The sixth President of the United States, was born in the rural home of his honored father, John Adams, in Quincy, Mass., on the 11th of July, 1767. His mother, a woman of exalted worth, watched over his childhood during the almost constant absence of his father, When but eight years of age, he stood with his mother on an eminence, listening to the booming of a great battle on Bunker’s Hill, and gazing on upon the smoke and flames billowing 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 of 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 John Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he applied himself with great diligence, for six months, to study; then accompanied 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 years of age, he was selected by Mr. Dana, our minister 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 his studies, under a private tutor, at Hague. Thence, in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father to Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintances with the most distinguished men on the Continent examining architectural remains, galleries of paintings and all renowned works of art. At Paris he again became associated with the most illustrious men of 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 f the world, and who was familiar with the etiquette of courts, a residence with his father in London, under such circumstances, must have been extremely attractive but with judgment very rare in one of his age, he preferred 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, being then but twenty-seven years of age, he was appointed by Washington, resident minister at the Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached London in October, where he was immediately admitted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay and Pinckney, assisting them in negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain. After thus spending a fortnight in London, he proceeded to the Hague.

In July, 1797, he left eh Hague to go to Portugal as minister plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal, upon arriving in London, he met with dispatches 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 an American lady to whom he had been previously engaged, - Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughter of Mr. Joshua Johnson, American consul in London, a lady endowed with that beauty and those accomplishment which eminently fitted her to move in the elevated sphere for which she was destined.

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

Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to t he 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 Government in its measures of resistance to the encroachments of England, destroying our commerce and insulting 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 Presidential chair, and he immediately nominated John Quincy Adams minister to St. Petersburg. Resigning his professorship in Harvard College, he embarked at Boston, in August, 1809.

While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense student. 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 numerous friends in public and private life in Europe, he sailed in June, 1819, for the United States. On the 18th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration, Mr. Adams continued Secretary of State.

Some time before the close of Mr. Mornoe’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 received 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 he was elected.

The friends of all the disappointed candidates now combined in a venomous and persistent assault upon Mr. Adams. There is nothing more disgraceful in the past history of our country than the abuse which was poured in one uninterrupted stream, upon this high-minded, upright, patriotic man. There never was an administration more pure in principles, more conscientiously devoted to the best interests of the country, than that of John Quincy Adams; and never, perhaps, was there an administration more unscrupulously and outrageously assailed.

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

On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams retired from the Presidency, and was succeeded by Andrew Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected Vice President. The slavery question now began to assume portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams returned to Quincy and to his studies, which he pursued with unabated zeal. But he was not long permitted to remain in retirement. In November, 1830, he was elected representative to Congress. For seventeen years, until his death, he occupied the post as representative, towering above all his peers, ever ready to do brave battle for freedom, and winning the title of "the old man eloquent." Upon taking his seat in the House, he announced that he should hold himself 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 to 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 pro-slavery 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 21st of February, 1848, he rose on the floor of Congress, with a paper in his hand, to address the speaker. Suddenly he fell, again stricken by paralysis, 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 consciousness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly around and said "This is the end of earth;” then after a moment's pause he added, "I am content." These were the last words of the grand "Old Man Eloquent."

Note: On 05 Mar 1825, President Adams nominated Joshua Pilcher for U.S. consul at Chihuahua. Two days later the Senate consented to it. This seems to suggest Joshua Pilcher may have favored Adams in the extremely controversial election of 1824 while his friend Benton supported Clay.

David Barton, United States Senator, was born in Greene County, North Carolina, December 14, 1783, son of Rev. Isaac Barton, a minister of the Baptist Church. He was educated at Greeneville College, studied law under Judge Anderson, of Tennessee, and was admitted to the bar about the year 1810. Soon after his admission to practice he came to St. Louis, and was numbered along the earliest lawyers to settle in what was then a mere village.

In 1816 he was appointed by President Madison judge of the St. Louis Circuit Court, and held the first session of a circuit court west of the Mississippi River. In 1818 he wvas elected a delegate to the Territorial Legislature of Missouri, and was made speaker of the House. In 1820, when the convention to form a constitution for the state of Missouri met in St. Louis, Barton, who had been chosen a delegate, was unanimously elected President of the convention. The most important provisions of the instrument adopted by that body were framed by him, and it passed into history as the "Barton Constitution." Pursuant to the adoption of this constitution, the Legislature of the proposed new State met at the Missouri Hotel in St. Louis, on the 19th of September, 1820, and Barton was unanimously elected United States Senator with Thomas H. Benton as his colleague. Missouri was finally admitted into the Union by proclamation of President Monroe, December 3, 1821, and three days later Barton took his seat in the United States Senate. He was subsequently re-elected, and served ten years in the Senate, attaining great distinction as a Whig statesman and orator. In 1831, after his retirement from the Senate, he was nominated by his party for representative in Congress, but was defeated at the ensuing election. In 1834 he was, however, elected to the State Senate, and a short term of service in that body closed his official career. Intemperate habits finally dethroned his reason, and he died insane, September 28, 1837.

Judge Silas Bent Sr. was born in Massachusetts, April 4, 1768, educated at Rutland, Worcester County, a son of Silas Bent, of Sudbury, Mass., who commanded the famous "Tea Party" in Boston Harbor December 16, 1773.

In 1788 be came to Ohio and was one of the first settlers of Marietta. He read law with Philip Doddridge, of Wheeling, Virginia, afterwards he kept store at Charlestown, Virginia, and married Miss Martha Kerr, of Winchester. In January, 1802, he was Postmaster at Brooke Court House, Virginia, and in 1803 deputy in the office of the Surveyor General Rufus Putman.

Feb'y 17, 1804, appointed associate Judge of the Common Pleas of Washington Co., Ohio. In July, 1805, Deputy Surveyor under James Mansfield, Surveyor General July, 1806, appointed by Albert Gallatin, Sec. of Treasury of the United States, to be principal Deputy Surveyor for Louisiana Territory, and came to St. Louis, Sept. 17, 1806.

August 20, 1807, was appointed by Frederick Bates, the first Judge of the Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions, for the District of St. Louis. Nov'r, 1808, by Governor Lewis, auditor of public accounts. Nov. 9, 1809, presiding Judge of St. Louis Common Pleas, with Bernard Pratte and Louis Lebeamne associates, and on that day issued the first Charter for the Town of St. Louis. Jan'y 5, 1811, appointed by Fred'k Bates, Auditor o! the Public accounts, and on September, 1811, Judge of the Common Pleas by Governor Benjamin Howard.

Feb. 21, 1813, was appointed by President Madison, Judge of the Superior Court of the Territory of Missouri. Jan'y 21, 1817, was re-commissioned by the President, and held the office until abolished by the admission of Missouri as a State in 1821.

After the admission of the State, Judge Bent received the appointment of Clerk of the St. Louis County Court, which he held until his death, Nov. 20, 1827, in his 60th year.

His widow, Mrs. Martha Bent, died Aug't 20, 1833.

They raised seven sons and four daughters to maturity.
Charles, born in 1799, died single, Governor of Taos, New Mexico; murdered.
Julia Ann, born in 1801, married July 24, 1817, to Lilburn W. Boggs; she died Sept. 21, 1820, aged about 19 years.
John, born in 1803, married Sept. 15, 1829, to Miss Olivia, daughter of Col. Jos. McClelland, of Boone; he died in 1845, aged 42 years.
Lucy, born in 1805, married Sept. 29, 1826, to James Russell, of Oakhill; she died March 2, 1871, aged 66 years.
Dorcas, born in 1807, March 12, married Dec. 10, 1829, to Judge Wm. C. Carr; she died Feb'y 25, 1888, aged nearly 81 years.
William, born in 1809.
George, born in 1811, died unmarried in 1847, aged 35 years, 6 months.
Mary, born in 1814, married in 1836, to Jonathan Beane
Robert S., born in 1816, died unmarried Oct. 20, 1841, aged 25 years.
Edward, born in 1819, died in 1824, aged 5 years.
Silas, Jr., born in Oct., 1820, married, and died in 1887, aged 67 years.

Note: Silas was laid to rest at Bellefontaine (Block 103, Lot 322), however his grave is unmarked. (Outside link)

Thomas H. Benton was born near Hillsborough, Orange county, North Carolina, March 14, 1782. The father died when Thomas was eight years old. He attended for a short time a grammar school. acquitting himself with credit, and entered the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. but quitted that institution without receiving a degree, and commenced the study of law in William and Mary’s College, Virginia, under Mr. St. George Tucker. His mother removed to Tennessee, and settled on a tract of land belonging to her late husband's estate. But young Benton had no taste for agricultural pursuits. He was fond of books, and devoted his time to reading, the better to prepare himself for his profession, and in 1811 commenced the practice of law in Nashville, Tennessee, and soon rose to eminence. He was elected to the legislature, but served only one term, during which time he secured the passage of a law reforming the judicial system, and one giving to slaves the benelit of a trial by jury. Andrew Jackson, at that time a Judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee and afterward a Major-General of the Militia, was Benton's personal friend and patron. He served as aide-de-camp on Jackson's staff and during the war of 1812 commanded a regiment of volunteers, whence the title of Colonel which he always retained. Jackson and Benton continued their intimacy until a sudden quarrel separated them. Jackson attempted to strike Benton with a horsewhip, and was severely wounded by a pistol-shot fired by Mr. Benton. For a long time they were bitter enemies, and though a partial reconciliation afterward took place, they were never again intimate.

When the volunteer militia was disbanded in 1813, President Madison appointed him a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 39th Infantry: but while en-route to join his command in Canada, peace was declared, and he resigned in 1815. He removed to St. Louis and resumed his profession, and was soon in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice.

A man of decided opinions and aggressive disposition. his activity could not be restrained. He entered the field of politics. and established the Missouri Inquirer. Fierce and outspoken in his denunciation, he was the principal in many disputes, altercations and personal encounters. The "code” was in vogue, and in a duel with Mr. Lucas he killed his opponent, an act he sincerely regretted to the day of his death.

The Inquirer strongly urged the admission of Missouri with a slave constitution, and in 1820 Mr. Benton was elected one of the Senators from the new State. His colleague was David Barton, a man of ability, who was president of the convention which formed the State Constitution.

Colonel Benton at once took front rank in the national councils. In the prime of life, of vigorous intellect, large and liberal culture, studious, temperate, and resolute, he rapidly rose to distinction and was soon an acknowledged leader in a body which contained some of the foremost men of the nation. He presented a bill granting the right of preemption to actual settlers, a periodic reduction in the price of public land in proportion to the time it had been in market, and a donation of homesteads to certain persons. He urged it in the Senate with tireless energy. His speeches in this behalf attracted the attention of the country, but failed of their effect on Congress, which favored a distribution of the public lands among the States. His steadfast support of the administration of General Jackson gave him great influence with the Democracy, and he succeeded in inducing the President to embody the substancc of the bill in one of his message, which secured its final adoption. To Colonel Benton also is due the credit of causing to be thrown open to occupancy the saline and mineral lands of Missouri. During the session of 1829-30 he was instrumental in securing the repeal of the salt tax.

Colonel Benton early favored a railroad to the Pacific, and advocated the opening of trade with New Mexico, the establishment of military stations in Missouri and throughout the interior, and warmly advocated the policy of cultivating friendly relations with the Indians, and fostering our inland sea commerce. the importance of which he fully comprehended. He secured an appropriation for marking out and maintaining post-roads, the benefit from which is everywhere acknowledged.

In the currency disputes which followed the expiration of the charter of the United States bank, its re-charter and veto by Jackson, he urged a gold and silver currency, the only remedy for the financial difficulties which embarrassed the country, and the only true medium which the Government had a right to use, and made many elaborate speeches in its support, which attracted the attention of Europe, as well as his own country, and added to his already well-earned fame as a statesman. His attitude on the financial problem obtained for him the sobriquet of “Old Bullion” which he retained to his dying days.

He supported the financial policy inaugurated during Van Buren's administration. During the terms off Tyler and Polk and Taylor, Colonel Benton took an active and leading part on the on the questions relating to the annexation of Texas, the boundary of Oregon and various other matters growing out of our foreign relations. He differed from Mr. Polk in regard to the proposed line of 54º 40' and succeeded in securing that of 49º as the northern boundary of Oregon. He urged a vigorous prosecution of the Mexican war, and aided by his counsel the administration in maturing a plan for compelling a peace. Such was the confidence reposed in Mr. Benton that President Polk proposed to confer upon him the rank of Lieutenant-General, with the power to carry out his conceptions. It was never done. The House passed a bill creating the rank of lieutenant-general, but the Senate refused to concur, thus the measure was defeated.

Colonel Benton opposed the compromise measures offered by Mr. Clay, in 1850 for a settlement of the disputes in Congress on the slavery question growing out of the acquisition of Mexican territory. He stigmatized the legislation as vicious and fraudulent in regard to Texas, and defective as to the fugitive slave law. Although the acts failed as a whole, they passed separately. He espoused the cause of President Jackson in his controversy with Mr. Calhoun in regard to nullification, and became the leading Democratic opponent of Calhoun in the Senate on this question. A bitter personal enmity was the result, which lasted throughout their lives.

In February, 1847, Mr. Calhoun introduced a series of resolutions expressive of his views in regard to the admission of States, the territorial powers of Congress, and the use of common property, all bearing upon the slavery question; and the issues raised by the “Wilmot proviso," which proposed to exclude slavery from all new territory to be acquired by the United States. Colonel Benton denounced them as "firebrand resolutions." They never came to a vote in the Senate, but were sent to the Legislatures on the slave States, and were adopted by some. Manipulated by the enemies of Mr. Benton, these resolutions were passed by both branches of the Missouri Legislature, and made the basis of instructions to her Senators, Colonel Benton denounced them as not expressing the views of the people, as countenancing the doctrines of secession and nullification; refused to obey them, and made a direct appeal to the people. He made a thorough canvass of the State and his speeches in that campaign added new lustre to his already brilliant fame as an orator. But public sentiment was against him, and Mr. Benton received his first defeat at the hands of the pro-slavery Democracy. At first he received encouragement from the Whigs, but hoping to secure their own success by reason of a divided Democracy, they coalesced with the opponents of Mr. Benton.

As a consequence, the Legislature of 1849-50 was largely Democratic, but of opposite factions, the Benton men having a small plurality. A spirited but unsuccessful contest for the Senatorship ensued. Finally a bargain was made between the Whigs and anti-Benton men, which resulted in the election of Henry S. Geyer, a Whig, who had previously committed himself to the opponents of Mr. Benton. The close of his term ended thirty years of service in the national councils, and he withdrew from the Senate, of which he had been an active and prominent member.

In 1852 he was elected to Congress over all opposition, and exerted himself to destroy the influence acquired by the nullification party, and gave his support to the administration of President Pierce, but thinking it had fallen under the influence of the followers of Calhoun, he withdrew it in return for which the administration displaced all of his appointments in Missouri.

He opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and denounced the Kansas-Nebraska bill in a remarkable speech in the House, which aroused the country against the measure, but failed to defeat its passage.

At the election in 1854 he was defeated by Mr. Kennett, and retired to devote himself to literature. His friends prevailed upon him to accept the nomination for Governor in 1856. But the new American party had a ticket in the field, and although many of them sympathized with Mr. Benton, those who did not voted for his opponent in preference to their own candidate, and Trasten Polk was elected.

In the Presidential contest of 1856, Colonel Benton supported Mr. Buchanan in preference to Colonel Frémont, his own son-in-law, having confidence in Mr. Buchanan's ability to restore the principles of the Jacksonian Democracy, and fearing that the election of Colonel Frémont would endanger the safety of the Union. He subsequently changed from this opinion.

After his defeat for Governor, he resumed his literary labors, and completed his "Thirty Years' View," a comprehensive narrative of the times from his entry to the close of his official life At the age of seventy-six he began the laborious task of condensing the debates of Congress, from the foundation of the Government to the close of the compromise debates in 1850, in which he had taken a prominent part, concluding the work upon his death-bed, dictating in whispers when so low as to be unable to speak aloud. Previous to this he had written a review of the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case which attracted universal attention.

Colonel Benton was a man of positive character. strong intellect, capable of great labor, ambitious, and exerted all his energies to accomplish the success which he ultimately achieved. He had the faculty of appreciating men. and was thereby enabled to exercise a controlling influence in the councils of both Nation and State, and for years his power in Missouri was almost unlimited. During the later years of his life he was actuated by a desire to rise above mere partisanship, and seek only the general welfare. His unfaltering devotion to the Union will ever be remembered, and gratefully acknowledged by the friends of Liberty and Progress. In official intercourse Colonel Benton was austere and reserved, but in the home circle pleasant and companionable.

Sarah Mytton Maury, in her book entitled .. The Statesmen of America in 1846, says of him: "In his public deportment, and especially when speaking, he has much senatorial dignity- is rarely excited; his action and gestures are expressive; is of robust and muscular frame, slightly inclined to corpulency. His features have, also, more of the English than of the American character; the nose is broader, the nostrils more expanded, the lips more full, and the mouth less wide, than is usual in the American contour. The habitual expression of his countenance is calm and elevated. ...He has that gentle self-possession of manner which is so usual in those who are conscious of superior strength."

Colonel Benton was married, after becoming Senator, to Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel James McDowell, of Rockbridge county, Virginia, by whom he had four children: Mrs. William Carey Jones, Mrs. Jessie Ann Frémont, Mrs. Sarah Benton Jacob, and Madam Susan Benton Boileau.

Mrs. Benton died in 1854 from the effect of a stroke of paralysis received in 1844, and from the time of that calamity her husband was never known to go to any place of festivity or amusement.

Mr. Benton died in Washington, April 10, 1858, and was mourned by a nation. His remains were taken to St. Louis and buried by the side of his wife in the family lot in Bellefontaine cemetery. A colossal statue, by Harriet Hosmer, has been erected to his memory in Lafayette Park.

Additional Biographical Sketch of Senator Thomas H. Benton

Headstone & Marker - Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis

Doty's 1841 Treaty, its debate in The Globe Extra, and the influence of Joshua Pilcher - a blog by P. Davidson-Peters

Note: It is possible that Joshua may have met Thomas H. Benton during the War of 1812 and became friends. In 1839, Benton formally recommended Joshua to the Indian Office for the appointment to the St. Louis superintendency. Joshua also participated in the 1839-1840 Democrat campaign in support of Benton; and when Joshua drew up his Last Will & Testament on 18 Nov 1842, he left the $3,800 note Benton owed him to be held in trust for Benton's daughter Susan until she became of suitable age.

Lewis Vital Bogy, senator, was born at Sainte Genevieve. Mo., Apr. 9, 1813, son of Joseph and Marie (Beauvais) Bogy, grandson of Vital Beauvais and a descendant of the early French pioneers who emigrated to Louisiana prior to its purchase by the United States. During the Spanish dominion Joseph Bogy was private secretary to Gov. Morales and afterward served both in the territorial and state legislature of Missouri. His son was educated in the common schools and after leaving a school in Perryville, Mo., became a clerk in a store.

In 1832 he began to read law in the office of Judge Nathaniel Pope in Kaskaskia. and after serving in the Black Hawk war, finished his legal studies in Lexington, Ky., and established his practice in St. Louis. In 1840 he was elected a member of the Missouri legislature and in 1854 a member of the general assembly from his native county. He was appointed commissioner of Indian affairs in 1867, but was not confirmed by the senate, and in 1873 he was elected to the U. S. senate to succeed Gen. Francis P. Blair, Jr., for the term beginning Mar. 4, 1873, and ending Mar. 3, 1879.

In the senate he occupied a conspicuous position as a ready, fluent and logical debater. He served on the committees on Indian affairs, land claims, education, labor and foreign affairs, and was a member of the monetary commission of 1876.

Mr. Bogy was president of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain railroad, the Exchange Bank of St. Louis and the city council; was commissioner of public schools and several times acting mayor. He was instrumental in developing the deposits of iron ore in the Pilot Knob and Iron mountains near St. Louis; through his exertions a railroad was run from St. Louis to the mines, thus giving a new impetus to the enterprise of the city.

He died in St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 20. 1877, survived by his widow. Pelagie (Pratte) Bogy, the daughter of Gen. Bernard Pratte; his son Joseph and his daughter Mrs. Josephine Noonan.

Photo Source: Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of Lewis V. Bogy ... Delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives, U. S. Congress, 1878.

American statesman and parliamentarian, was born, of Scottish-Irish descent, in Abbeville District, South Carolina, on the 18th of March 1782. His father, Patrick Calhoun, is said to have been born in Donegal, in North Ireland, but to have left Ireland when a mere child. The family seems to have emigrated first to Pennsylvania, whence they removed, after Braddock's defeat, to Western Virginia. From Virginia they removed in 1756 to South Carolina and settled on Long Cane Creek, in Granville (now Abbeville) county. Patrick Calhoun attained some prominence in the colony, serving in the colonial legislature, and afterwards in the state legislature, and taking part in the War of Independence. In 1770 he had married Martha Caldwell, the daughter of another Scottish-Irish settler.

The opportunities for obtaining a liberal education in the remote districts of South Carolina at that time were scanty. Fortunately, young Calhoun had the opportunity, although late, of studying under his brother-in-law, the Rev. Moses Waddell (1770-1840), a Presbyterian minister, who afterwards, from 1819 to 1829, was president of the University of Georgia. In 1802 Calhoun entered the junior class in Yale College, and graduated with distinction in 1804. He then studied first at the famous law school in Litchfield, Conn., and afterwards in a law office in Charleston, S.C., and in 1807 was admitted to the bar. He began practice in his native Abbeville district, and soon took a leading place in his profession. In 1808 and 1809 he was a member of the South Carolina legislature, and from 1811 to 1817 was a member of the national House of Representatives.

When he entered the latter body the strained relations between Great Britain and the United States formed the most important question for the deliberation of Congress. Henry Clay, the speaker of the house, being eager for war and knowing Calhoun's hostility to Great Britain, gave him the second place on the committee of foreign affairs, of which he soon became the actual head. In less than three weeks the committee reported resolutions, evidently written by Calhoun, recommending preparations for a struggle with Great Britain; and in the following June Calhoun submitted a second report urging a formal declaration of war. Both sets of resolutions the House adopted. Clay and Calhoun did more, probably, than any other two men in Congress to force the reluctant president into beginning hostilities.

In 1816 Calhoun delivered in favour of a protective tariff a speech that was ever held up by his opponents as evidence of his inconsistency in the tariff controversy. The embargo and the war had crippled American commerce, but had stimulated manufactures. With the end of the Napoleonic wars in Europe the industries of the old world revived, and Americans began to feel their competition. In the consequent distress in the new industrial centres there arose a cry for protection. Calhoun, believing that there was a natural tendency in the United States towards the development of manufactures, supported the Tariff Bill of 1816, which laid on certain foreign commodities duties higher than were necessary for the purposes of revenue. He believed that the South would share in the general industrial development, not having perceived as yet that slavery was an insuperable obstacle. His opposition to protection in later years resulted from an honest change of convictions. He always denied that in supporting this bill he had been inconsistent, and insisted that it was one for revenue.

From 1817 to 1825 Calhoun was secretary of war under President Monroe. To him is due the fostering and the reformation of the National Military Academy at West Point, which he found in disorder, but left in a most efficient state. Calhoun was vice-president of the United States from 1825 to 1832, during the administration of John Quincy Adams, and during most of the first administration of Andrew Jackson. This period was for Calhoun a time of reflection. His faith in a strong nationalistic policy was gradually undermined, and he finally became the foremost champion of particularism and the recognized leader of what is generally known as the "States Rights" or "Strict Construction" party.

In 1824 there was a very large increase in protective duties. In 1828 a still higher tariff act, the so-called "Bill of Abominations," was passed, avowedly for the purpose of protection. The passage of these acts caused great discontent, especially among the Southern states, which were strictly agricultural. They felt that the great burden of this increased tariff fell on them, as they consumed, but did not produce, manufactured articles. Under such conditions the Southern states questioned the constitutionality of the imposition. Calhoun himself now perceived that the North and the South represented diverse tendencies. The North was outstripping the South in population and wealth, and already by the tariff acts was, as he believed, selfishly levying taxes for its sole benefit. The minority must, he insisted, be protected from "the tyranny of the majority." In his first important political essay, "The South Carolina Exposition," prepared by him in the summer of 1828, he showed how this should be done. To him it was clear that the Federal Constitution was a limited instrument, by which the sovereign states had delegated to the Federal government certain general powers. The states could not, without violating the constitutional compact, interfere with the activities of the Federal government so long as the government confined itself to its proper sphere; but the attempt of Congress, or any other department of the Federal government, to exercise any power which might alter the nature of the instrument would be an act of usurpation. The right of judging such an infraction belonged to the state, being an attribute of sovereignty of which the state could not be deprived without being reduced to a wholly subordinate condition. As a remedy for such a breach of compact the state might resort to nullification, or, as a last resort, to secession from the Union. Such doctrines were not original with Calhoun, but had been held in various parts of the Union from time to time. It remained for him, however, to submit them to a rigid analysis and reduce them to a logical form.

Meantime the friendship between Calhoun and Jackson had come to an end. While a member of President Monroe's cabinet, Calhoun had favoured the reprimanding of General Jackson for his high-handed course in Florida in 1818, during the first Seminole War. In 1831 W. H. Crawford, who had been a member of this cabinet, desiring to ruin Calhoun politically by turning Jackson's hostility against him, revealed to Jackson what had taken place thirteen years before. Jackson could brook no criticism from one whom he had considered a friend; Calhoun, moreover, angered the president still further by his evident sanction of the social proscription of Mrs Eaton; the political views of the two men, furthermore, were becoming more and more divergent, and the rupture between the two became complete.

The failure of the Jackson administration to reduce the Tariff of 1828 drew from Calhoun his "Address to the People of South Carolina" in 1831, in which he elaborated his views of the nature of the Union as given in the "Exposition." In 1832 a new tariff act was passed, which removed the "abominations" of 1828 but left the principle of protection intact. The people of South Carolina were not satisfied, and Calhoun in a third political tract, in the form of a letter to Governor James Hamilton (1786-1857) of South Carolina, gave his doctrines their final form, but without altering the fundamental principles that have already been stated.

In 1832 South Carolina, acting in substantial accordance with Calhoun's theories, "nullified" the tariff acts passed by Congress in 1828 and 1832. On the 28th of December 1832 Calhoun resigned as vice-president, and on the 3rd of January 1833 took his seat in the Senate. President Jackson had, in a special message, taken strong ground against the action of South Carolina, and a bill was introduced to extend the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States and clothe the president with additional powers, with the avowed object of meeting the situation in South Carolina. Calhoun, in turn, introduced resolutions upholding the doctrine held by South Carolina, and it was in the debate on the first-named measure, termed the "Force Bill," and on these resolutions, that the first intellectual duel took place between Daniel Webster and Calhoun. Webster declared that the Federal government through the Supreme Court was the ultimate expounder and interpreter of its own powers, while Calhoun championed the rights of the individual state under a written contract which reserved to each state its sovereignty.

The practical result of the conflict over the tariff was a compromise. Congress passed an act gradually reducing the duties to a revenue basis, and South Carolina repealed her nullification measures. As the result of the conflict, Calhoun was greatly strengthened in his position as the leader of his party in the South. Southern leaders generally were now beginning to perceive, as Calhoun had already seen, that there was a permanent conflict between the North and the South, not only a divergence of interests between manufacturing and agricultural sections, but an inevitable struggle between free and slave labour. Should enough free states be admitted into the Union to destroy the balance of power, the North would naturally gain a preponderance in the Senate, as it had in the House, and might, within constitutional limits, legislate as it pleased. The Southern minority recognized, therefore, that they must henceforth direct the policy of the government in all questions affecting their peculiar interests, or their section would undergo a social and economic revolution. The Constitution, if strictly interpreted according to Calhoun's views, would secure this control to the minority, and prevent an industrial upheaval.

An element of bitterness was now injected into the struggle. The Northern Abolitionists, to whom no contract or agreement was sacred that involved the continuance of slavery, regarded the clauses in the Federal Constitution which maintained the property rights of the slave-owners as treaties with evil, binding on no one, and bitterly attacked the slave-holders and the South generally. Their attacks may be said to have destroyed the moderate party in that section. Any criticism of their peculiar institution now came to be highly offensive to Southern leaders, and Calhoun, who always took the most advanced stand in behalf of Southern rights urged (but in vain) that the Senate refuse to receive abolitionist petitions. He also advocated the exclusion of abolitionist literature from the mails.

Indeed from 1832 until his death Calhoun may be said to have devoted his life to the protection of Southern interests. He became the exponent, the very embodiment, of an idea. It is a mistake, however, to characterize him as an enemy to the Union. His contention was that its preservation depended on the recognition of the rights guaranteed to the states by the Constitution, and that aggression by one section could only end in disruption. Secession, he contended, was the only final remedy left to the weaker. Calhoun was re-elected to the Senate in 1834 and in 1840, serving until 1843. From 1832 to 1837 he was a man without a party. He attacked the "spoils system" inaugurated by President Jackson, opposed the removal of the government deposits from the Bank of the United States, and in general was a severe critic of Jackson's administration. In this period he usually voted with the Whigs, but in 1837 he went over to the Democrats and supported the "independent treasury" scheme of President Van Buren. He was spoken of for the presidency in 1844, but declined to become a candidate, and was appointed as secretary of state in the cabinet of President Tyler, serving from the 1st of April 1844, throughout the remainder of the term, until the 10th of March 1845. While holding this office he devoted his energies chiefly to the acquisitions of Texas, in order to preserve the equilibrium between the South and the constantly growing North. One of his last acts as secretary of state was to send a despatch, on the 3rd of March 1845, inviting Texas to accept the terms proposed by Congress. Calhoun was once more elected to the Senate in 1845. The period of his subsequent service covered the settlement of the Oregon dispute with Great Britain and the Mexican War. On the 19th of February 1847 he introduced in the Senate a series of resolutions concerning the territory about to be acquired from Mexico, which marked the most advanced stand as yet taken by the pro-slavery party. The purport of these resolutions was to deny to Congress the power to prohibit slavery in the territories and to declare all previous enactments to this effect unconstitutional.

In 1850 the Union seemed in imminent danger of dissolution. California was applying for admission to the Union as a state under a constitution which did not permit slavery. Her admission with two Senators would have placed the slave-holding states in the minority. In the midst of the debate on this application Calhoun died, on the 31st of March 1850, in Washington.

Calhoun is most often compared with Webster and Clay. The three constitute the trio upon whom the attention of students at this period naturally rests. Calhoun possessed neither Webster's brilliant rhetoric nor his easy versatility, but he surpassed him in the ordered method and logical sequence of his mind. He never equalled Clay in the latter's magnetism of impulse and inspiration of affection, but he far surpassed him in clearness and directness and in tenacity of will. He surpassed them both in the distinctness with which he saw results, and in the boldness with which he formulated and followed his conclusions.

Calhoun in person was tall and slender, and in his later years was emaciated. His features were angular and somewhat harsh, but with a striking face and very fine eyes of a brilliant dark blue. To his slaves he was just and kind. He lived the modest, unassuming life of a country planter when at his home, and at Washington lived as unostentatiously as possible, consistent with his public duties and position. His character in other respects was always of stainless integrity.

A son of Walter Carr, and one of a numerous family of brothers and sisters. He was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, on April 15, 1783. He received an academic education and studied the legal profession.

He arrived in St. Louis March 31, 1804, in a keel boat from Louisville, making the passage, as he often used to say, in the "short time of 25 days" one, of the earliest Americans after the transfer. After remaining a month here, he went to Ste. Genevieve, then a larger place than St. Louis, to settle there.

He opened an office, was admitted to the Bar, and commenced the practice of law. A year later discovering his mistake in location, he returned to St. Louis, to settle himself permanently.

In the early history of St. Louis, Judge Carr played a prominent and influential part in the political and social affairs of the place, and was very successful in the management of his pecuniary affairs having acquired a handsome competency. In 1826 he was appointed by Gov'r John Miner to the office of Circuit Judge of the St. Louis Circuit, succeeding Alexander Stuart in the office, which position he held for nearly eight years, resigning it in 1834, and was succeeded in March of that year by Judge Luke E. Lawless.

Judge Carr was twice married, first in Ste. Genevieve Nov’r 17, 1807, to Miss Anna Maria Elliott, daughter of Doct. Aaron Elliott from Connecticut. This lady died August 11, 1826, aged 38 years, leaving three daughters, Anna Maria, Virginia, and Cornelia, who subsequently became the wives of George W. Kerr, Charles Cabanne and Thos. P. Dyer, and one only son, Charles Elliott Carr, who died Sept. 22, 1826, one month after his mother, in his twelfth year.

Judge Carr married his second wife, Miss Dorcas, the third daughter of Silas Bent, Sr., Dec'r 10, 1829, by whom he had five sons, Walter, Dabney, Charles B., Thomas and Robert, and one daughter.

In 1815, Judge Carr built the fifth brick house in St. Louis, and the first one for a dwelling exclusively, at the South east corner of Main and Spruce streets, which still stands, one of the early land marks. Judge Wm. C. Carr died March 31, 1851, aged 68 years, his widow and children then, all surviving him, except the youth who died above.

Note: Laid to rest at Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Lewis Cass was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, October 9, 1782. His parents were of old New England stock. His father had entered the army of the revolution, a private soldier, the day after the battle of Lexington. He left it with the rank of captain, upon its disbandment in 1783.

Lewis was the eldest in a family of five. Until his seventeenth year he received the benefits of the instruction offered by the Exeter Academy, an institution of much prominence. Here many boys who were afterwards men of distinction, were his associates, and among them was Daniel Webster.

Young Cass spent some time as a teacher at Wilmington, Delaware, and later enjoyed short residences at Harper's Ferry and Winchester. In the meantime, the father, Jonathan Cass, had turned his steps toward the valley of the Ohio, which was proving the land of promise to many whom the revolution had left with little more than hope for the future, and consciousness of duties performed.

In 1802, young Lewis became a member of the Marietta bar, he having come to that place with his parents in 1800, and having spent the interim as a student in the office of Governor Meigs. His abilities quickly commanded the attention of his immediate associates, and a rising fame soon spread to distant regions. In 1806 he was made a member of the Ohio legislature. His services here were profitable to his state, and an honor to himself.

Between his service in the state legislature and the opening of the year 1812, Cass had built up a large and lucrative business in his chosen profession. Through connection with cases of much importance, his name had become known to the distant places in his state. When the caII came for men to volunteer in the service of their country, he was one of the first to close his office door and offer himself for the service.

This eventuaIIy brought him to Michigan, with whose interests he was afterwards to be identified. The close of the war of 1812 was a critical time for Michigan, and no better man than Lewis Cass could have been selected to guide its destiny. He was in the fresh vigor of his young manhood. He was honest and patriotic. He had wisdom and culture, and more than aII he knew the people and their lives, and was able to appreciate their adversities and join in their hopes and aspirations. He held their confidence while he lived, and in death he should ever hold our grateful remembrance.

Note: He was the son of Major Jonathan Cass and Molly (Gilman) and married Elizabeth Spencer on 26 May 1806. He died in Detroit, Michigan on 17 Jun 1866.

Governor of Missouri Territory, was born in Virginia August,1770, and died in St. Louis, September 1, 1838. He belonged to an old Virginia family that did much for the West at a critical period in its history. His parents were John Clark and Anne Rogers, who were married in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1749. They had four daughters and six sons. William Clark married Julia Hancock at Fincastle, Virginia, January 5, 1808. Their children were:

1.Meriwether Lewis
2.William Preston
3.Mary Margaret
4.George Rogers Hancock
5.John Julius.

Julia Hancock, first wife of William Clark, died at the family estate of Fotheringay, Virginia, June 27, 1820. Subsequently William Clark married a widow with three children, Mrs. Harriet Kennerly Radford. By this second marriage they had two sons:
1. Jefferson Kearny.
2. Edmund.

Of the above, three of William Clark's sons were married:

Meriwether Lewis Clark married Abigail Churchill. Their children were, William Hancock, who married Camilla Gaylord; Samuel Churchill, Mary Eliza, Meriwether Lewis, who married Mary Martin Anderson (their children being John Henry Churchill, Caroline Anderson and Mary Barbaroux); John O'Fallon, George Rogers,and Charles Jefferson, who married Lena Jacob (their children being Mary Susan, Evelyn Kennerly and Marguerite Vernon).

The second wife of Meriwether Lewis Clark was Julia Davidson.

The next son of William Clark, who married and left descendants, was George Rogers Hancock Clark, who married Eleanor A. Glasgow. Their children were, Julia, who married Robert Stevenson Voorhis (their child being Eleanor Glasgow); Sarah Leonida, John O'Fallon, who married Beatrice Chouteau (their children being Henry Chouteau, Beatrice Chouteau; Carlotta, William Glasglow, Clemence Eleanor, John O'Fallon, Harriet Kennerly and George Rogers); and Ellen Glasgow, who married Willis Edward Lauderdale (their children being Seddie Clark and Walter Clark).

The third son of William Clark that married was Jefferson Kearny Clark, who married Mary Susan Glasgow, the only sister of Eleanor A. Glasgow, they being daughters of WilIiam Glasgow, of Delaware, and Sarah Mitchell, of Fincastle, Virginia.

The Clark family has been illustrious in three States - Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri- and its connection with the history of each is honorable and patriotic. Of the six brothers born in Virginia four bore a prominent part in the Revolution, and when, in the year 1784, the family came to the West, and settled at the falls of the Ohio River on the site of the present city of Louisville, their patriotic name had preceded them and prepared the way for eminence and usefulness among the large number of Virginians; eminent because of their struggles and sacrifices during the Revolution, who sought the glowing West as a field in which ,to begin life anew and with whom Revolutionary service was a sufficient claim on their confidence and support. One of the brothers was General George Rogers Clark, whose daring and difficult expedition for the capture of the posts of Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes forced the British to abandon the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and retire to the northern lakes, and thus secured the West to the United States at a time when neglect and inaction might have made a long and bloody struggle necessary. The subject of this sketch was the youngest of the brothers. He was only fourteen years of age when the family came from Virginia to the fort which his enterprising elder brother, George Rogers Clark, had built at the falls of the Ohio; and it was in the dangers, alarms, expeditions and combats connected with this fort that William Clark received the rugged experience that prepared him for his future historic, military and brilliant career. Life in the West at that time demanded unflinching and daring personal courage, vigilance, prudence and a thorough knowledge of Indian character and habits and these qualities young Clark already possessed in no small degree, when, in 1788, at the age of eighteen years, he was appointed ensign in the United States Army. Four years later, in 1792, he was made lieutenant of infantry, and next promoted to adjutant and quartermaster. In 1796 failing health compelled him to resign his position in the army, and he shortly afterward came to St. Louis, at that time in foreign territory, but recognized by the emigrants from Kentucky and Virginia already moving into the trans-Mississippi region as destined, at no distant day, to become part of the United States. President Jefferson was familiar with the patriotic record and the high qualities of the Clark family, and when, in 1803, the President planned the expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River, he selected William Clark, at that time thirty-three years of age, and in the full vigor of his powers, as the companion of Meriwether Lewis in the conduct of the enterprise. The expedition, composed of Lewis, Clark, nine young men from Kentucky, fourteen regular soldiers, two Canadian voyageurs and a colored servant, started in the spring of 1804, made the journey to the Pacific in November, 1805, and returned, arriving in St. Louis September 23, 1806. This famous expedition accomplished all that President Jefferson expected and much more. It not only gave a great deal of valuable and interesting information about a region before almost unknown, but it made an assertion of United States authority over the great Northwest which forced the Hudson Bay Company, at that time encroaching upon it under British claims, to withdraw and concede the undisputed possession of it to our government. When William Clark, appointed lieutenant of artillery, began his preparations in company with Lewis for the enterprise in 1803, St. Louis was a foreign village, but before the party started, in 1804, the cession treaty had been made and the young officers had the satisfaction of making the journey on the soil of their own country. The return of the expedition, in the fall of 1806, after an absence of two years and a half, was an interesting event in the history of St. Louis, and of national value also, and the record of it is to this day one of the most charming books of travel in existence. In 1807 Clark resigned from the army and was appointed brigadier general for the Territory of Upper Louisiana, and in 1813 was appointed Governor of Missouri Territory by President Madison, holding the office until the State of Missouri was organized, in 1821. In 1822 he was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs in St. Louis, and held the office until his death. Governor Clark was a citizen of St. Louis for forty-one years, and his residence on the corner of Main and Vine Streets was a center of hospitality known far and wide - North, South, East, and especially throughout the West to army officers, travelers, authors and distinguished visitors. He expended a large amount of time and effort in the foundation of an Indian museum, the first collection of Indian weapons and curiosities in the country, and for a long time it was one of the sights in St. Louis which visitors were accustomed to examine. The friendship that existed between Clark and Meriwether Lewis, companions in the famous expedition ever since known by their joint names, was of a chivalrous and romantic character. They were high-bred, accomplished young men, of noble and gentle natures, firm and fearless in the presence of danger and sincere and faithful in their affections. At the beginning of the century their successful exploration marked a brilliant event in history.

In February, 1806, President Jefferson addressed to Congress a communication regarding the discoveries made by Lewis and Clark. This was read in Washington, and afterward the President's message was reprinted in New York and in London.

Many editions have been published of the Lewis and Clark expedition, in America and in England; there appeared an Irish edition in Dublin in 1817, and translations have been made into French, Dutch and German, showing the continued public interest, both national and foreign. Toward the close of the century its vital importance has been emphasized anew in the literary tribute of Dr. Elliott Coues' splendid volumes of "The Lewis and Clark Expedition." This complete and scholarly work was published in 1893 by Francis P. Harper, of New York. It contains a map of North America from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean, made from the original drawing of William Clark, which shows his remarkable power as a draughtsman at that early day.

Dr. Coues writes: "William received his first title or distinction of any sort while yet a mere lad, being made a member of the Society of the Cincinnati on March 1, 1787, before he had completed his seventeenth year. His original certificate of membership is extant; it bears the signatures of George Washington, President, and General Henry Knox, Secretary."

To quote again, Dr. Coues says: "General and Governor Clark was known far and wide to the Indians . . . Probably no officer of the government ever made his personal influence more widely and deeply felt; his superintendency grew to be a sort of lawful autocracy, wielded in the best interests of all concerned, on the strong principle of evenhanded justice; his word became Indian law, from the Mississippi to the Pacific . . . This man was a large factor in the civilization of that great West which Lewis and Clark discovered. It may be said of him, with special pertinence, stat magni nominis umbra - for the explorer stands in the shadow of his own great name as such, obscuring that of the soldier, statesman, diplomat and patriot."

Following His Footsteps: Joshua Pilcher, Successor to William Clark - a blog post by P. Davidson-Peters

A Journey of the Kennerly Diary - A Common Thread Between Clark & Pilcher - a blog post by P. Davidson-Peters

Henry Clay, the son of a Baptist clergyman of respectable standing, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, on the 12th of April, 1777. His father died when young Henry had attained his fifth year, and the care of superintending his education devolved on his widowed mother. She appears to have been a lady of sterling worth, singular intelligence and masculine vigor of intellect.

The boyhood of Henry Clay was furnished with few of those facilities for obtaining a literary education, which are now accessible to almost all. His mind was left to develop its powers and attain its growth through the force of its own innate energies, with but little aid from books or competent instructors. Those rich treasures of intellectual wealth, which are to be found in well selected libraries and properly organized schools, were to him a sealed fountain. The extent of his boyish attainments in literature consisted of the common elements taught in a country school of the most humble pretensions. Even these slender advantages were but sparingly enjoyed, and the future orator and statesman was compelled, by the straitened circumstances of his family, to devote a considerable portion of his time to manual labor in the field. The subsequent brilliant achievements of that master mind derive increased luster from the contemplation of the obstacles thus early interposed to its progress, and no more honorable testimony can be offered to the ardor, energy and invincibility of that towering intellect and imperial spirit, than the severe trials which at this period it encountered and over which it triumphed. It is probable that this early familiarity with the sternest realities of life contributed to give to his mind that strong practical bias, which has subsequently distinguished his career as a statesman; while there can be no doubt that the demands thus continually made upon his energies tended to a quick development of that unyielding strength of character which bears down all opposition, and stamps him as one of the most powerful spirits of the age.

At the age of fourteen he was placed in a small drug store in the city of Richmond, Virginia. He continued in this situation but a few months, and in 1792 entered the office of the clerk of the High Court of Chancery. While in this office he attracted the attention of Chancellor Wythe, who, being very favorably impressed by his amiable deportment, uniform habits of industry, and striking displays of intelligence, honored him with his friendship, and employed him as an amanuensis. It was probably through the advice of Chancellor Wythe that he first conceived the design of studying law, and he has himself borne testimony to the fact, that his intercourse with that great and good man exercised a decided and very salutary influence in the development of his mental powers, and the formation of his character.

In the year 1796, he went to reside with Robert Brooks, Esq., attorney-general of Virginia. While in the family of this gentleman his opportunities for acquiring a knowledge of the profession to which he had determined to devote his life, were greatly improved, and he appears to have cultivated them with exemplary assiduity. The year 1797 seems to have been devoted by Mr. Clay exclusively to the study of his profession. It is worthy of remark that this was the first year in which his necessities permitted him to pursue an uninterrupted system of study, and so eagerly did he avail himself of the privilege, and such was the ardor and vivacity of his mind that near the close of the year he obtained from the Virginia Court of Appeals a license to practice. Of course the acquisitions made in the science of law, in the course of these irregular and broken efforts to master that intricate and complex system, were somewhat desultory and crude, and it is not the least striking evidence of the wonderful resources of Mr. Clay's genius, that he was enabled, notwithstanding these disadvantages, to assume so early in life a high rank in his profession, at a bar distinguished for the number, ability and profound erudition of its members.

When Mr. Clay entered upon the duties of his profession, the Lexington bar was noted for talent, numbering among its members some of the first lawyers that have ever adorned the legal profession in America. He commenced the practice under circumstances somewhat discouraging, and as appears from his own statement, with very moderate expectations. His earliest efforts, however, were attended with complete success; his reputation spread rapidly, and, to use his own language, he "immediately rushed into a lucrative practice." This unusual spectacle, so rare in the legal profession, is to be ascribed mainly to Mr. Clay's skill as an advocate. Gifted by nature with ora to rial genius of a high order, his very youth increased the spell of that potent fascination which his splendid elocution and passionate eloquence threw over the public mind, and led the imagination a willing captive to its power. It was in the conduct of criminal causes, especially, that he achieved his greatest triumphs. The latitucle customary and allowable to an advocate in the defense of his client, the surpassing interest of the questions at issue, presented an occasion and a field which never failed to elicit a blaze of genius, before which. the public stood dazzled and astonished.

A large portion of the litigation at that day in Kentucky grew out of the unsettled tenure by which most of the lands in the country were held. The contests arising out of those conflicting claims had built up a system of land law remarkable for its intricacy and complexity, and having no parallel in the whole range of the law of real property. Adapted to the exigencies of the country and having its origin in the necessities of the times it was still remarkable for its logical consistency and sound principle. Kentucky, at that day, could boast some of the most profound, acute and subtle lawyers in the world.

In 1803 he was elected to represent the County of Fayette in the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. He was re-elected to that body at every session until 1806. The impression made upon his associates must have been of the most favorable character, since, in the latter year, he was elected to the Senate of the United States to serve out the unexpired term of General Adair. He was elected for one session only. During this session Mr. Clay, as a member of the Senate, had occasion to investigate the extent of the power of Congress to promote internal improvements, and the result of his examination was a full conviction that the subject was clearly within the competency of the general government. These views he never changed; and profoundly impressed with the policy of promoting such works, he at the same session gave his cordial support to several measures of that character.

At the close of the session Mr. Clay returned to Kentucky and resumed the practice of his profession. At the ensuing election in August he was returned as the representative from Fayette to the Legislature. When the Legislature assembled he was elected speaker of the house. In this station he was distinguished for the zeal, energy and decision with which he discharged its duties. He continued a member of the Legislature until r809, when he tendered his resignation, and was elected to the Senate of the United States for two years, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Thurston.

The principal matters which came before the Senate during Mr. Clay's second term of service, related to the policy of encouraging domestic manufactures; the law to reduce into possession, and establish the authority of the United States over the territory between the Mississippi and Perdido Rivers, comprehending the present States of Mis?sissippi, Alabama and Florida, and the question of a re-charter of the Bank of the United States.

At the session of 1810-1811 the question of a recharter of the Bank of the United States was brought before the Senate, and became the subject of a debate, noted in our congressional history for its intemperate violence and splendid clisplays of eloquence. On this occasion Mr. Clay was found opposed to the re-charter of the bank, and maintained his views in a speech of great ingenuity and power.

When, at the expiration of the term of service for which he had been elected, Mr. Clay retired from the Senate, he left behind him a character for general ability and sound statesmanship which few men of the same age have ever attained.

In 1811, the same year in which he retired from the Senate, he was elected by the people of the Fayette district to represent them in the House of Representatives of the United States. In 1813 he was re-elected, and continued a member of the House until he was sent to Europe as one of the commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain. During the whole of this period he filled the speaker's chair in the House, having received the high and unusual compliment of being chosen to that responsible station the first day on which he appeared in his seat in Congress.

Mr. Clay consequently presided over the Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses, and participated largely in those measures adopted to vindicate the honor and assert the rights of the country against the usurpations and aggressions of Great Britain. He gave a warm and hearty cooperation in all those efforts that were made to put the country in a state of defense, and contributed as much, if not more, by his sleepless energy and unrivaled eloquence, to infuse a proper spirit into the deliberations of Congress, than any other man. His speeches on the subject of our difficulties with Great Britain exhibit some of the most brilliant specimens of parliamentary eloquence extant, and their effect at the time in arousing the country to a sense of its wrongs, and a determination to redress them, is said to have been unequalled. As strange as it may sound in the ears of the present generation, there was a large and respectable party at that period, both in and out of Congress, which was averse to war with Great Britain, and disposed to submit to almost any outrage rather than distract her efforts to put down the power of Napoleon, then in the midst of his extraordinary career. It was in opposition to what he considered the parricidal efforts of these men that the transcendent genius of the Kentucky statesman displayed its most brilliant, powerful and commanding attributes. He was the life and soul of the war party in Congress - the master spirit around whom all the boldness and chivalry of the nation rallied in that dark hour, when the gloom of despondency hung heavy on every brow, and the generous pride of a free people drooped under the withering sense of the un-avenged insult that had been offered to the national honor. In 1814 he resigned his place in Congress to accept an appointment as commissioner and minister plenipotentiary to Ghent. At this period the control which he had acquired in Congress was unlimited. In the house it was probably equal to that he had obtained a few years before in the Kentucky Legislature.

In 1814, having been appointed in conjunction with Messrs. John Q. Adams, James A. Bayard, Albert Gallatin and Jonathan Russell, a commissioner to meet commissioners appointed on the part of Great Britain, he proceeded to Europe. On the sixth of August the plenipotentiaries of both nations met in the ancient city of Ghent, prepared to proceed to business. The plan of this sketch does not require, nor would it admit, of a detailed account of the negotiations, extending through several months, which finally resulted in a treaty of peace between the two nations. These are to be found related at large in the public histories of the time, and to them we refer the reader for a full knowledge of those transactions. Let it suffice to say that on this, as on all other occasions, Mr. Clay mingled controllingly in the deliberations of his distinguished colleagues, and exercised a very commanding influence over the course of the negotiation. There is, indeed, reason to believe that, but for his firmness and tact, the right to the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi River would have been surrendered for a very inconsiderable equivalent. His colleagues in the negotiation have always borne the most honorable testimony to the ability and comprehensive knowledge displayed by Mr. Clay in those memorable transactions, and he returned to the United States with a reputation materially enhanced.

He found upon his arrival in Kentucky that during his absence he had been nominated by his friends and elected to Congress; but as there arose doubts as to the legality of his election he resigned, and the canvass was opened anew. This resulted as the previous vote, in his being returned by an overwhelming majority. He was re-elected in succession to every Congress that assembled until the session of 1820-21, when he retired to repair the inroads made in his private fortune by his long devotion to public affairs. During this period he was thrice elected speaker of the house, and presided over the deliberations of that body during the whole period which intervened between 1815 and 1821.

On his re-entrance into Congress Mr. Clay was called to defend the treaty, in the formation of which he had participated so largely, against the animadversions of his old enemies, the Federalists. That treaty was made the subject of unbridled criticism by those who had opposed the war, and with the magical astuteness of hatred they discovered objectionable features in every clause. In the course of the discussions which thus arose he had frequent occasion to review the origin, progress and termination of the war, which task he performed with masterly ability, exposing the inconsistently and malignity of his adversaries to deserved odium. He met them at every point, and never failed to make their rancorous virulence recoil on their own heads with tremendous effect.

During the time of this, Mr. Clay's second incumbency in the House of Representatives, many questions were presented for its deliberation of surpassing interest, and closely touching the permanent welfare of the republic. The finances of the country were found to be in a condition of ruinous embarrassment; the nation was deeply involved in debt and the little money left in the country was being continually drained away to pay for foreign importations. It was in this gloomy conjuncture of affairs that the session of 1815-16 opened, and Congress was called to the arduous task of repairing the breeches which thus yawned in the public prosperity. In all those measures recommended by Mr. Madison's administration, with a view to the accomplishment of this end, Mr. Clay heartily co-operated. Among other things, he gave his support to a proposition to reduce the direct tax of the United States. He advocated, as has been already stated, the incorporation of a United States bank.

The recognition of the South American republics by the government of the United States, a measure which was almost entirely attributable to the indefatigable exertions, personal influence and powerful eloquence of Mr. Clay, while it shed lustre on the Monroe administration, surrounded the brow of the great statesman with a halo of true glory which grows brighter with the lapse of time.

At the session of 1816-17 the subject of the Seminole war was brought before Congress, and Mr. Clay, in the course of his speech on that occasion, found it necessary to speak with some severity of the conduct of General Jackson. This was the origin of that inveterate hostility on the part of the old general towards the great Kentuckian, the consequences of which were deeply felt in after years.

The only remaining measure of importance with which Mr. Clay's name is connected in the history of those times, was the great and exciting question which arose on the application of Missouri for admission into the Union. Probably at no period of our history has the horoscope of our country's destiny looked so dark and threatening. The Union was convulsed to its center. An universal alarm pervaded all sections of the country and every class of the community. A disruption of the Confederacy seemed inevitable-civil war, with its attendant horrors, seemed to scowl from every quarter, and the sun of American liberty appeared about to set in a sea of blood. At this conjuncture every eye in the country was turned to Henry Clay. He labored night and day, and such was the excitement of his mind, that he has been heard to declare that if the settlement of the controversy had been suspended three weeks longer, it would have cost him his life. Happy was it for America that he was found equal to the emergency, and that the tempest of desolation which seemed about to burst upon our heads was, through his agency, permitted to pass away harmless. At the close of the session of Congress in 1821, Mr. Clay retired, and resumed the practice of his profession. He did not again enter Congress until 1823.

Upon resuming his seat in Congress at the commencement of the session of 1823-4, Mr. Clay was elected speaker, over Mr. Barbour of Virginia, by a considerable majority. He continued speaker of the House until he entered the cabinet of Mr. Adams, in 1825. During this time, the subject of the tariff again came before Congress, and was advocated by Mr. Clay in one of the most masterly efforts of his life. His speech on the occasion was distinguished for the thorough knowledge of the subject which it displayed; for its broad, comprehensive and statesmanlike views, and for its occasional passages of impressive and thrilling eloquence. He also advocated a resolution, introduced by Mr. Webster, to defray the expenses of a messenger to Greece, at that time engaged against the power of the Turks in an arduous and bloody struggle far independence. A spectacle of this kind never failed to enlist his profoundest sympathies and elicit all the powers of his genius.

Toward the close of the year 1824the question of the Presidency was general1y agitated. As candidates for this office Messrs. J. Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and W. H. Crawford had been brought forward by their respective friends. Mr. Clay had been nominated by the Kentucky Legislature as early as 1822. The people failing to make a choice, the election was thrown into the house. Mr. Clay, being the lowest on the list, was excluded from the house by the constitutional provision, which makes it the duty of Congress to select one of the three highest candidates. His position in the house now became exceedingly delicate as well as important. He had it in his power, by placing himself at the head of the party who went with him in the house, to control its choice of the three candidates before it. When the election came on he cast his vote for Mr. Adams, who thus became President of the United States. This vote of Mr. Clay has been made the subject of much calumny and misrepresentation. At the time it was charged that he had been bought up by the offer of a seat in the cabinet. Efforts were made to produce evidence to this effect, but it was attended by signal failure. The charge was reiterated by General Jackson, the defeated candidate, which led to an investigation of the whole affair. The result of this was the exposure of one of the darkest conspiracies ever formed to ruin the character of an individual. Our limits forbid an attempt to array the evidence on this subject, and we must content ourselves with the remark that there is probably not one man of intelligence now in the Union who gives to the charge of "bargain and corruption" the slightest credit.

During Mr. Adams' administration Mr. Clay occupied a seat in his cabinet as secretary of state. The various official documents prepared by him while in his office are among the best in our archives. While secretary of state he negotiated many treaties with the various foreign powers with whom this country maintained relations, in which he approved himself as superior as a diplomatist, as he had been before unrivaled as a legislator and orator. He was a universal favorite with the foreign ministers, resident at Washington, and contributed much, by his amenity and suavity of deportment, to place the negotiations on a footing most favorable to his own country.

At the expiration of Mr. Adams' term of office Mr. Clay retired to Ashland, his seat near Lexington. He continued engaged in the avocations of his profession until 1831, when he was elected to the Senate of the United States for the term of six years. About the same time in a national convention at Baltimore, he was nominated to the Presidency in opposition to General Jackson.

The subjects brought before the Senate during this term of Mr. Clay's service were of the most important and exciting character. The subjects of the tariff, the United States bank, the public lands, etc., embracing a system of legislative policy of the most comprehensive character and the highest importance, constantly engaged the attention of the country and of Congress. During the period signalized by the agitation of these great questions, probably the most exciting in the political annals of America, no man filled a larger space in the public eye than Mr. Clay. He was the center of a constellation of genius and talent, the most brilliant that has ever lighted this western hemisphere. Although defeated when the election for President came on, that circumstance appeared but to increase the devotion of his friends, and perhaps the star of Henry Clay never blazed with a luster so bright, so powerful and far-pervading as at this moment, when all the elements of opposition, envy, hatred, malice and detraction conglomerated in lawering masses, seemed gathering their forces to extinguish and obscure its light forever.

General Jackson's veto of the bill to re-charter the Bank of the United States, while it clearly indicated the unsparing temper in which this war of parties was to be prosecuted, produced an effect on the financial condition of the country, which resulted in the most disastrous consequences to trade, commerce and business in all its branches. The establishment of the pet bank system but aggravated and hastened the evil, and in those first measures of General Jackson's second term of service were sown the seeds which, at a future day, were reaped in a harvest of woe and desolation. As in 1816, Mr. Clay advocated the re-charter of the bank, and denounced the veto in unmeasured terms. He predicted the consequences which would result from the measure, and subsequent events fully verified his anticipation.

In 1840 General Harrison, the Whig candidate for the Presidency, was elected by one of those tremendous and irresistible popular movements, which are seen in no other country besides this. During the canvass Mr. Clay visited Hanover county, the place of his nativity, and while there addressed an assembly of the people. It was one of the ablest speeches of his life, and contained a masterly exposition of the principles and subjects of controversy between the two parties.

After the election of General Harrison, when Congress assembled, it set itself to work to repair the ravages made in the prosperity and institutions of the country by twelve years of misgovernment. Unfortunately, however, the work had scarcely commenced before death removed the lamented Harrison from the scene of his usefulness, and Mr. Tyler, the Vice-President, succeeded to his place. Then followed, in rapid succession, veto after veto, until all hope of accomplishing the objects for which the Whigs came into power were extinct.

During this period Mr. Clay labored night and day to bring the President into an accommodating temper, but without success. He seemed resolved to sever all connection between himself and the party which brought him into power. He will go down to posterity with the brand of traitor stamped upon his brow, and take his place with the Arnolds of the Revolution.

On the 31st of March, 1842, Mr. Clay executed his long and fondly cherished design of retiring to spend the evening of his days amid the tranquil shades of Ashland. He resigned his seat in the Senate and presented to that body the credentials of his friend and successor, Mr. Crittenden. The scene which ensued was indescribably thrilling. Had the guardian genius of Congress and the nation been about to take his departure deeper feeling could hardly have been manifested than when Mr. Clay arose to address, for the last time, his congressional compeers. All felt that the master spirit was bidding them adieu; that the pride and ornament of the Senate and the glory of the nation was being removed, and all grieved in view of the void that would be created. When Mr. Clay resumed his seat the Senate unanimously adjourned for the day.

In May, 1844, the National Whig Convention nominated Mr. Clay as a candidate for President of the United States. The nominee of the Democratic party was Colonel James K. Polk of Tennessee. The canvass was probably one of the most exciting ever witnessed in this country. In addition to the old issues, a new one was formed on the proposition to annex the Republic of Texas to the American Union. This question, intimately involving the exciting subject of slavery, gave to the Presidential canvass a new character and an unforeseen direction. It would be out of place here, although not without interest and instruction, to trace and analyze the causes which operated to defeat the Whigs. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Polk was made President. Texas became one of the United States. War ensued with Mexico; and the armies of the United States swept the fertile provinces of that sister republic from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the western base of the Rocky Mountains. Governments were abrogated and new ones established in their place by the fiat of subordinate militia officers; and throughout the whole extent of that rich and beautiful region scenes were enacted which carry the mind back to the days of romance, and revive the memory of those tragedies which have crimsoned the pages of European and Asiatic history.

Defeated for the Presidency, with apparently no chance to ever reach that high place, Mr. Clay resolved to remain in private life. He had spent more than forty years in public service. He had nearly lived out the years allotted to man. All the honors his state could bestow had been lavished upon him. He commanded alike the love of his friends and the respect of his foes. During the period of his retirement Ashland, his home, was visited by thousands of persons from all sections of the country, and even from abroad, who came to testify their admiration or esteem for the statesman and the patriot. Now and then he appeared professionally in court, at the solicitation of an old client; but most of his time was devoted to casual visitors, or to the enjoyment of the society of his friends. In 1847 Mr. Clay joined the Protestant Episcopal Church of Lexington thus consummating a purpose he had cherished for years.

A year before the Presidential election of 1848 the two great political parties began preparations for the contest. No one could conjecture who were to be the chiefs of the opposing forces. There were dissensions in the Whig party, and Mr. Van Buren's defection threatened to disrupt the Democracy. He did finally accept the nomination of the "Free Soilers" for the Presidency, which brought disaster on the Democratic party. The Whigs would not unite on Mr. Clay. They had fol1owed his fortunes with singular devotion, but the exigencies of the party were great-so great, indeed, that its dissolution seemed imminent. In the national contests he had often led to defeat - never to victory. They determined to sacrifice him for success, and ventured upon the fatal policy of expediency. General Zachary Taylor, already famous for other achievements in Mexico, had won the battle of Buena Vista against immense odds; and he who before that war was scarcely known beyond army circles became the object of popular adoration. The opponents of Mr. Clay's nomination concentrated on Taylor, who received the nomination of the Whig Convention held in Philadelphia in June, 1848. Mr. Clay, probably, was not surprised at the result, but he was keenly affected by the action of a portion of the Kentucky delegation, who, at a critical moment, abandoned him, and cast their vote for General Taylor. They were accused of treachery by the disappointed and incensed adherents of Mr. Clay, who himself believed that he was betrayed. The occurrence led to a temporary alienation of friendship between Mr. Clay and a lifetime friend who had been one of the chief actors. but Mr. Clay's resentment was of brief duration, for they met subsequently with the usual cordial greeting.

Mr. Clay was married in 1799 to Lucretia, daughter of Colonel Hart of Lexington, Kentucky, with whom he lived happily for fifty-three years.

Hon. John D. Daggett was born on Dec'r 4, 1793, at Attleborough, Mass., and in his early youth learnt the trade of a Machinist.

In 1815 he worked for a short time in Philadelphia at lock making, and in 1816 for a short time at Pittsburgh. In 1817 he came west in the employ of Reuben Neal, a Tin and Coppersmith, of Pittsburgh, to St. Louis, where he arrived in October of that year, and had charge of Mr. Neal's business for a period of three years.

In 1821, he was associated with Peter Haldeman in commission business; 1823 commenced a retail dry-goods business alone, in which he was engaged for some years.

In 1827, he was elected an Alderman of the City Government. In 1838, appointed Street Commissioner. In 1839, he obtained a Charter for the St. Louis Gas Light Company, of which he was one of the originators, and became its President in 1842, which position he held until 1849. In 1841, he was elected Mayor of the City. In 1850, President of the Sectional Dock Company, whose affairs he managed for 24 years, until his death in 1874.

He was generally successful in his various enterprises, until the latter portion of his life, when reverses overtook him in old age, after many years of usefulness.

Mr. Daggett was married in February, 1821, in St. Louis, to Miss Sarah, daughter of Mr. Samuel Sparks, of Maine. They were the parents of numerous posterity, raising seven daughters to become married ladies, and two sons, William and James.

Mr. Daggett died May 9, 1874, in his 81st year, and his widow but very recently.

Additional Notes from pdp: Buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery; Daggett Street named in his honor; great(2)-grandfather of Eldred “Gregory” Peck, the American actor and film star who won an Academy Award for his performance in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Rufus Easton was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1774. In 1803-4 he was in Washington City. In 1804 he came to St. Louis and was appointed by the Rufus Easton President a judge of the Territory of Upper Louisiana. From 1805 to 1814 he was postmaster of St. Louis, being the first to be appointed after the transfer.

In 1814 and 1816 he was a delegate to Congress. In 1821 he was appointed by President Monroe attorney general of Missouri. He died at St. Charles in 1834. His wife was Miss Smith, of New York, and their eldest daughter, Mary, married George C. Sibley and in 1830 they started the school at St. Charles, afterwards so well known as Lindenwood College. Rufus Easton's second daughter, Jemima, married first Dr. P .Quarles. Her second husband was Henry S. Geyer, U. S. Senator. Louisa Easton married Archibald Gamble, brother of Governor Hamilton R. Gamble. Russella Easton married Thomas L. Anderson, member of Congress from Missouri. Alton R., son of Rufus Easton, commanded the St. Louis Legion of the Mexican War. He led a long and honorable life in St. Louis. Easton avenue was named after him.

American statesman, was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on the 17th of July 1744, the son of Thomas Gerry (d. 1774), a native of Newton, England, who emigrated to America in 1730, and became a prosperous Marblehead merchant. The son graduated at Harvard in 1762 and entered his father's business. In 1772 and 1773 he was a member of the Massachusetts General Court, in which he identified himself with Samuel Adams and the patriot party, and in 1773 he served on the Committee of Correspondence, which became one of the great instruments of intercolonial resistance. In 1774-1775 he was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. The passage of a bill proposed by him (November 1775) to arm and equip ships to prey upon British commerce, and for the establishment of a prize court, was, according to his biographer, Austin, " the first actual avowal of offensive hostility against the mother country, which is to be found in the annals of the Revolution." It is also noteworthy, says Austin, as " the first effort to establish an American naval armament."

From 1776 to 1781 Gerry was a member of the Continental Congress, where he early advocated independence, and was one of those who signed the Declaration after its formal signing on the 2nd of August 1776, at which time he was absent. He was active in debates and committee work, and for some time held the chairmanship of the important standing committee for the superintendence of the treasury, in which capacity he exercised a predominating influence on congressional expenditures. In February 1780 he withdrew from Congress because of its refusal to respond to his call for the yeas and nays. Subsequently he laid his protest before the Massachusetts General Court which voted its approval of his action. On his return to Massachusetts, and while he was still a member of Congress, he was elected under the new state constitution (1780) to both branches of the state legislature, but accepted only his election to the House of Representatives. On the expiration of his congressional term, he was again chosen a delegate by the Massachusetts legislature, but it was not until 1783 that he resumed his seat. During the second period of his service in Congress, which lasted until 1785, he was a member of the committee to consider the treaty of peace with Great Britain, and chairman of two committees appointed to select a permanent seat of government. In 1784 he bitterly attacked the establishment of the order of the Cincinnati on the ground that it was a dangerous menace to democratic institutions. In 1786 he served in the state House of Representatives. Not favouring the creation of a strong national government he declined to attend the Annapolis Convention in 1786, but in the following year, when the assembling of the Constitutional Convention was an assured fact, although he opposed the purpose for which it was called, he accepted an appointment as one of the Massachusetts delegates, with the idea that he might personally help to check too strong a tendency toward centralization. His exertions in the convention were ceaseless in opposition to what he believed to be the wholly undemocratic character of the instrument, and eventually he refused to sign the completed constitution.

Returning to Massachusetts, he spoke and wrote in opposition to its ratification, and although not a member of the convention called to pass upon it, he laid before this convention, by request, his reasons for opposing it, among them being that the constitution contained no bill of rights, that the executive would unduly influence the legislative branch of the government, and that the judiciary would be oppressive. Subsequently he served as an Anti-Federalist in the national House of Representatives in 1789- 1793, taking, as always, a prominent part in debates and other legislative concerns. In 1797 he was sent by President John Adams, together with John Marshall and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, on a mission to France to obtain from the government of the Directory a treaty embodying a settlement of several long-standing disputes. The discourteous and underhanded treatment of this embassy by Talleyrand and his agents, who attempted to obtain their ends by bribery, threats and duplicity, resulted in the speedy retirement of Marshall and Pinckney. The episode is known in American history as the " X Y Z Affair."

Gerry, although despairing of any good results, remained in Paris for some time in the vain hope that Talleyrand might offer to a known friend of France terms that had been refused to envoys whose anti-French views were more than suspected. This action of Gerry's brought down upon him from Federalist partisans a storm of abuse and censure, from which he never wholly cleared himself. In 1810-1812 he was governor of Massachusetts. His administration, which was marked by extreme partisanship, was especially notable for the enactment of a law by which the state was divided into new senatorial districts in such a manner as to consolidate the Federalist vote in a few districts, thus giving the Democratic-Republicans an undue advantage. The outline of one of these districts, which was thought to resemble a salamander, gave rise in 1812, through a popular application of the governor's name, to the term " Gerrymander " (q.v.).

In 1812, Gerry, who was an ardent advocate of the war with Great Britain, was elected vice-president of the United States, on the ticket with James Madison. He died in office at Washington on the 23rd of November 1814. See J. T. Austin, Life of Elbridge Gerry, with Contemporary Letters (2 vols., Boston, 1828-1829).

By act of Congress approved June 4, 1813, the name of the territory of Louisiana was changed to that of the territory of Missouri, and at an election held on the second Monday in November of that year the subject of this sketch was elected as the first delegate to Congress from the territory.

He was born in New London, Connecticut, on June 3, 1770*, over a century ago, and came to the territory of Louisiana as early as 1804, traveling all the way on horseback.

At that period the facilities for traveling were very limited indeed, almost confined to horseback. There were no steamboats plying the western waters, and no stage routes west of the Alleghany Mountains. It is true that now and then the traveler, after reaching the Ohio River, would take passage on a flat-boat, but as a general thing he relied upon his horse - traveling weeks and months without shelter, and exposed to all the dangers and privations that a new and almost unexplored region subjected him to. When night overtook him, his place of rest was upon the bare ground, with his blanket around him and his saddle for a pillow, first having hobbled his horse and turned him loose to graze upon the shrubs and grass. Such were the facilities offered Mr. Hempstead to reach the Father of Waters.

Mr. Hempstead received a classical education, and was admitted to the bar in 1801 ; and after practicing three years in Rhode Island, came West, remaining a brief period in Vincennes, then in the territory of Indiana, and settled in the town of St. Charles, from whence he removed, in 1805, to St. Louis, where he resided till his death.

Mr. Hempstead filled many public positions, with great credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the government. In 1806 he received the appointment of deputy attorney-general for the District of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in 1809 became attorney-general for the territory of Upper Louisiana, which office he filled till 1811. He was also the first delegate to Congress from the western side of the Mississippi River, and represented Missouri Territory from 1811 to 1814, and afterwards became speaker of the Territorial Assembly. It will be thus seen that almost his entire professional life was spent during the territorial government, having died four years prior to the admission of Missouri as a state. There are a few still living who remember him well, and who delight to dwell upon his virtues and his talents.

Mr. Hempstead died in St. Louis in August, 1817, and though it was seldom that an obituary notice appeared in the press, we find the following in the Missouri Gazette of August 16,1817: "Died, on Saturday night last, of a short illness, Edward Hempstead, Esq., counselor and attorney at law, and formerly a delegate from this territory to Congress. In the dear relation of husband, son, and brother, the deceased is believed to have fully acted up to his duty. The sorrow of his widow and relations offered the most eloquent expression of his domestic worth. On Monday the corpse of the deceased was attended to the place of interment (at the plantation of his father, Stephen Hempstead, Esq.) by no greater number of respectable citizens than we have ever witnessed here on a similar occasion."

As a lawyer, Mr. Hempstead was more profound than brilliant, and no one at the bar excelled him in the knowledge of the laws and regulations of the territory. He made a good delegate in Congress, and served his constituents most faithfully.

Note: Most biographical information on Edward Hempstead, including the Biographical Directory of United States Congress state his year of birth as 1780.

John Hogan, clergyman and early politician, was born in the city of Mallow, County of Cork, Ireland, Jan. 2, 1805; brought in childhood to Baltimore, Md., and having been left an orphan at eight years of age, learned the trade of a shoemaker. In 1826 he became an itinerant Methodist preacher, and, coming west the same year, preached at various points in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. In 1830 he was married to Miss Mary Mitchell West, of Belleville, Ill., and soon after, having retired from the itinerancy, engaged in mercantile business at Edwardsville and Alton. In 1836 he was elected Representative in the Tenth General Assembly from Madison County, two years later was appointed a Commissioner of Public Works and, being re-elected in 1840, was made President of the Board; in 1841 was appointed by President Harrison Register of the Land Office at Dixon, where he remained until 1845. During the anti-slavery excitement which attended the assassination of Elijah P. Lovejoy in 1837, he was a resident of Alton and was regarded by the friends of Lovejoy as favoring the pro-slavery faction.

After retiring from the Land Office at Dixon, he removed to St. Louis, where he engaged in the wholesale grocery business. In his early political life he was a Whig, but later co-operated with the Democratic party; in 1857 he was appointed by President Buchanan Postmaster of the city of St. Louis, serving until the accession of Lincoln in 1861; in 1864 was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-ninth Congress, serving two years. He was also a delegate to the National Union (Democratic) Convention at Philadelphia in 1866. After his retirement from the Methodist itinerancy he continued to officiate as a "local" preacher and was esteemed a speaker of unusual eloquence and ability. His death occurred, Feb. 5, 1892. He is author of several volumes including "The Resources of Missouri," Commerce and Manufacturers of St. Louis," and a "History of Methodism."

Note: His 2nd marriage was to Harriet Garner on 18 May 1847, daughter of Joseph V. Garnier and Marie (Sanguinet). He was laid to rest at Bellefontaine Cemetery, his obituary appearing in The New York Times. (See additional biography)

Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, was born in Waxhaw 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 settlement, 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 ungainly; and there was but very little in his character, made visible, which was attractive.

When only thirteen years old he joined the volunteers 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 blow at the head of the helpless young prisoner. Andrew raised his hand, and thus received two fearful 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 received 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 1791, 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 occurrence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr. Jackson into disfavor.

During these years he worked hard at his profession, and frequently had one or more duels on hand, one of which, when he killed Dickenson, was especially disgraceful.

In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then containing nearly eighty thousand inhabitants, the people met in convention at Knoxville to frame a constitution. 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 Jackson was chosen that member. Mounting his horse he rode to Philadelphia, where Congress then held its sessions, - a distance of about eight hundred miles.

Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Democratic 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 administration 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 Britain commenced, 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 conferred 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 attack 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 several 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 comfort 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 settlers, were committing the most awful ravages. Decisive 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 assistance, 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 center of Alabama, about fifty miles below Fort Strother. With an army of two thousand men, Gen. Jackson traversed the pathless wilderness in a inarch 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 breastwork of logs and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, with an ample supply of arms were assembled.

The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly desperate. Not an Indian would accept of quarter. When bleeding and dying, they would fight those who endeavored to spare their lives. From ten in the morning 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 warriors 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 its terrific 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 concentrate 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 which 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 British 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 mentioned 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 rnemorable in the annals of our country; applauded by one 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. Jackson's life were that of a devoted Christian man.

William Carr Lane was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1789, and died in St. Louis January 6, 1863. He was liberally educated at Jefferson College and Dickinson College, in his native State, and after studying, medicine at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1811, and serving for a time as surgeon's mate at Fort Harrison, attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1816 he was appointed post surgeon at Fort Harrison. In 1819 he came to St. Louis and made it his home, practicing his profession for many years in partnership with Dr. Samuel Merry.

When St. Louis was given a city charter, in 1823, he was chosen the first mayor, and was re-elected five times in succession1823 to 1829 and after an interval of nine years elected to the office again three times in succession - a record of municipal honor without a parallel in the history of St. Louis. It was due to his noble presence, his popular manners, his high honor, and his active and earnest public spirit.

In 1852 he was appointed by President Fillmore Governor of New Mexico. Dr. Lane was married, in 1818, to Miss Mary Ewing, daughter of Nathaniel Ewing. They had three children.

Note: Laid to rest at Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis.

“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 connected with most the important events in that heroic period of our country during which the foundations of the 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 Chesapeake but 15 years after the settlement of Jamestown. The father of James Madison was an opulent planter, residing upon a very fine estate called “Montpelier,” Orange Co., Va. The mansion was situated in the midst of scenery highly picturesque 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 imprudent 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 subsequent career.

Returning to Virginia, he commended to 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 associated, all combined to inspire him with a strong love of liberty, and to train him for his life-work of 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 attention 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 (1777), 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 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 congress, 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 national 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 commissioners 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 State to send their delegates to Philadelphia, in may, 1787, to draft the 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 was represented. George Washington was chosen president of the convention; and the present Constitution of the United States was then and there formed. There was perhaps, no mind and no pen more active in the framing this immortal document than the mind and the pen of James Madison.

The Constitution, adopted by a vote of 81 to 79, was to be presented to the several States for acceptance. But the 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 convention to draw upon 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 Representatives 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 the encroachment of England had brought us to the verge of war. British orders in council destroyed 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 nonchalance 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 impressments, no efforts of our Government could induce the British cabinet to relinquish.

On the 18th 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 part to the war, the country in general approved; and mr. Madison, on the 4th of march, 1813, was 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 water. Our infant navy then laid the foundations of its renown in grappling with the most formidable power which ever swept the seas. The contest commended 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 mediator. America accepted; England refused. A British force of five thousand men landed on the banks of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into Chesapeake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladensburg, 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 door 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 ware closed after to years of fighting, and on Feb. 13, 1815, the treat 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 beautiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the remainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, then at the age of 85 years, he feel asleep in death. Mrs. Madison died July 12, 1849. (Connecticut Observer Obituary)

Meredith Miles, seventh governor of Missouri (1845), was born in Westmoreland county, Va., Aug. 23, 1791, son of Vincent and Sarah (Porter) Marmaduke. He received a common school education and began his life work as a civil engineer.

At twenty-two years of age he was commissioned colonel of a regiment organized in his county for frontier defense during the war of 1812, and at the close of the war he was appointed U. S. marshal for the eastern district of Virginia. After serving several years in this office he was elected clerk of the circuit court.

In 1821 he removed to Missouri to benefit his health, and for six years engaged in trade between Franklin and Santa Fe'. In 1830 he settled as a farmer near Arrow Rock, Mo., where he was successful in operating an extensive tract. He organized the first state fair and served as its president. He was surveyor of Saline county and was also county judge.

He was elected lieutenant-governor of Missouri in 1840, and by the death of Gov. Thomas Reynolds in 1844 was advanced to the executive chair, his term expiring Nov. 20th of that year. In 1847 he was chosen a member of the state constitutional convention.

He remained a staunch Unionist, though never entirely indorsing the extreme measures of the Federal authorities. Gov. Marmaduke was married to Levinia, daughter of Dr. John Sappington, and had seven sons and three daughters. He died near Arrow Rock. Mo., Mar. 26. 1804.

Judge Henry Vanderburgh was worthy the honor conferred upon his memory, but he was in no way identified with the formation of the county. He had no interests in lands in this locality and no claim of a local nature upon the people here. He was born in Troy, N.Y., in 1760, and at the early age of sixteen was appointed a lieutenant in the Fifth New York Regiment Continental troops, to rank as such from the 21st day of November, 1776. His commission was signed by John Jay, afterward chief justice of the United States, and then president of the Continental congress, sitting at Philadelphia. He was re-appointed by John Hancock, and subsequently being commissioned captain in the Second regiment, served with honor to himself and credit to his country until the close of the ware in 1783.

The exact time of his coming to the then Northwest territory is not known, but probably it was in 1788, for in February, 1790, he was married in Vincennes to Frances Cornoyer, the daughter of Pierre Cornoyer, one of the most respected of the ancient inhabitants of Port Vincennes, then largely engaged in the Indian trade.

In 1791 he was appointed by Gen. Arthur St. Clair, then the commander in chief and governor of the Northwest territory, justice of the peace and judge of probate for Knox county. The first legislature which the people of the Northwest territory had any part in electing met at Cincinnati in 1799. From the nominations made by the representatives, Judge Vanderburgh was selected by Gov. St. Clair as one of the five who constituted the legislative council, and by his colleagues in the council he was chosen as their president. Upon the organization of Indiana territory suitable recognition was given his ability as a lawyer in his selection as one of the territorial judges, which honorable position he filled with credit to himself and the territory until his death in 1812.

Interested in the education affairs of the territory, he became in 1807 a member of the first board of trustees of the Vincennes University. As a scholar and soldier he was eminent. He sustained the reputation of an upright and humane judge, and his death, which occurred April 12, 1812, was generally regretted. He was buried with imposing Masonic honors on a farm east of Vincennes.

Note* - Revolutionary War Pension Records of Henry W. Vanderburgh, file No. W.9751 lists his date of birth as 12 Jun 1759.
For further info on Judge Vanderburgh's ancestors & descendants visit Bill Power's Vanderburgh website which is well-documented with many sources.

Updated 28 Sep 2012
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