nearly 
forty years, he had been continually before the pub- 
lic, and all that time had been employed in offices of 
the greatest trust and responsibility. Having thus de- 
voted the best part of his life to the service of his 
country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his 
declining years required, and upon the organization of 
the new administration, in March, r8og, he bid fare- 
well forever to public life, and retired to Monticello. 

Mr. Jefferson was profuse in his hospitality. Whole 
families came in their coaches with their horses, 
fathers and mothers, boys and girls, babies and 
nurses, and remained three and even six months. 
Life at Monticello, for years, resembled that at a 
fashionable watering-place. 

The fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth anniver- 


sary of the Declaration of American Independenc 
great preparations were made in every part of tl 
Union for its celebration, as the nation's jubilee, ar 
the citizens of Washington, to add to the solemni 
of the occasion, invited Mr. Jefferson, as the frame 
and one of the few surviving signers of the Declar; 
tion, to participate in their festivities. But an il 
ness, which had been of several weeks duration, ar 
had been continually increasing, compelled him 
decline the invitation. 

On the second of July, the disease under whic 
he was laboring left him, but in such a reduce 
state that his medical attendants, entertained r 
hope of his recovery. From this time he was perfect! 
sensible that his last hour was at hand. On the ne; 
day, which was Monday, he asked of those aroun 
him, the day of the month, and on being told it w 
the third of July, he expresied the earnest wish th; 
he might be permitted to breathe the airof the fiftiet 
anniversary. His prayer was heard that day, whos 
dawn was hailed with such rapture through our lam 
burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed fo 
ever. And what a noble consummation of a nobl 
life! To die on that day, the birthday of a nation,- 
the day which his own name and his own act ha 
rendered glorious; to die amidst the rejoicings an 
festivities of a whole nation, who looked up to hin 
as the author, under God, of their greatest blessing 
was all that was wanting to fill up the record his lifi 

Almost at the same hour of his death, the kir 
dred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to be; 
him company, left the scene of his earthly honor: 
Hand in hand they had stood forth, the champions ( 
freedom; hand in hand, during the dark and despei 
ate struggle of the Revolution, they had cheered an 
animated their desponding countrymen; for half 
century they had labored together for the good c 
the country; and now hand in hand they depar 
In their lives they had been united in the same gres 
cause of liberty, and in their deaths they were nc 
divided. 

In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rathe 
above six feet in height, but well formed; his eye 
were light, his hair originally red, in after life becam 
white and silvery; his complexion was fair, his fore 
head broad, and his whole countenance intelligent an 
thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude of mind a 
well as personal courage ; and r.:s command of tem 
per was such that his oldest and most intimate friend 
never recollected to have seen him in a passior 
His manners, though dignified, were simple and un 
affected, and his hospitality was so unbounded tha 
all found at his house a ready welcome. In convei 
sation he was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic ; an 
his language was remarkably pure and correct. H 
was a finished classical scholar, and in his writings i 
discernable the care with which he formed his styl 
upon the best models of antiquity. 


if the 
of I 


FOURTH PRESIDENT. 


AMES MADISON, "Father 
of the Constitution," and fourth 
President of the United States, 
was born March 16, 1757, and 
died .at his home in Virginia, 
June 28, 1836. The name of 
James Madison is inseparably con- 
nected with most of the important 
events in that heroic period of our 
country during which the founda- 
tions of this great republic were 
laid. He was the last of the founders 
of the Constitution of the United 
States to be called to his eternal 
reward. 

The Madison family were among 
the early emigrants to the New World, 
landing upon the shores of the Chesa- 
peake but 15 years after the settle- 
ment of Jamestown. The father of 
James Madison was an opulent 
planter, residing upon a very fine es- 
tate called "Montpelier," Orange Co., 
Va. The mansion was situated in 
(i&jffl the midst of scenery highly pictur- 
esque and romantic, on the west side 
of South-west Mountain, at the foot of 
Blue Ridge. It was but 25 miles from the home of 
Jefferson at Monticello. The closest personal and 
political attachment existed between these illustrious 
men, from their early youth until death. 

The early education of Mr. Madison was conducted 
mostly at home under a private tutor. At the age of 
18 he was sent to Princeton College, in New Jersey. 
Here he applied himself to study with the most im- 


prudent zeal ; allowing himself, for months, but three 
hours' sleep out of the 24. His health thus became so 
seriously impaired that he never recovered any vigor 
of constitution. He graduated in 1771, with a feeble 
body, with a character of utmost purity, and with a 
mind highly disciplined and richly stored with learning 
which embellished and gave proficiency to his subsf - 
quent career. 

Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study of 
law and a course of extensive and systematic reading. 
This educational course, the spirit of the times in 
which he lived, and the society with which he asso- 
ciated, all combined to inspire him with a strong 
love of liberty, and to train him for his life-work ot 
a statesman. Being naturally of a religious turn of 
mind, and his frail health leading him to think that 
his life was not to be long, he directed especial atten- 
tion to theological studies. Endowed with a mind 
singularly free from passion and prejudice, and with 
almost unequalled powers of reasoning, he weighed 
all the arguments for and against revealed religion, 
until his faith became so established as never to 
be shaken. 

In the spring of 1776, when 26 years of age, he 
was elected a member of the Virginia Convention, to 
frame the constitution of the State. The next year 
(r777), he was a candidate for the General Assembly. 
He refused to treat the whisky-loving voters, and 
consequently lost his election ; but those who had 
witnessed the talent, energy and public spirit of the 
modest young man, enlisted themselves in his behalf, 
and he was appointed to the Executive Council. 

Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were 
Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison remained 
member of the Council ; and their appreciation of his 


JAMES MADISON. 


intellectual, social and moral worth, contributed not 
a little to his subsequent eminence. In the year 
1780, he was elected a member of the Continental 
Congress. Here he met the most illustrious men in 
our land, and he was immediately assigned to one of 
the most conspicuous positions among them. 

For three years Mr. Madison continued in Con- 
gress, one of its most active and influential members. 
In the year 1784, his term having expired, he was 
elected a member of the Virginia Legislature. 

No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the 
utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no na- 
tional government, with no power to form treaties 
which would be binding, or to enforce law. There 
was not any State more prominent than Virginia in 
the declaration, that an efficient national government 
must be formed. In January, 1786, Mr. Madison 
carried a resolution through the General Assembly of 
Virginia, inviting the other States to appoint commis- 
sioners to meet in convention at Annapolis to discuss 
this subject. Five States only were represented. The 
convention, however, issued another call, drawn up 
by Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their 
delegates to Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to draft 
a Constitution for the United States, to take the place 
of that Confederate League. The delegates met at 
the time appointed. Every State but Rhode Island 
<*as represented. George Washington was chosen 
president of the convention ; and the present Consti- 
tution of the United States was then and there formed. 
There was, perhaps, no mind and no pen more ac- 
tive in framing this immortal document than the mind 
and the pen of James Madison. 

The Constitution, adopted by a vote 81 to 79, was 
to be presented to the several 'States for acceptance. 
But grave solicitude was felt. Should it be rejected 
we should be left but a conglomeration of independent 
States, with but little power at home and little respect 
abroad, Mr. Madison was selected by the conven- 
tion to draw up an address to the people of the United 
States, expounding the principles of the Constitution, 
and urging its adoption. There was great opposition 
to it at first, but it at length triumphed over all, and 
went into effect in 1789. 

Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Repre- 
sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became the 
avowed leader of the Republican party. While in 
New York attending Congress, he met Mrs. Todd, a 
young widow of remarkable power of fascination, 
whom he married. She was in person and character 
queenly, and probably no lady has thus far occupied 
so prominent a position in the very peculiar society 
which has constituted our republican court as Mrs. 
Madison. 

Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under 
Jefferson, and at the close of his administration 
was chosen President. At this time tbe encroach- 
ments of England had brought us to the verge of war. 


British orders in council destioyed our commerce, and 
our flag was exposed to constant insult. Mr. Madison 
was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring 
in his disposition, war had no charms for him. But the 
meekest spirit can be roused. It makes one's blood 
boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought 
to, upon the ocean, by the guns of an English cruiser. 
A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the 
crew to be paraded before him. With great nonchal- 
ance he selects any number whom he may please to 
designate as British subjects ; orders them down the 
ship's side into his boat ; and places them on the gun- 
deck of his man-of-war, to fight, by compulsion, the 
battles of England. This right of search and im- 
pressment, no efforts of our Government could induce 
the British cabinet to relinquish. 

On the 1 8th of June, 1812, President Madison gave 
his approval to an act of Congress declaring war 
against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the bitter 
hostility of the Federal party to the war, the country 
in general approved; and Mr. Madison, on the 4th 
of March, igi3> w as re-elected by a large majority, 
and entered upon his second term of office. This is 
not the place to describe the various adventures of 
this war on the land and on the water. Our infan'. 
navy then laid the foundations of its renown in grap- 
pling with the most formidable power which ever 
swept the seas. The contest commenced in earnest 
by the appearance of a British fleet, early in February, 
1813, in'Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole 
coast of the United States under blockade. 

The Emperor of Russia offered his services as me 
ditator. America accepted ; England refused. A Brit- 
ish force of five thousand men landed on the banks 
of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into Chesa- 
peake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladens- 
burg, upon Washington. 

The straggling little city of Washington was thrown 
into consternation. The cannon of the brief conflict 
at Bladensburg echoed through the streets of the 
metropolis. The whole population fled from the city. 
The President, leaving Mrs. Madison in the White 
House, with her carriage drawn up at the doer to 
await his speedy return, hurried to meet the officers 
in a council of war. He met our troops utterly routed, 
and he could not go back without danger of being 
captured. But few hours elapsed ere the Presidential 
Mansion, the Capitol, and all the public buildings in 
Washington were in flames. 

The war closed after two years of fighting, and on 
Feb. 13, 1815, the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. 

On the 4th of March, 1817, his second term of 
office expired, and he resigned the Presidential chair 
to his friend, James Monroe. He retired to his beau- 
tiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the re- 
mainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, then at the 
age of 85 years, he fell asleep in death. Mrs. Madi- 
son died July 12, 1849. 


of (lib*. 


'* s 


'FIFTH PRESIDENT. 


AMES MONROE, the fifth 
Presidentof The United States, 
was born in Westmoreland Co., 
Va., April 28, 1758. His early 
life was passed at the place of 
nativity. His ancestors had for 
many years resided in the prov- 
ince in which he was born. When, 
at 17 years of age, in the process 
of completing his education at 
William and Mary College, the Co- 
lonial Congress assembled at Phila- 
delphia to deliberate upon the un- 
just and manifold oppressions of 
Great Britian, declared the separa- 
tion of the Colonies, and promul- 
gated the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. Had he been born ten years before it is highly 
probable that he would have been one of the signers 
of that celebrated instrument. At this time he left 
school and enlisted among the patriots. 

He joined the army when everything looked hope- 
less and gloomy. The number of deserters increased 
from day to day. The invading armies came pouring 
in ; and the lories not only favored the cause of the 
mother country, but disheartened the new recruits, 
who were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of con- 
tending with an enemy whom they had been taught 
to deem invincible. To such brave spirits as James 
Monroe, who went right onward, undismayed through 
difficulty and danger, the United States owe their 
pclitical emancipation. The young cadet joined the 
ranks, and espoused the cause of his injured country, 
with a firm determination to live o. lie with her strife 


for liberty. Firmly yet sadly he shared in the mel- 
ancholy retreat from Harleam Heights and White 
Plains, and accompanied the dispirited army as it fled 
before its foes through New Jersey. In four months 
after the Declaration of Independence, the patriots 
had been beaten in seven battles. At the battle of 
Trenton he led the vanguard, and, in the act of charg- 
ing upon the enemy he received a wound in the left 
shoulder. 

As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was pro-| 
moted a captain of infantry ; and, having recovered, 
from his wound, he rejoined the army. He, however, 
receded from the line of promotion, by becoming an 
officer in the staff of Lord Sterling. During the cam- 
paigns of 1777 and 1778, in the actions of Brandy 
wine, Germantown and Monmouth, he continued 
aid-de-camp ; but becoming desirous to regain his 
position in the army, he exerted himself to collect a 
regiment for the Virginia line. This scheme failed 
owing to the exhausted condition of the State. Upon 
this failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at 
that period Governor, and pursued, with considerable 
ardor, the study of common law. He did not, however, 
entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag; 
but on the invasions of the enemy, served as a volun 
teer, during the two years of his legal pursuits. 

In 1782, he was elected from King George county, 
a member of the Legislature of Virginia, and by thai 
body he was elevated to a seat in the Executive 
Council. He was thus honored with the confidence 
of his fellow citizens at 23 years of age ; and having 
at this early period displayed some of that ability 
and aptitude for legislation, which were afterwards 
employed with unremitting energy for the public good, 


JAMES MONROE. 


he was in the succeeding year chosen a member of 
the Congress of the United States. 
Deeplyas Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of the old 
Confederacy, he was opposed to the new Constitution, 
ihinking, with many others of the Republican party, 
that it gave too much power to the Central Government, 
and not enough to the individual States. Still he re- 
tained the esteem of his friends who were its warm 
supporters, and who, notwithstanding his opposition 
secured its adoption. In 1789, he became a member 
of the United States Senate ; which office he held for 
four years. Every month the line of distinction be- 
tween the two great parties which divided the nation, 
the Federal and the Republican, was growing more 
distinct. The two prominent ideas which now sep- 
arated them were, that the Republican party was in 
sympathy with France, and also in favor of such a 
strict construction of the Constitution as to give the 
Central Government as little power, and the State 
Governments as much power, as the Constitution would 
warrant. The Federalists sympathized with England, 
and were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con- 
stitution, which would give as much power to the 
Central Government as that document could possibly 
authorize. 

The leading Federalists and Republicans were 
alike noble men, consecrating all their energies to the 
good of the nation. Two more honest men or more 

Jure patriots than John Adams the Federalist, and 
ames Monroe the Republican, never breathed. In 
building up this majestic nation, which is destined 
to eclipse all Grecian and Assyrian greatness,Jthe com- 
bination of their antagonism was needed to create the 
tight equilibrium. And yet each in his day was de- 
nounced as almost a demon. 

Washington was then President. England had es- 
poused the cause of the Bourbons against the princi- 
ples of the French Revolution. All Europe was drawn 
into the conflict. We were feeble and far away. 
Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality be- 
tween these contending powers. France had helped 
us in the struggle for our liberties. All the despotisms 
of Europe were now combined to prevent the French 
from escaping from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse 
than that which we had endured. Col. Monroe, more 
magnanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at 
whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in 
their extremity. It was the impulse of a generous 
and noble nature. He violently opposed the Pres- 
ident's proclamation as ungrateful and wanting in 
magnanimity. 

Washington, who could appreciate such a character, 
developed his calm, serene, almost divine greatness, 
by appointing that very James Monroe, who was de- 
nouncing the policy of the Government, as the minister 
of that Government to the Republic of France. Mr. 
Monroe was welcomed by the National Convention 
in France with the most enthusiastic demonstB^tions. 


Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. Mon 
roe was elected Governor of Virginia, and held th 
office for three years. He was again sent to France t 
co-operate with Chancellor Livingston in obtainin 
the vast territory then known as the Province c 
Louisiana, which France had but shortly before ob 
tained from Spain. Their united efforts were sue 
cessful. For the comparatively small sum of fifteei 
millions of dollars, the entire territory of Orleans an< 
district of Louisiana were added to the United States 
This was probably the largest transfer of real estat 
which was ever made in all the history of the world 

From France Mr. Monroe went to England to ob 
tain from that country some recognition of ou 
rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate afiinst thos 
odious impressments of our seamen. But Eng 
land was unrelenting. He again returned to Eng 
land on the same mission, but could receive n< 
redress. He returned to his home and was agaii 
chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon resignet 
to accept the position of Secretary of State unde 
Madison. While in this office war with England wa 
declared, the Secretary of War resigned, and durin] 
these trying times, the duties of the War Departmen 
were also put upon him. He was truly the armor 
bearer of President Madison, and the most efficien 
business man in his cabinet. Upon the return o 
peace he resigned the Department of War, but con 
tinned in the office of Secretary of State until the ex 
piration of Mr. Madison's adminstration. At the elec 
tion held the previous autumn Mr. Monroe himself hac 
been chosen President with but little opposition, anc 
upon March 4, 1817, was inaugurated. Four year 
later he was elected for a second term. 

Among the important measures of his Presidenc] 
were the cession of Florida to the United States ; th< 
Missouri Compromise, and the " Monroe doctrine.' 

This famous doctrine, since known as the " Monro< 
doctrine," was enunciated by him in 1823. At tha' 
time the United States had recognized the independ 
ence of the South American states, and did not wisl 
to have European powers longer attempting to sub 
due portions of the American Continent. The doctrim 
is as follows : " That we should consider any attempl 
on the part of European powers to extend their sys- 
tem to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous 
to our peace and safety," and "that we could noi 
view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing 
or controlling American governments or provinces in 
any other light than as a manifestation by European 
powers of an unfriendly disposition toward the United 
States." This doctrine immediately affected the course 
of foreign governments, and has become the approved 
sentiment of the United States. 

At the end of his second term Mr. Monroe retired 
to his home in Virginia, where he lived until 1830. 
when he went to New York to live with his son-in- 
law. In that city he died,on the 4th of July. 1831, 


SIXTH PRESIDRNT. 


OHN QUINCY ADAMS, the 
sixth President of the United 
States, was born in the rural 
home of his honored father, 
John Adams, in Quincy, Mass., 
on the nth cf July, 1767. His 
mother, a woman of exalted 
worth, watched over his childhood 


during the almost constant ab- 
sence of his father. When but 
eight years of age, he stood with 
his mother on an eminence, listen- 
ing to the booming of the great bat- 
tle on Bunker's Hill, and gazing on 
upon the smoke and flames billow- 
ing up from the conflagration of 
Charlestown. 

When but eleven years old he 
took a tearful adieu of his mother, 
to sail with his father for Europe, 
through a fleet ot hostile British cruisers. The bright, 
animated boy spent a year and a half in Paris, where 
his father was associated with Franklin and Lee as 
minister plenipotentiary. His intelligence attracted 
the notice of these distinguished men, and he received 
from them flattering marks of attention. 

Mr. John Adams had scarcely returned to this 
country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. Again 
Tohn Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he 
applied himself with great diligence, for six months, 
to :,tudy; then accompained his father to Holland, 
where he entered, first a school in Amsterdam, then 
the University at Leyden. About a year from this 
time, in 1781, when the manly boy was but fourteen 
yea-s of age, he was selected by Mr. Dana, our min- 
ister to the Russian court, as his private secretary. 

In this school of incessant labor and of enobling 
culture he spent fourteen months, and then returned 
to Holland through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and 
Bremen. This long journey he took alone, in the 
winter, when in his sixteenth year. Again he resumed 
MS studies, under a pri"*te tutor, at Hague. Thence, 


in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father t; 
Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintance 
with the most distinguished men on the Continent 
examining architectural remains, galleries of j aintings 
and all renowned works of art. At Paris he again 
became associated with the most illustrious men ol 
all lands in the contemplations of the loftiest temporal 
themes which can engross the human mind. After 
a short visit to England he returned to Paris, and 
consecrated all his energies to study until May, 1785, 
when he returned to America. To a brilliant young 
man of eighteen, who had seen much of the world, 
and who was familiar with the etiquette of courts, a 
residence with his father in London, under such cir- 
cumstances, must have been extremely attractive 
but with judgment very rare in one of his age, he pre- 
ferred to return to America to complete his education 
in an American college. He wished then to study 
law, that with an honorable profession, he might be 
able to obtain an independent support. 

Upon leaving Harvard College, at the age of twenty, 
he studied law for three years. In June, 1794, be- 
ing then but twenty-seven years of age, he was ap- 
pointed by Washington, resident minister at the 
Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached 
London in October, where he was immediately admit- 
ted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay and Pincknty, 
assisting them in negotiating a commercial treaty with 
Great Britian. After thus spending a fortnight ii, 
London, he proceeded to the Hague. 

In July, 1797, he left the Hague to go to Portugal as 
minister plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal, 
upon arriving in London, he met with despatches 
directing him to the court of Berlin, but requesting 
him to remain in London until he should receive his 
instructions. While waiting he was married to as 
American lady to whom he had been previously en- 
gaged, Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughter 
of Mr. Joshua Johnson, American consul in London 
a lady endownd with that beauty and those accom- 
plishment which eminently fitted her to move in tl{ 
elevated sphere for which she w^s 


JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 


He reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797 ; 
where he remained until July, 1799, when, having ful- 
filled all the purposes of his mission, he solicited his 
recall. 

Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to 
the Senate of Massachusetts, from Boston, and then 
was elected Senator of the United States for six years, 
from the 4th of March, 1804. His reputation, his 
ability and his experience, placed him immediately 
among the most prominent and influential members 
of that body. Especially did he sustain the Govern- 
ment in its measures of resistance to the encroach- 
ments of England, destroying our commerce and in- 
sulting our flag. There was no man in America more 
familiar with the arrogance of the British court upon 
these points, and no one more resolved to present 
a firm resistance. 

In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the Pres- 
idential chair, and he immediately nominated John 
Quincy Adams minister to St. Petersburg. Resign- 
ing his professorship in Harvard College, he embarked 
at Boston, in August, 1809. 

While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense stu- 
dent. He devoted his attention to the language and 
history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; to the 
European system of weights, measures, and coins ; to 
the climate and astronomical observations ; while he 
kept up a familiar acquaintance with the Greek and 
Latin classics. In all the universities of Europe, a 
more accomplished scholar could scarcely be found. 
All through life the Bible constituted an important 
part of his studies. It was his rule to read five 
chapters every day. 

On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Monroe took the 
Presidential chair, and immediately appointed Mr. 
Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of his num- 
erous friends in public and private life in Europe, he 
sailed in June, 1819, for the United States. On the 
r8th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his 
home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Mon- 
roe's administration, Mr. Adams continued Secretary 
of State. 

Some time before ;he close of Mr. Monroe's second 
term of office, new candidates began to be presented 
for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. Adams brought 
forward his name. It was an exciting campaign. 
Party spirit was never more bitter. Two hundred and 
sixty electoral votes were cast. Andrew Jackson re- 
ceived ninety-nine; John Quincy Adams, eighty-four; 
William H. Crawford, forty -one ; Henry Clay, thirty- 
seven. As there was no choice by the people, the 
question went to the House of Representatives. Mr. 
Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. Adams, and 
be was elected. 

The friends of all the disappointed candidates now 
:ombined in a venomous and persistent assault upon 
Mr. Adams. There is nothing more disgraceful in 
he past history of our country than the abuse which 


was poured in one uninterrupted stream, upon this 
high-minded, upright, patriotic man. There never wa; 
an administration more pure in principles, more con- 
scientiously devoted to the best interests of the coun 
try, than that of John Quincy Adams ; and never, per 
haps, was there an administration more unscrupu- 
lously and outrageously assailed. 

Mr. Adams was, to a very remarkable degree, ab- 
stemious and temperate in his habits; always rising 
early, and taking much exercise. When at his hcmeir 
Quincy, he has been known to walk, before breakfast 
seven miles to Boston. In Washington, it was saic 
that he was the first man up in the city, lighting hi: 
own fire and applying himself to work in his library 
often long before dawn. 

On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams retiree 
from the Presidency, and was succeeded by Andrew 
Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected Vice Presi- 
dent. The slavery question now began to assume 
portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams returned tc 
Quincy and to his studies, which he pursued with un- 
abated zeal. But he was not long permitted to re- 
main in retirement. In November, 1830, he was 
elected representative to Congress. For seventeen 
years, until his death, he occupied the post as repre- 
sentative, towering above all his peers, ever ready tc 
do brave battle' for freedom, and winning the title ol 
" the old man eloquent." Upon taking his seat in 
the House, he announced that he should hold him- 
self bound to no party. Probably there never was a 
member more devoted to his duties. He was usually 
the first in his place in the morning, and the last tc 
leave his seat in the evening. Not a measure could 
be brought forward and escape his scrutiny. The 
battle which Mr. Adams fought, almost singly, against 
the proslavery party in the Government, was sublime 
in its moral daring and heroism. For persisting in 
presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery, he 
was threatened with indictment by the grand jury, 
with expulsion from the House, with assassination , 
but no threats could intimidate him, and his final 
triumph was complete. 

It has been said of President Adams, that when his 
body was bent and his hair silvered by the lapse of 
fourscore years, yielding to the simple faith of a little 
child, he was accustomed to repeat every night, before 
he slept, the prayer which his mother taught him in 
his infant years. 

On the 2 1 st of February, r848, he rose on the floor 
of Congress, with a paper in his hand, to address the 
speaker. Suddenly he fell, again stricken by paraly- 
sis, and was caught in the arms of those around him. 
For a time he was senseless, as he was conveyed to 
the sofa in the rotunda. With reviving conscious- 
ness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly around and 
said " This is the end of earth /'then after a moment's 
pause he added, "/ am content" These were the 
last words of the grand "Old Man Eloquent." 


f the 


IIHlHM. 


^z- 


SEVENTH PRESIDENT. 


NDREW JACKSON, the 
seventh President of the 
"United States, was born in 
VVaxhaw settlement, N. C., 
March 15, 1767, a few days 
after his father's death. His 
parents were poor emigrants 
from Ireland, and took up 
their abode in Waxhaw set- 
tlement, where they lived in 
deepest poverty. 
Andrew, or Andy, as he was 
universally called, grew up a very 
rough, rude, turbulent boy. His 
features were coarse, his form un- 
gainly; and there was but very 
Httle in his character, made visible, which was at- 
tractive. 

When only thirteen years old he joined the volun- 
teers of Carolina against the British invasion. In 
1781, he and his brother Robert were captured and 
imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British officer 
ordered him to brush his mud-spattered boots. " I am 
a prisoner of war, not your servant," was the reply of 
the dauntless boy. 

The brute drew his sword, and aimed a desperate 
Dlow at the head of the helpless young prisoner. 
Andrew raised his hand, and thus received two fear- 
ful gashes, one on the hand and the other upon the 
head. The officer then turned to his brother Robert 
with the same demand. He also refused, and re- 
ceived a blow from the keen-edged sabre, which quite 
disabled him, and which probably soon after caused 
his death. They suffered much other ill-treatment, and 
were finally stricken with the small-pox. Their 
mother was successful in obtaining their exchange, 


and took her sick boys home. After a long illness. 
Andrew recovered, and the death of his mother soon 
left him entirely friendless. 

Andrew supported himself in various ways, such as 
working at the saddler's trade, teaching school and 
clerking in a general store, until 1784, when he 
entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He, however, 
gave more attention to the wild amusements of the 
times than to his studies. In 1788, he was appointed 
solicitor for the western district of North Carolina, of 
which Tennessee was then a part. This involved 
many long and tedious journeys amid dangers of 
every kind, but Andrew Jackson never knew fear, 
and the Indians had no desire to repeat a skirmish 
with the Sharp Knife. 

In I79T, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman who 
supposed herself divorced from her former husband. 
Great was the surprise of both parties, two years later, 
to find that the conditions of the divorce had just been 
definitely settled by the first husband. The marriage 
ceremony was performed a second time, but the occur- 
rence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr. 
Jackson into disfavor. 

During these years he worked hard at his profes 
sion, and frequently had one or more duels on hand, 
one of which, when he killed Dickenson, was espec- 
ially disgraceful. 

In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then 
containing nearly eighty thousand inhabitants, the 
people met in convention at Knoxville to frame a con- 
stitution. Five were sent from each of the eleven 
counties. Andrew Jackson was one of the delegates. 
The new State was entitled to but one member in 
the National House of Representatives. Andrew Jack- 
son was chosen that member. Mounting his horse he 
rode to Philedelphia, where Congress then held its 


ANDRE W JACKSDN. 


sessions, a distance of about eight hundred miles. 

Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- 
cratic party. Jefferson was his idol. He admired 
Bonaparte, loved France and hated England. As Mr. 
Jackson took his seat, Gen. Washington, whose 
second term of office was then expiring, delivered his 
last speech to Congress. A committee drew up a 
complimentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson 
did not approve of the address, and was one of the 
twelve who voted against it. He was not willing to 
say that Gen. Washington's adminstration had been 
" wise, firm and patriotic." 

Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States 
Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned home. 
Soon after he was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court 
of his State, which position he held for six years. 

When the war of 1812 with Great Britian com- 
menced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair. 
Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there was 
an unknown man in the West, Andrew Jackson, who 
would do credit to a commission if one were con- 
ferred upon him. Just at that time Gen. Jackson 
offered his services and those of twenty-five hundred 
volunteers. His offer was accepted, and the troops 
were assembled at Nashville. 

As the British were hourly expected to make an at- 
tack upon New Orleans, where Gen. Wilkinson was 
in command, he was ordered to descend the river 
with fifteen hundred troops to aid Wilkinson. The 
expedition reached Natchez ; and after a delay of sev- 
eral weeks there, without accomplishing anything, 
the men were ordered back to their homes. But the 
energy Gen. Jackson had displayed, and his entire 
devotion to the comrfort of his soldiers, won him 
golden opinions ; and he became the most popular 
man in the State. It was in this expedition that his 
toughness gave him the nickname of "Old Hickory." 

Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip Col. 
Thomas H. Benton, for a remark that gentleman 
made about his taking a part as second in a duel, in 
which a younger brother of Benton's was engaged, 
he received two severe pistol wounds. While he was 
lingering upon a bed of suffering news came that the 
Indians, who had combined under Tecumseh from 
Florida to the Lakes, to exterminate the white set- 
tlers, were committing the most awful ravages. De- 
cisive action became necessary. Gen. Jackson, with 
his fractured bone just beginning to heal, his arm in 
a sling, and unable to mount his horse without assis- 
tance, gave his amazing energies to the raising of an 
army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Alabama. 

The Creek Indians had established a strong fort on 
one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River, near the cen- 
ter of Alabama, about fifty miles below Fort Strother. 
With an army of two thousand men, Gen. Jackson 
traversed the pathless wilderness in a march of eleven 
days. He reached their fort, called Tohopeka or 
Horse-shoe, on the 27th of March. 1814. The bend 


of the river enclosed nearly one hundred acres of 
tangled forest and wild ravine. Across the narrow 
neck the Indians had constructed a formidable breast- 
work of logs and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, 
with an ample suply of arms were assembled. 

The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly des- 
perate. Not an Indian would accept of quarter. When 
bleeding and dying, they would fight those who en- 
deavored to spare their lives. From ten in the morn- 
ing until dark, the battle raged. The carnage was 
awful and revolting. Some threw themselves into the 
river; but the unerring bullet struck their heads as 
they swam. Nearly everyone of the nine hundred war- 
rios were killed A few probably, in the night, swam 
the river and escaped. This ended the war. The 
power of the Creeks was broken forever. This bold 
plunge into the wilderness, with itsterriffic slaughter, 
so appalled the savages, that the haggard remnants 
of the bands came, to the camp, begging for peace. 

This closing of the Creek war enabled us to con- 
centrate all our militia upon the British, who were the 
allies of the Indians No man of less resolute will 
than Gen. Jackson could have conducted this Indian 
campaign to so successful an issue Immediately he 
was appointed major-general. 

Late in August, with an army of two thousand 
men, on a rushing march, Gen. Jackson came to 
Mobile. A British fleet came from Pensacola, landed 
a force upon the beach, anchored near the little fort, 
and from both ship and shore commenced a furious 
assault. The battle was long and doubtful. At length 
one of the ships was blown up and the rest retired. 

Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his little 
army, he moved his troops to New Orleans, 
And the battle of New Orleans w hich soon ensued, 
was in reality a very arduous campaign. This won 
for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name. Here his 
troops, which numbered about four thousand men, 
won a signal victory over the Briiish army of about 
nine thousand. His loss was but thirteen, while the 
loss of the British was two thousand six hundred. 

The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be men- 
tioned in connection with the Presidency, but, in 1824, 
he was defeated by Mr. Adams. He was, however, 
successful in the election of 1828, and was re-elected 
for a second term in 1832. In 1829, just before he 
assumed the reins of the government, he met with 
the most terrible affliction of his life in the death of 
his wife, whom he had loved with a devotion which has 
perhaps never been surpassed. From the shock of 
her death he never recovered. 

His administration was one of the most nic-mcrabie 
in the annals of our country; applauded oyone party, 
condemned by the other. No man had more bitter 
enemies or warmer friends. At the expiration of his 
two terms of office he retired to the Hermitage, where 
he died June 8, 1845. The last years of Mr. Jack- 
son's life were that of a devoted Christian man. 


f the 

y of IHIno,, 


EIGHTH PRESIDENT. 


ARTIN VAN BUREN, the 
^eighth President of the 
United States, was born at 
Kinderhook, N. Y., Dec. 5, 
1782. He died at the same 
place, July 24, 1862. His 
body rests in the cemetery 
at Kinderhook. Above it is 
a plain granite shaft fifteen feet 
high, bearing a simple inscription 
about half way up on one face. 
The lot is unfenced, unbordered 
or unbounded by shrub or flower. 

There U uut Utle in the life of Martin Van Buren 
of roman! t interest. He fought no battles, engaged 
in no wild adventures. Though his life was stormy in 
political and intellectual conflicts, and he gained many 
signal victories, his days passed uneventful in those 
incidents which give zest to biography. His an- 
cestors, as his name indicates, were of Dutch origin, 
and were among the earliest emigrants from Holland 
to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a farmer, 
residing in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, 
also of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel- 
ligence and exemplary piety. 

,-fe was decidedly a precocious boy, developing un- 
usual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At the 
age of fourteen, he had finished his academic studies 
in his native village, and commenced the study of 
law. As he had not a collegiate education, seven 
years of study in a law-office were required of him 
Before he could be admitted to the bar. Inspired with 
JL lofty ambition, and conscious of his powers, he pur- 
sued liis studies with indefatigable industry. After 
spending six years in an office in his native village, 


he went to the city of New York, and prosecuted his 
studies for the seventh year. 

In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty-one years of 
age, commenced the practice of law in his native vil- 
lage. The great conflict between the Federal and 
Republican party was then at its height. Mr. Van 
Buren was from the beginning a politician. He had, 
perhaps, imbibed that spirit while listening to the 
many discussions which had been carried on in his 
father's hotel. He was in cordial sympathy with) 
Jefferson, and earnestly and eloquently espoused the 
cause of State Rights ; though at that time the Fed- 
eral party held the supremacy both in his town 
and State. 

His success and increasing ruputation led him 
after six years of practice, to remove to Hudson, th/ 
county seat of his county. Here he spent seven years, 
constantly gaining strength by contending in th* 
courts with some of the ablest men who have adorned 
the bar of his State. 

Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mi. 
Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for 
beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short 
years she sank into the grave, the victim of consump. 
tion, leaving her husband and four sons to weep ovei 
her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. Van Buren was 
an earnest, successful, assiduous lawyer. The record 
of those years is barren in items of public interest. 
In 1812, when thirty years of age, he was chosen to 
the State Senate, and gave his strenuous support to 
Mr. Madison's adminstration. In 1815, he was ap-' 
pointed Attorney-General, and the next year moved 
to Albany, the capital of the State. 

While he was acknowledged as one of the most 
piominent leaders of the Democratic party, he had 


MARTIN VAN BUREN. 


the moral courage to avow that true democracy did 
not require that '' universal suffrage" which admits 
the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the right of 
governing the State. In true consistency with his 
democratic principles, he contended that, while the 
path leading to the privilege of voting should be open 
to every man without distinction, no one should be 
invested with that sacred prerogative, unless he were 
in some degree qualified for it by intelligence, virtue 
and some property interests in the welfare of the 
State. 

In 1821 he was elected c. member of the United 
States Senate; and in the same year, he took a seat 
in the convention to revise the constitution of his 
native State. His course in this convention secured 
the approval of men of all parties. No one could 
doubt the singleness of his endeavors to promote the 
interests of all classes in the community. In the 
Senate of the United States, he rose at once to a 
Conspicuous position as an active and useful legislator. 

In 1827, John Quincy Adams beirg then in the 
Presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected to 
the Senate. He had been from the beginning a de- 
termined opposer of the Administration, adopting the 
"State Rights " view in opposition to what was 
Meemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams. 

Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen Governorof 
the State of New York, and accordingly resigned his 
^eat in the Senate. Probably no one in the United 
States contributed so much towards ejecting John Q. 
\dams from the Presidential chair, and placing in it 
Andrew Jackson, as did Martin Van Buren. Whether 
entitled to the reputation or not, he certainly was re- 
garded throughout the United States as one of the 
most skillful, sagacious and cunning of politicians. 
It was supposed that no one knew so well as he how 
to touch the secret springs of action; how to pull all 
the wires to put his machinery in motion ; and how to 
organize a political army which would, secretly and 
stealthily accomplish the most gigantic results. By 
these powers it is said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, 
Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and secured results which 
few thought then could be accomplished. 

When Andrew Jackson was elected President he 
appointed Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. This 
position he resigned in iSjr, and was immediately 
appointed Minister to England, where he went the 
same autumn. The Senate, however, when it met, 
refused to ratify the nomination, and he returned 


home, apparently untroubled ; was nominated Vi< 
President in the place of Calhoun, at the re-electic 
of President Jackson ; and with smiles for all an 
frowns for none, he took his place at the head of th; 
Senate which had refused to confirm his nominatic 
as ambassador. 

His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal < 
President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated favo 
ite ; and this, probably more than any other caus 
secured his elevation to the chair of the Chief Execi 
tive. On the 2oth of May, 1836, Mr. Van Buren n 
ceived the Democratic nomination to succeed Gei 
Jackson as President of the United States. He wj 
elected by a handsome majority, to the delight of th 
retiring President. " Leaving New York out of th 
canvass," says Mr. Parton, "the election of Mr. Va 
Buren to the Presidency was as much the act of Gei 
Jackson as though the Constitution had conferre 
upon him the power to appoint a successor." 

His administration was filled with exciting event 
The insurrection in Canada, which threatened to ir 
volve this country in war with England, the agitatio 
of the slavery question, and finally the great comme: 
cial panic which spread over the country, all wei 
trials to his wisdom. The financial distress was a.' 
tributed to the management of the Democratic part; 
and brought the President into*such disfavor that h 
failed of re-election. 

With the exception of being nominated for th 
Presidency by the "Free Soil" Democrats, in 184! 
Mr. Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate unt 
his death. 

He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal habit 
and living within his income, had now fortunately 
competence for his declining years. His unblemishe 
character, his commanding abilities, his unquestione 
patriotism, and the distinguished positions which h 
had occupied in the government of our country, s< 
cured to him not only the homage of his party, bi 
the respect ot the whole community. It was on Ih 
4th of March, 1841, that Mr. Van Buren retired frot 
the presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwak 
he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politic 
of the country. From this time until his death, o 
the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty years, h 
resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of leisure, c 
culture and of wealth; enjoying in a healthy ol 
age, probably far more happiness than he had befoi 
experienced amid the stormy scenes of his active lift 


fe library 

of tht 

of II!!- 


tfTNTH PRESIDENT. 


WJ&M&M mm* mmmsk 


ILLIAM HENRY HARRI- 
SON, the ninth President of 
the United States, was born 
at Berkeley, Va., Feb. 9, 1773. 
His father, Benjamin Harri- 
son, was in comparatively op- 
ulent circumstances, and was 
one of the most distinguished 
men of his day. He was an 
intimate friend of George 
Washington, vv as early elected 
a member of the Continental 
Congress, and was conspicuous 
among the patriots of Virginia in 
resisting the encroachments of the 
British crown. In the celebrated 
Congress of 1775, Benjamin Har- 
rison and John Hancock were 
both candidates for the office of 
speaker. 

Mr Harrison was subsequently 
chosen Governor of Virginia, and 
was twice re-elected. His son, 
i William Henry, of course enjoyed 
in childhood all the advantages which wealth and 
intellectual and cultivated society could give. Hav- 
ing received a thorough common-school education, he 
entered Hampden Sidney College, where he graduated 
with honor soon after the death of his father. He 
then repaired to Philadelphia to study medicine under 
the instructions of Dr. Rush and the guardianship of 
Robert Morris, both of whom were, with his father, 
ligners of the Declaration of Independence. 

Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and not- 
withstanding the 'emonstrances of his friends, he 
abandoned his medical studies and entered the army, 
.laving obtain^ a commission of Ensign from Presi- 


dent Washington. He was then but 19 years old 
From that time he passed gradually upward in rank 
until he became aid to General Wayne, after whose 
death he resigned his commission. He was then ap- 
pointed Secretary of the North-western Territory. This 
Territory was then entitled to but one member in 
Congress and Capt. Harrison was chosen to fill that 
position. 

In the spring of 1800 the North-western Territory 
was divided by Congress into two portions. The 
eastern portion, comprising the region now embraced 
in the State of Ohio, was called " The Territory 
north-west of the Ohio." The western portion, which 
included what is now called Indiana, Illinois and 
Wisconsin, was called the "Indiana Territory." Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison, then 27 years of age, was ap- 
pointed by John Adams, Governor of the Indiana 
Territory, and immediately after, also Governor of 
Upper Louisiana. He was thus ruler over almost as 
extensive a realm as any sovereign upon the globe. He 
was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and was in- 
vested with powers nearly dictatorial over the now 
rapidly increasing white population. The ability and 
fidelity with which he discharged these responsible 
duties may be inferred from the fact that he was four 
times appointed to this office first by John Adams, 
twice by Thomas Jefferson and afterwards by Presu 
dent Madison. 

When he began his adminstration there were but 
three white settlements in that almost boundless region, 
now crowded with cities and resounding with all the 
tumult of wealth and traffic. One of these settlements 
was on the Ohio, nearly opposite Louisville; one at 
Vincennes, on the Wabash, and the third a French 
settlement. 

The vast wilderness over which Gov. Harrisoii 
reigned was filled with many tribes of Indians. Abou' 


WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 


the year 1806, two extraordinary men, twin brothers, 
of the Shawnese tribe, rose among them. One of 
these was called Tecumseh, or " The Crouching 
Panther;" the other, Olliwacheca, or "The Prophet." 
Tecumseh was not only an Indian warrior, but a man 
of great sagacity, far-reaching foresight and indomit- 
able perseverance in any enterprise in which he might 
engage. He was inspired with the highest enthusiasm, 
and had long regarded with dread and with hatred 
the encroachment of the whites upon the hunting- 
grounds of his fathers. His brother, the Prophet, was 
an orator, who could sway the feelings of the untutored 
Indian as the gale tossed the tree-tops beneath which 
they dwelt. 

But the Prophet was not merely an orator : he was, 
in the superstitious minds of the Indians, invested 
with the superhuman dignity of a medicine-man or a 
magician. With an enthusiasm unsurpassed by Peter 
the Hermit rousing Europe to the crusades, he went 
from tribe to tribe, assuming that he was specially sent 
by the Great Spirit. 

Gov. Harrison made many attempts to conciliate 
the Indians, but at last the war came, and at Tippe- 
canoe the Indians were routed with great slaughter. 
October 28, 1812, his army began its march. When 
near the Prophet's town three Indians of rank made 
their appearance and inquired why Gov. Harrison was 
approaching them in so hostile an attitude. After a 
short conference, arrangements were made for a meet- 
ing the next day, to agree upon terms of peace. 

But Gov. Harrison was too well acquainted with 
the Indian character to be deceived by such protes- 
tations. Selecting a favorable spot for his night's en- 
campment, he took every precaution against surprise. 
His troops were posted in a hollow square, and slept 
upon their arms. 

The troops threw themselves upon the ground for 
rest; but every man had his accourtrements on, his 
loaded musket by his side, and his bayonet fixed. The 
wakeful Governor, between three and four o'clock in 
the morning, had risen, and was sitting in conversa- 
tion with his aids by the embers of a waning fire. It 
was a chill, cloudy morning with a drizzling rain. In 
the darkness, the Indians had crept as near as possi- 
ble, and j'ist then, with a savage yell, rushed, with all 
the desperation which superstition and passion most 
highly inflamed could give, upon the left flank of the 
little army. The savages had been amply provided 
with guns and ammunition by the English. Their 
war-whoop was accompained by a shower of bullets. 

The camp-fires were instantly extinguished, as the 
light aided the Indians in their aim. With hide- 
ous yells, the Indian bands rushed on, not doubting a 
speedy and an entire victory. But Gen. Harrison's 
troops stood as immovable as the rocks around them 
until day dawned : they then made a simultaneous 
charge with the bayonet, and swept every thing be- 
fore them, and completely routing the foe. 


Gov. Harrison now had all his energies taski 
to the utmost. The British descending from the Ca 
adas, were of themselves a very formidable force ; b 
with their savage allies, rushing like wolves from tl 
forest, searching out every remote farm-house, bur 
ing, plundering, scalping, torturing, the wide fronti 
was plunged into a state of consternation which evi 
the most vivid imagination can but faintly conceh 
The war-whoop was resounding everywhere in ti 
forest. The horizon was illuminated with the conflagi 
tion of the cabins of the settlers. Gen Hull had ma 
the ignominious surrender of his forces at Detro 
Under these despairing circumstances, Gov. Harris 
was appointed by President Madison commander-i 
chief of the North-western army, with orders to reta 
Detroit, and to protect the frontiers. 

It would be difficult to place a man in a situati 
demanding more energy, sagacity and courage; b 
General Harrison was found equal to the positic 
and nobly and triumphantly did he meet all the i 
sponsibilities. 

He won the love of his soldiers by always shari 
with them their fatigue. His whole baggage, whi 
pursuing the foe up the Thames, was carried in 
valise; and his bedding consisted of a single blank 
lashed over his saddle. Thirty-five British office 
his prisoners of war, supped with him after the batt 
The only fare he could give them was beef roasti 
before the fire, without bread or salt. 

In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member 
the National House of Representatives, to represe 
the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved ; 
active member; and whenever he spoke, it was wi 
force of reason and power of eloquence, which arrest 
the attention of all the members. 

In 1819, Harrison was elected to the Senate 
Ohio; and in 1824, as one of the presidential electc 
of that State, he gave his vote for Henry Clay. T 
same year he was chosen to the United States Senai 

In 1836, the friends of Gen. Harrison brought hi 
forward as a candidate for the Presidency again 
Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the close 
Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nominated by \ 
party, and Mr. Harrison was unanimously nominal* 
by the Whigs, with John Tyler for the Vice Presidenc 
The contest was very animated. Gen. Jackson ga^ 
all his influence to prevent Harrison's election ; b 
his triumph was signal. 

The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel Webst 
at its head as Secretary of State, was one of the mo 
brilliant with which any President had ever bei 
surrounded. Never were the prospects of an admi 
istration more flattering, or the hopes of the count 
more sanguine. In the midst of these bright at 
joyous prospects, Gen. Harrison was seized by 
pleurisy-fever and after a few days of violent sici 
ness, died on the 4th of April ; just one month aft- 
his inauguration as President of the United State 


of th 
of 


a 


TENTH PRESIDENT. 


m 


OHN TYLER, the tenth 
Presidentof the United States. 
He was born in Charles-city 
Co., Va., March 29, 1790. He 
was the favored child of af- 
fluence and high social po- 
' sition. At the early age of 
twelve, John entered William 
and Mary College and grad- 
uated with much honor when 
but seventeen years old. After 
graduating, he devoted him- 
self with great assiduity to the 
study of law, partly with his 
father and partly with Edmund 
Randolph, one of the most distin- 
guished lawyers of Virginia. 

At nineteen years of age, ne 
commenced the practice of law. 
His success was rapid and aston- 
ishing. It is said that three 
months had not elapsed ere there 
was scarcely a case on the dock- 
et of the court in which he was 
iot retained. When but twenty-one years of age, he 
was almost unanimously elected to a seat in the State 
Legislature. He connected himself with the Demo- 
cratic party, and warmly advocated the measures of 
Jefferson and Madison. For five successive years he 
wiis elected to the Legislature, receiving nearly the 
unanimous vote or his county. 

When but twenty-six years of age, he was elected 
a member of Congress. Here he acted earnestly and 
ably wuh the Democratic party, opposing a national 
bank, intern-,! improvements by the General <^ovem- 


ment, a protective tariff, and advocating a strict con- 
struction of the Constitution, and the most careful 
vigilance over State rights. His labors in Congress 
were so arduous that before the close of his second 
term he found it necessary to resign and retire to his 
estate in Charles-city Co., to recruit his health. He. 
however, soon after consented to take his seat in the 
State Legislature, where his influence was powerful 
in promoting public works of great utility. .With a 
reputation thus canstantly increasing, he was chosen 
by a very large majority of votes, Governor of his 
native State. His administration was signally a suc- 
cessful one. His popularity secured his re-election. 

John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed 
man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of the 
United States. A portion of the Democratic party 
was displeased with Mr. Randolph's wayward course, 
and brought forward John Tyler as his opponent, 
considering him the only man in Virginia of sufficient 
popularity to succeed against the renowned orator of 
Roanoke. Mr. Tyler was the victor. 

In accordance with his professions, upon taking his 
seat in the Senate, he joined the ranks of the opposi- 
tion. He opposed the tariff; he spoke against and 
voted against the bank as unconstitutional ; he stren- 
uously opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resist- 
ing all projects of internal improvements by the Gen- 
eral Government, and avowed his sympathy with Mr. 
Calhoun's view of nullification; he declared that Gen. 
Jackson, by his opposition to the nullifiers, had 
abandoned the principles of the Democratic party. 
Such was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress, a record 
in perfect accordance with the principles which he 
had always avowed. 

Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice of 
his profession. There was a rplh in the Democratic 


JOHN TYLER. 


(arty. His friends still regarded him as a true Jef- 
fersonian, gave him a dinner, and showered compli- 
ments upon him. He had now attained the age of 
forty-six. His career had been very brilliant. In con- 
sequence of his devotion to public business, his pri- 
vate affairs had fallen into some disorder; and it was 
not without satisfaction that he resumed the practice 
of law, and devoted himself to the culture of his plan- 
tation. Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, 
for the better education of his children ; and he again 
took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia. 

By the Southern Whigs, he was sent to the national 
convention at Harrisburg to nominate a President in 
'839. The majority of votes were given to Gen. Har- 
rison, a genuine Whig, much to the disappointment of 
the South, who wished for Henry Clay. To concili- 
ate the Southern Whigs and to secure their vote, the 
convention then nominated John Tyler for Vice Pres- 
ident. It was well known that he was not in sympa- 
thy with the Whig party in the North : but the Vice 
President has but very little power in the Govern- 
ment, his main and almost only duty being to pre- 
side over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it hap- 
pened that a Whig President, and, in reality, a 
Democratic Vice President were chosen. 

In 1841, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice Presi- 
Jent of the United States. In one short month from 
that time, President Harrison died, and Mr.- Tyler 
thus .cund himself, to his own surprise and that of 
the whole Nation, an occupant of the Presidential 
chair. This was a new test of the stability of our 
institutions, as it was the first time in the history of our 
country that such an event had occured. Mr. Tyler 
was at home in Williamsburg when he received the 
unexpected tidings of the death of President Harri- 
son. He hastened to Washington, and on the 6th of 
April was inaugurated to the high and responsible 
office. He was placed in a position of exceeding 
delicacy and difficulty. All his long life he had been 
opposed tc the main principles of the party which had 
brought him into power. He had ever been a con- 
sistent, honest man, with an unblemished record. 
Gen. Harrison had selected a Whig cabinet. Should 
he retain them, and thus surround himself with coun- 
sellors whose views were antagonistic to his own ? or, 
on the other hand, should he turn against the party 
which had elected him and select a cabinet in har- 
mony with himself, and which would oppose all those 
views which the Whigs deemed essential to the pub- 
lic welfare? This was his fearful dilemma. He in- 
vited the cabinet which President Haorison had 
Delected to retain their seats. He reccommended a 
day of fasting and prayer, that God would guide and 
bless us. 

The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for the 
incorporation of a fiscal bank of the United States. 
The President, after ten days' delay, returned it with 
his veto. He suggested, however, that he would 


approve of a bill drawn up upon such a plan as 
proposed. Such a bill was accordingly prepared, 
privately submitted to him. He gave it his appro 
It was passed without alteration, and he sent it t 
with his veto. Here commenced the open rupt 
It is said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this m 
ure by a published letter from the Hon. John 
Botts, a distinguished Virginia Whig, who seve 
touched the pride of the President. 

The opposition now exultingly received the Pi 
dent into their arms. The party which elected 
denounced him bitterly. All the members of 
cabinet, excepting Mr. Webster, resigned. The W 
of Congress, both the Senate and the House, hel 
meeting and issued an address to the people of 
United States, proclaiming that all political allia 
between the Whigs and President Tyler were 
an end. 

Still the President attempted to conciliate, 
appointed a new cabinet of distinguished Whigs 
Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong p 
men. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary tores 
forced out by the pressure of his Whig friends. T 
the four years of Mr. Tyler's unfortunate adminii 
tion passed sadly away. No one was satisfied, 
land wa,s filled with murmurs and vituperation. W 
and Democrats alike assailed him. More and rr 
however, he brought himself into sympathy with 
old friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his t> 
he gave his whole influence to the support of 
Polk, the Democratic candidate for his successor 

On the 4th of March, 1845, he retired from 
harassments of office, to the regret of neither party, 
probably to his own unspeakable relief. His first i 
Miss Letitia Christian, died in Washington, in i! 
and in June, 1844, President Tyler was again man 
at New York, to Miss Julia Gardiner, a young lac 
many personal and intellectual accomplishments. 

The remainder of his days Mr. Tyler passed mi 
in retirement at his beautiful home, Sherwood 
est, Charles-city Co., Va. A polished gentlemai 
his manners, richly furnished with information i 
books and experience in the world, and posses 
brilliant powers of conversation, his family circle 
the scene of unnsual attractions. With suffic 
means for the exercise of a generous hospitality 
might have enjoyed a serene old age with the 
friends who gathered around him, were it not for 
storms of civil war which his own principles 
policy had helped to introduce. 

When the great Rebellion rose, which the Si 
rights and nullifying doctrines of Mr. John C. ' 
houn had inaugurated, President Tyler renounced 
allegiance to the United States, and joined the Con 
crates. He was chosen a member of their Congr 
and while engaged in active measures to destroy 
force of arms, the Government over which he 
once presided, he was taken sick and soon d 


of tfci 
of l 


ELE VENTff 'PRESTDEtfT. ' 


AMES K. POLK, the eleventh 
^President of the United States, 
was born in Mecklenburg Co., 
N. C.,Nov. 2, 1795. His par- 
ents were Samuel and Jane 
(Knox) Polk, the former a son 


of Col. Thomas Polk, who located 
at the above place, as one of the 
first pioneers, in 1735. 

In the year 1806, with his wife 
and children, and soon after fol- 
lowed by most of the members of 
the Polk farnly, Samuel Polk emi- 
grated some two or three hundred 
miles farther west, to the rich valley 
of the Duck River. Here in the 
midst of the wilderness, in a region 
which was subsequently called Mau- 
ry Co., they reared their log huts, 
and established their homes. In the 
hard toil of a new farm in the wil- 
derness, James K. Polk spent the 
early years of his childhood and 
youth. His father, adding the pur- 
suit of a surveyor to that of a farmer, 
gradually increased in wealth until 
he became one of the leading men of the region. His 
mother was a superior woman, of strong common 
sense and earnest piety. 

Very early in life, James developed a taste for 
reading and expressed the strongest desire to obtain 
a liberal education. His mother's training had made 
him methodical in his habits, had taught him punct- 
uality and industry, and had inspired him with lofty 
principles of morality. His health was frail ; and his 
father, fearing that be might not \>c able to endure a 


ess than two and a half 
sntered the sophomorel 
h Carolina, at Chapell 


sedentary life, got a situation for him behind the 
counter, hoping to fit him for commercial pursuits. 

This was to James a bitter disappointment. He 
had no taste for these duties, and his daily tasks 
were irksome in the extreme. He remained in this 
uncongenial occupation but a few weeks, when at his 
earnest solicitation his father removed him, and made 
arrangements for him to prosecute his studies. Soon 
after he sent him to Murfreesboro Academy. With 
ardor which could scarcely be surpassed, he pressed 
forward in his studies, and in less than two and a half j 
years, in the autumn of 1815, er 
class in the University of North Ca 
Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplary of 
scholars, punctual in every exercise, never allowing 
himself to be absent from a recitation or a religious 
service. 

He graduated in 1818, with the highest honors, be- 
ing deemed the best scholar of his class, both in 
mathematics and the classics. He was then twenty- 
three years of age. Mr. Folk's health was at this 
time much impaired by the assiduity with which he 
had prosecuted his studies. After a short season of 
relaxation he went to Nashville, and entered the 
office of Felix Grundy, to study law. Here Mr. Polk 
renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Jackson, who 
resided on his plantation, the Hermitage, but a few 
miles from Nashville. They had probably been 
slightly acquainted before. 

Mr. Folk's father was a JefTersonian Republican, 
and James K. Polk ever adhered to the same politi- 
cal faith. He was a popular public speaker, and was 
constantly called upon to address the meetings of his 
party friends. His skill as a speaker was such that 
he was popularly called the Napoleon of the stump. 
He was a man of unblemished morals, genial and 


fAMES K. POLK. 


courier us in his bearing, and with that sympathetic 
nature in the joys and griefs of others which ever gave 
him troops of friends. In 1823, Mr. Polk was elected 
to the Legislature of Tennessee. Here he gave his 
strong influence towards the election of his friend, 
Mr. Jackson, to the Presidency of the United States. 

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah 
'Childress, of Rutherford Co., Tenn. His bride was 
altogether worthy of him, a lady of beauty and cul- 
ture. In the fall of 1825, Mr. Polk was chosen a 
member of Congress. The satisfaction which he gave 
to his constituents may be inferred from the fact, that 
for fourteen successive years, until 1839, he was con- 
tinued in that office. He then voluntarily withdrew, 
only that he might accept the Gubernatorial chair 
of Tennessee. In Congress he was a laborious 
member, a frequent and a popular speaker. He was 
always in his seat, always courteous ; and whenever 
he spoke it was always to the point, and without any 
ambitious rhetorical display. 

During five sessions of Congress, Mr. Polk was 
Speaker of the House. Strong passions were roused, 
and stormy scenes were witnessed ; but Mr. Polk per- 
formed his arduous duties to a very general satisfac- 
tion, and a unanimous vote of thanks to him was 
passed by the House as he withdrew on the 4th of 
March, 1839. 

In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk, as a 
candidate for Governor, canvassed the State. He was 
elected by a large majority, and on the 1 4th of Octo- 
ber, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. In 1841, 
his term of office expired, and he was again the can- 
didate of the Democratic party, but was defeated. 

On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugur- 
ated President of the United States. The verdict of 
the countryin favor of the annexation of Texas, exerted 
its influence upon Congress ; and the last act of the 
administration of President Tyler was to affix his sig- 
nature to a joint resolution of Congress, passed on the 
3d of March, approving of the annexation of Texas to 
the American Union. As Mexico still claimed Texas 
as one of her provinces, the Mexican minister, 
Almonte, immediately demanded his passports and 
'Jaft the country, declaring the act of the annexation 
lo be an act hostile to Mexico. 

In his first message, President Polk urged that 
Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be re- 
ceived into the Union on the same footing with the 
other States. In the meantime, Gen. Taylor was sent 


with an army into Texas to hold the country. He w 
sent first to Nueces, which the Mexicans said was t 
western boundary of Texas. Then he was sent nea: 
two hundred miles further west, to the Rio Gram 
where he erected batteries which commanded t 
Mexican city of Matamoras, which was situated 
the western banks. 

The anticipated collision soon took place, and fl 
was declared against Mexico by President Polk. T 
war was pushed forward by Mr. Folk's administrati 
with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, whose army was fi 
called one of " observation," then of " occupatioi 
then of " in vasion, " was sent forward to Monterey. T 
feeble Mexicans, in every encounter, were hopeles; 
ana awfully slaughtered. The day of judgeme 
alone can reveal the misery which this war caus< 
It was by the ingenuity of Mr. Folk's administrati 
that the war was brought on. 

'To the victors belong the spoils." Mexico w 
prostrate before us. Her capital was in our ham 
We now consented to peace upon the condition tli 
Mexico should surrender to us, in addition to Tex 
all of New Mexico, and all of Upper and Lower C 
ifornia. This new demand embraced, exclusive 
Texas, eight hundred thousand square miles. Tl 
was an extent of territory equal to nine States of t 
size of New York. Thus slavery was securing eighte 
majestic States to be added to the Union. There w( 
some Americans who thought it all right : there wt 
others who thought it all wrong. In the prosecuti 
of this war, we expended twenty thousand lives a: 
more than a hundred million of dollars. Of tl 
money fifteen millions were paid to Mexico. 

On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk retired frc 
office, having served one term. The next day w 
Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was inaugural 
as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to the Capitol in t 
same carriage with Gen. Taylor; and the same eve 
ing, with Mrs. Polk, he commenced his return 
Tennessee. He was then but fifty-four years of aj 
He had ever been strictly temperate in all his habi 
and his health was good. With an ample fortur 
a choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic ti 
of the dearest nature, it seemed as though long yea 
of tranquility and happiness were before him. But tl 
cholera that fearful scourge was then sweeping i 
the Valley of the Mississippi. This he contracte 
and died on the 151)1 of June, 1849, in the fiftv-four 
year of his age, greatly mourned by his countryme 


Tfc Library 
of the 

of HIM 


ff 


TWELFTH PRESIDENT. 


ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth 
President of the United States, 
was born on the 24th of Nov., 
1784, in Orange Co., Va. His 
father, Colonel Taylor, was 
Virginian of note, and a dis- 
tinguished patriot and soldier of 
the Revolution. When Zachary 
was an infant, his father with his 
wife and two children, emigrated 
to Kentucky, where he settled in 
the pathless wilderness, a few 
miles from Louisville. In this front- 
ier home, away from civilization and 
all its refinements, young Zachary 
could enjoy but few social and educational advan- 
tages. When six years of age he attended a common 
school, and was then regarded as a bright, active boy, 
rather remarkable for bluntness and decision of char- 
acter He was strong, feailess and self-reliant, and 
manifested a strong desire to enter the army to fight 
the Indians who were ravaging the frontiers. There 
is little to be recorded of the uneventful years of his 
childhood on his father's large but lonely plantation. 
In 1 808, his father succeeded in obtaining for him 
the commission of lieutenant in the United States 
army ; and he joined the troops which were stationed 
at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. Soon after 
this he married Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady 
from one of the first families of Maryland. 

Immediately after the declaration of war with Eng- 
land, in 1812, Capt. Taylor (for he had then been 
promoted to that rank) was put in command of Fort 
Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles above 
Vincennes. This fort had been built in the wilder- 
ness by Gen. Harrison,on his march to Tippecanoe. 
It was one of the first points of attack by the Indians, 
;ed by Tecumseh. Its garrison consisted of a broken 


company of infantry numbering fifty men, many of 
whom were sick. 

Early in the autumn of 1812, the Indians, stealthily, 
and in large numbers, moved upon the fort. Their 
approach was first indicated by the murder of two 
soldiers just outside of the stockade. Capt. Taylor 
made every possible preparation to meet the antici- 
pated assault. On the 4th of September, a band of 
forty painted and plumed savages came to the fort, 
waving a white flag, and informed Capt. Taylor that 
in the morning their chief would come to have a talk 
with him. It was evident that their object was merely 
to ascertain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. 
Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, kept 
them at a distance. 

The sun went down ; the savages disappeared, the 
garrison slept upon their arms. One hour before 
midnight the war-whoop burst from a thousand lips 
in the forest around, followed by the discharge of 
musketry, and the rush of the foe. Every man, sick 
and well, sprang to his post. Every man knew that 
defeat was not .merely death, but in the case of cap- 
ture, death by the most agonizing and prolonged tor- 
ture. No pen can describe, no immagination can 
conceive the scenes which ensued. The savages suc- 
ceeded in setting fire to one of the block-houses- 
Until six o'clock in the morning, this awful conflict 
continued. The savages then, baffled at every point, 
and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired. Capt. 
Taylor, for this gallant defence, was promoted to the 
rank of major by brevet. 

Until the close of the war, Major Taylor was placed 
in such situations that he saw but little more of active 
service. He was sent far away into the depths of the 
wilderness, to Fort Crawford, on Fox River, which 
empties into Green Bay. Here there was but little 
to be done but to wear away the tedious hours as ono 
best could. There were no books, no society, no in- 


ZACHARY TAYLOR. 


tellectuai stimulus. Thus with him the uneventful 
years rolled on Gradually ne rose to the rank of 
colonel. In the Black-Hawk war, which resulted in 
the capture of that renowned chieftain, Col Taylor 
took a subordinate but a brave and efficient part. 

For twenty-four years Col. Taylor was engaged in 
the defence of the frontiers, in scenes so remote, and in 
'employments so obscure, that his name was unknown 
t>eyond the limits of his own immediate acquaintance. 
Jn the year 1836, he was sent to Florida to compel 
the Seminole Indians to vacate that region and re- 
tire beyond the Mississippi, as their chiefs by treaty, 
iiac 3 promised they should do. The services rendered 
tieie secured for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of 
ihe Government; and as a reward, he was elevated 
ic ;he rank of brigadier-general by brevet ; and soon 
ifter, in May, 1838, was appointed to the chief com- 
nand of the United States troops in Florida. 

After two years of such wearisome employment 
imidst the everglades of the peninsula, Gen. Taylor 
obtained, at his own request, a change of command, 
;nd was stationed over the Department of the South- 
west. This field embraced Louisiana, Mississippi, 
Alabama and Georgia. Establishing his headquarters 
at Fort Jessup, in Louisiana, he removed his family 
to a plantation which he purchased, near Baton Rogue. 
Hi.-re he remained for five years, buried, as it were, 
fiom the world, but faithfully discharging every duty 
jnvposed upon him. 

In 1846, Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the land 
bolween the Nueces and Rio Grande, the latter river 
being the boundary of Texas, which was then claimed 
"by the United States. Soon the war with Mexico 
was brought on, and at Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
PaJma, Gen. Taylor won brilliant victories over the 
Mexicans. The rank of major-general by brevet 
was then conferred upon Gen. Taylor, and his name 
was received with enthusiasm almost everywhere in 
the Nation. Then came the battles of Monterey and 
E uena Vista in which he won signal victories over 
5c jrces much larger than he commanded. 

His careless habits of dress and his unaffected 
simplicity, secured for Gen. Taylor among his troops, 
ti/e sobriquet of "Old Rough and Ready.' 

The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena Vista 
El/read the wildest enthusiasm over the country. The 
name of Gen. Taylor was on every one's lips. The 
W hig party decided to take advantage of this wonder- 
fu/ popularity in bringing forward the unpolished, un- 
" -.''?red, honest soldier as their candidate for the 
Pi esidency. Gen. Taylor was astonished at the an- 
ncuncement, and for a time would not listen toil; de- 
cbiring that he was not at all qualified for such an 
oft ice. So little interest had he taken in politics that, 
fot forty years, he had not cast a vote. It was not 
wnhout chagrin that several distinguished statesmen 
w'ho had been long years in the public service found 
'l.:flr claims set aside in behalf of one whose name 


had never been heard of, save in connection with Pa 
Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buer 
Vista. It is said that Daniel Webster, in his haste n 
marked, " It is a nomination not fit to be made." 

Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a fir 
writer His friends took possession of him, and pr< 
pared such few communications as it was needfi 
should be presented to the public. The popularity < 
the successful warrior swept the land. He was tr 
umphantly elected over two opposing candidates,- 
Gen. Cass and Ex-President Martin Van Burei 
Though he selected an excellent cabinet, the goo 
old man found himself in a very uncongenial positioi 
and was, at times, sorely perplexed and harassec 
His mental sufferings were very severe, and probabl 
tended to hasten his death. The pro-slavery part 
was pushing its claims with tireless energy, exped 
tions were fitting out to capture Cuba ; California wa 
pleading for admission to the Union, while slaver 
stood at the door to bar her out. Gen. Taylor foun 
the political conflicts in Washington to be far moi 
trying to the nerves than battles with Mexicans c 
Indians. 

In the midst of all these troubles, Gen. Taylo 
after he had occupied the Presidential chair but littl 
over a year, took cold, and after a brief sickness < 
but little over five days, died on the pth of July, 1851 
His last words were, " I am not afraid to die. I ai 
ready. I have endeavored to do my duty." He die 
universally respected and beloved. An honest, ur 
pretending man, he had been steadily growing in th 
affections of the people ; and the Nation bitterly h 
mented his death. 

Gen. Scott, who was thoroughly acquainted wit 
Gen. Taylor, gave the following graphic and truthfi 
description of his character: " With a good store ( 
common sense, Gen. Taylor's mind had not been er 
larged and refreshed by reading, or much convers 
with the world. Rigidity of ideas was the const 
quence. The frontiers and small military posts ha 
been his home. Hence he was quite ignorant for hi 
rank, and quite bigoted in his ignorance. His sm 
plicity was child-like, and with innumerable prejii 
dices, amusing and incorrigible, well suited to th 
tender age. Thus, if a man, however respectablt 
chanced to wear a coat of an unusual color, or his ha 
a little on one side of his head; or an officer to leav 
a corner of his handkerchief dangling from an out 
side pocket, in any such case, this critic held th 
offender to be a coxcomb (perhaps something worse' 
whom he would not, to use his oft repeated phrase 
'touch with a pair of tongs.' 

"Any allusion to literature beyond good old Dil 
worth's spelling-book, on the part of one wearing ; 
sword, was evidence, with the same judge, of utte 
unfitness for heavy marchings and combats. In short 
few men have ever had a more comfortable, **+ 
saving contempt for learning of every kind. 15 


Ffc. LltHr; 
( th 


THIRTEENTH PRESIDENT. 


ILLARD FILLMORE, thir- 
teenth President of the United 
States, was born at Summer 
Hill, Cayuga Co., N. Y ., on 
the 7th of January, 1800. His 
'father was a farmer, and ow- 
ing to misfortune, in humble cir- 
cumstances. Of his mother, the 
daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, 
of Pittsfield, Mass., it has been 
dd that she' possessed an intellect 
of very high order, united with much 
personal loveliness, sweetness of dis- 
position, graceful manners and ex- 
quisite sensibilities. She died in 
1831 ; having lived to see her son a 
1 young man of distinguished prom- 
ise, though she was not permitted to witness the high 
dignity which he finally attained. 

In consequence of the secluded home and limited 
means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender ad- 
vantages for education in his early years. The com- 
mon schools, which he occasionally attended were 
very imperfect institutions; and books were scarce 
and expensive. There was nothing then in his char- 
acter to indicate the brilliant career upon which he 
was about to enter. He was a plain farmer's boy ; 
intelligent, good-looking, kind-hearted. The sacred 
influences of home had taught him to revere the Bible, 
and had laid the foundations of an upright character. 
When fourteen years of age, his father sent him 
some hundred miles from home, to the then wilds of 
Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier. 
Neai the mi'l there was a small villiage, where some 


enterprising man had commenced the collection of a 
village library. This proved an inestimable blessing 
to young Fillmore. His evenings were spent in read- 
ing. Soon every leisure moment was occupied with 
books. His thirst for knowledge became insatiate; 
and the selections which he made were continually 
more elevating and instructive. He read history; 
biography, oratory, and thus gradually there was en- 
kindled in his heart a desire to be something more 
than a mere worker with his hands; and he was be' 
coming, almost unknown to himself, a well-informed, 
educated man. 

The young clothier had now attained the age of 
nineteen years, and was of fine personal appearance 
and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so happened thai 
there was a gentleman in the neighborhood of ample 
pecuniary means and of benevolence, Judge Walter 
Wood, who was struck with the prepossessing ap- 
pearance of young Fillmore. He made his acquaint- 
ance, and was so much impressed with his ability and 
attainments that he advised him to abandon his 
trade and devote himself to the study of the law. The 
young man replied, that he had no means of his own, 
no friends to help him and that his previous educa- 
tion had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood had 
so much confidence in him that he kindly offered to 
take him into his own office, and to loan him such 
money as he needed. Most gratefully the generous 
offer was accepted. 

There is in many minds a strange delusion about)* 
a collegiate education. A young man is supposed to 
be liberally educated if he has graduated at some col- 
lege. But many a boy loiters through university hul' > 
<ind then enters a law office, who is by no means as 


MILLARD FILLMORE. 


well prepared to prosecute his legal studies as was 
Millard Fillmore when he graduated at the clothing- 
mill at the end of four years of manual labor, during 
which every leisure moment had been devoted to in- 
tense mental culture. 

In 1823, when twenty-three years of age, he was 
admitted to the Court of Common Pleas. He then 
went to the village of Aurora, and commenced the 
practice of law. In this secluded, peaceful region, 
his practice of course was limited, and there was no 
opportunity for a sudden rise in fortune or in fame. 
Here, in the year 1826, he married a lady of great 
moral worth, and one capable of adorning any station 
she might be called to fill, Miss Abigail Powers. 

His elevation of character, his untiring industry, 
his legal acquirements, and his skill as an advocate, 
gradually attracted attention ; and he was invited to 
enter into partnership under highly advantageous 
circumstances, with an elder member of the bar in 
Buffalo. Just before removing to Buffalo, in 1829, 
he took his seat in the House of Assembly, of the 
State of New York, as a representative from Erie 
County. Though he had never taken a very active 
part in politics, his vote and his sympathies were with 
the Whig party. The State was then Democratic, 
and he found himself in a helpless minority in the 
Legislature , still the testimony comes from all parties, 
that his courtesy, ability and integrity, won, to a very 
unusual degrc e the respect of his associates. 

In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to a seat in 
the United States Congress. He entered that troubled 
arena in some of the most tumultuous hours of our 
national history. The great conflict respecting the 
national bank and the removal of the deposits, was 
then raging. 

His term of two years closed ; and he returned to 
his profession, which he pursued with increasing rep- 
utation and success. After a lapse of two years 
he again became a candidate for Congress ; was re- 
elected, and took his seat in 1837. His past expe- 
rience as a representative gave him stength and 
confidence. The first term of service in Congress to 
any man can be but little more than an introduction. 
He was now prepared for active duty. All his ener- 
gies were brought to bear upon the public good. Every 
measure received his impress. 

Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, and 
his popularity filled the State, and in the year 1847, 
he was elected Comptroller of the State. 


Mr. Fillmore had attained the age of forty-seve 
years. His labors at the bar, in the Legislature, i 
Congress and as Comptroller, had given him very coi 
siderable fame. The Whigs were casting about t 
find suitable candidates for President and Vice-Pres 
dent at the approaching election. Far away, on tl: 
waters of the Rio Grande, there was a rough ol 
soldier, who had fought one or two successful battle 
with the Mexicans, which had caused his name to h 
proclaimed in tiumpet-tones all over the land. Bi 
it was necessary to associate with him on the sarc 
ticket some man of reputation as a statesman. 

Under the influence of these considerations, tr 
namesof Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore becarv 
the rallying-cry of the Whigs, as their candidates fc 
President and Vice-Peesident. The Whig ticket wj 
signally triumphant. On the 4th of March, 1841 
Gen. Taylor was inaugurated President, and Millai 
Fillmore Vice-President, of the United States. 

On the pth of July, 1850, President Taylor, bi 
about one year and four months after his inaugur; 
tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the Coi 
stitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus became Pres 
dent. He appointed a very able cabinet, of whic 
the illustrious Daniel Webster was Secretary of Stat 

Mr. Fillmore had very serious difficulties to conten 
with, since the opposition had a majority in bol 
Houses. He did everything in his power to concilia 
the South ; but the pro-slavery party in the South fe 
the inadequacy of all measuresof transient conciliatio 
The population of the free States was so rapidly ii 
creasing over that of the slave States that it was ii 
evitable that the power of the Government shoui 
soon pass into the hands of the free States. Tr 
famous compromise measures were adopted under M 
Fillmcre's adminstration, and the Japan Expeditio 
was sent out. On the 4th of March, 1853, Mr. Fil 
more, having served one term, retired. 

In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the Pre; 
idency by the " Know Nothing " party, but was beate 
by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr. Fillmore lived i 
retirement. During the terrible conflict of civil wa 
he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed \\iz 
his sympathies were rather with those who were en 
deavoring to overthrow our institutions. Presides 
Fillmore kept aloof from the conflict, without an 
cordial words of cheer to the one party or the othei 
He was thus forgotten by both. He lived to a rip 
old age, and died in Buffalo. N. Y., March 8, 1874 


Ik. Llbitry 

f the 
IMnratty of (life* 


FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT. 


FIERCE 

^^*&&^*&&^<il^&^JMyb&bMiiMii*M 


RANKLIN PIERCE, the 
fourteenth President of the 
United States, was born in 
Hillsborough, N. H., Nov. 
23, 1804. His father was a 
Revolutionary soldier, who, 
with his own strong arm, 
hewed out a home in the 
wilderness. He was a man 
of inflexible integrity; of 
strong, though uncultivated 
mind, and an uncompromis- 
ing Democrat. The mother of 
Franklin Pierce was all that a son 
could desire, an intelligent, pru- 
dent, affectionate, Christian wom- 
an. Franklin was the sixth of eight children. 

Franklin was a very bright and handsome boy, gen- 
erous, warm-hearted and brave. He won alike the 
love of old and young. The boys on the play -ground 
loved him. His teachers loved him. The neighbors 
looked upon him with pride and affection. He was 
by instinct a gentleman; always speaking kind words, 
doing kind deeds, with a peculiar unstudied tact 
which taught him what was agreeable. Without de- 
veloping any precocity of genius, or any unnatural 
devotion to books, he was a good scholar ; in body, 
in mind, in affections, a finely-developed boy. 

When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, he 
entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me. He was 
one of the most popular young men in the college. 
The purity cf his moral character, the unvarying 
courtesy of his demeanor, his rank as a scholar, and 


genial nature, rendered him a universal favorite. 
There was something very peculiarly winning in his 
address, and it was evidently not in the slightest de- 
gree studied: it was the simple outgushing of his 
own magnanimous and loving nature. 

Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin Pierce 
commenced the study of law in the office of Judge 
Woodbury, one of the most distinguished lawyers of 
the State, and a man of great private worth. The 
eminent social qualities of the young lawyer, his 
father's prominence as a public man, and the brilliant 
political career into which Judge Woodbury was en' 
tering, all tended to entice Mr. Pierce into the faci- 
nating yet perilous path of political life. With all 
the ardor of his nature he espoused the cause of Gen. 
Jackson for the Presidency. He commenced the 
practice of law in Hillsborough, and was soon elected 
to represent the town in the State Legislature. Here 
he served for four yeais. The last two years he was 
chosen speaker of the house by a very large vote. 

In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was elected 
a member of Congress. Without taking an active 
part in debates, he was faithful and laborious in duty 
and ever rising in the estimation of those with whom 
he was associatad. 

In 1837, being then but thirty-three years of age, 
he was elected to the Senate of the United States; 
taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren commenced 
his administration. He was the youngest memberin 
the Senate. In the year 1834, he married Miss Jane 
Means Appleton, a lady of rare beauty and accom- 
plishments, and one admirably fitted to adorn every 
station with which her husband was honoied. Of the 


bRANKLIN PIERCE. 


three sons who were born to them, all now sleep with 
their parents in the grave. 

In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing fame 
and increasing business as a lawyer, took up his 
residence in Concord, the capital of New Hampshire. 
President Polk, upon his accession to office, appointed 
Mr. Pierce attorney-general of the United States; but 
the offer was declined, in consequence of numerous 
professional engagements at home, and the precariuos 
state of Mrs. Pierce 's health. He also, about the 
same time declined the nomination for governor by the 
Democratic party. The war with Mexico called Mr. 
Pierce in the army. Receiving the appointment of 
brigadier-general, he embarked, with a portion of his 
troops, at Newport, R. I., on the ayth of May, 1847. 
He took an important part in this war, proving him- 
self a brave and true soldier. 

When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his native 
State, he was received enthusiastically by the advo- 
cates of the Mexican war, and coldly by his oppo- 
nents. He resumed the practice of his profession, 
very frequently taking an active part in political ques- 
tions, giving his cordial support to the pro-slavery 
wing of the Democratic party. The compromise 
measures met cordially with his approval ; and he 
Strenuously advocated the enforcement of the infa- 
inous fugitive-slave law, which so shocked the religious 
sensibilities of the North. He thus became distin- 
guished as a "Northern man with Southern principles."' 
The strong partisans of slavery in the South conse- 
quently regarded him as a man whom they could 
safely trust in office to carry out their plans. 

On the I2th of June, 1852, the Democratic conven- 
tion met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate for the 
Presidency. For four days they continued in session, 
and in thirty-five ballotings no one had obtained a 
two-thirds vote. Not a vote thus far had been thrown 
for Gen. Pierce. Then the Virginia delegation 
brought forward his name. There were fourteen 
more ballotings, during which Gen. Pierce constantly 
gained strength, until, at the forty-ninth ballot, he 
received two hundred and eighty-two votes, and all 
other candidates eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was 
the Whig candidate. Gen. Pierce was chosen with 
great unanimity. Only four States Vermont, Mas- 
sachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee cast their 
electoral votes against him Gen. Franklin Pierce 
was therefore inaugurated President of the United 
States en the 4th of March, 1853. 


His administration proved one of the most stormy 01 
country had ever experienced. The controversy bi 
tween slavery and freedom was then approaching i 
culminating point. It became evident that there w< 
an " irrepressible conflict " between them, and th; 
this Nation could not long exist " half slave and ha 
free." President Pierce, during the whole of his ac 
ministration, did every thing he could to concilia! 
the South ; but it was all in vain. The conflict evei 
year grew more violent, and threats of the dissolutio 
of the Union were borne to the North on every Soutl 
ern breeze. 

Such was the condition of affairs when Presidei 
Pierce approached the close of his four-years' ten 
of office. The North had become thoroughly alier 
ated from him. The anti-slavery sentiment, goade 
by great outrages, had been rapidly increasing; a 
the intellectual ability and social worth of Presider 
Pierce were forgotten in deep reprehension of his ac 
ministrative acts. The slaveholders of the South, alsi 
unmindful of the fidelity with which he had advc 
cated those measures of Government which they aj 
proved, and perhaps, also, feeling that he ha 
rendered himself so unpopular as no longer to b 
able acceptably to serve them, ungratefully droppe 
him, and nominated James Buchanan to succeed hin 

On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce r< 
tired to his home in Concord. Of three children, tw 
had died, and his only surviving child had bee 
killed before his eyes by a railroad accident ; and h: 
wife, one of the most estimable and accomplished < 
ladies, was rapidly sinking in consumption. Th 
hour of dreadful gloom soon came, and he was le 
alone in the world, without wife or child. 

When the terrible Rebellion burst forth, which d 
vided our country into two parties, and two only, M 
Pierce remained steadfast in the principles which \ 
had always cherished, and gave his sympathies 1 
that pro-slavery party with which he had ever bee 
allied. He declined to do anything, either by voi( 
or pen, to strengthen the hand of the National Go' 
ernment. He continued to reside in Concord unt 
the time of his death, which occurred in Octobe 
1869. He was one of the most genial and social < 
men, an honored communicant of the Episcop; 
Church, and one of the kindest of neighbors. Ger 
erous to a fault, he contributed liberally for the a 
leviation of suffering and want, and many of his town 
people were often gladened by his material bount 


to library 

tf th< 


C 


t m* J < 


FIFTEENTH PRESIDENT. 


AMES BUCHANAN, the fif- 
teenth President of the United 
States, was born in a small 
frontier town, at the foot of the 
eastern ridge of the Allegha- 
nies, in Franklin Co., Penn., on 
the 23d of April, 1791. The place 
where the humble cabin of his 
father stood was called Stony 
Batter. It was a wild and ro- 
mantic spot in a gorge of the moun- 
tains, with towering summits rising 
grandly all around. His father 
was a native of the north of Ireland ; 
a poor man, who had emigrated in 
1783, with little property save his 
own strong arms. Five years afterwards he married 
Elizabeth Spear, the daughter of a respectable farmer, 
and, with his young bride, plunged into the wilder- 
ness, staked his claim, reared his log-hut, opened a 
clearing with his axe, and settled down there to per- 
form his obscure part in the drama of life. In this se- 
cluded home, where James was born, he remained 
for eight years, enjoying but few social or intellectual 
advantages. When James was eight years of age, his 
father removed to the village of Mercersburg, where 
his son was placed at school, and commenced a 
course of study in English, Latin and Greek. His 
progress was rapid, and at the age of fourteen, he 
entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle. Here he de- 
veloped remarkable talent, and took his stand among 
the first scholars in the institution. His application 
to study was intense, and yet his native powers en- 


ab