USA > Missouri > Carroll County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 3
USA > Missouri > Chariton County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 3
USA > Missouri > Clay County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 3
USA > Missouri > Linn County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 3
USA > Missouri > Ray County > Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 3
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In this school of incessant labor and of enobling culture he spent fourteen months, and then refined 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.
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in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father i: Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintance 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 lofties' temyer -! themes which can engross the human mind. After a short visit to England he returned to Paris, and consecrated all his energies to study until May, 1785, when he returned to America. To a brilliant young man of eighteen, who had seen much of the world. and who was familiar with the etiquette of courts, a residence with his father in London, under such ci :- cumstances, must have been extremely attractive but with judgment very rare in one of his age, he pre- ferred to return to America to complete his education in an American college. He wished then to study law, that with an honorable profession, he might be able to obtain an independent support.
Upon leaving Harvard College, at the age of twenty he studied law for three years. In June, :794, be- ing then but twenty-seven years of age, he was ap- pointed by Washington, resident minister at the Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached London in October, where he was immediately admit- ted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay and Pinckney assisting them in negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Britian. After thus spending a fortnight i. London, he proceeded to the Hague.
In July, 179;, he left the Hague to go to Portuga' a? minister plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal upon arriving in London, he met with despatches directing him to the court of Betiin, but requesting him to remain in London until he should receive his instructions. While waiting he was married to a: American lady to whom he had been previoush en- gaged,-Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson. daug!te: of Mr. Joshua Johnson. American consul in London a lady endownd with that beauty and those wccom. plishment which eminently fitted her to move in tid elevated sphere for which she was das iced
40
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
He reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797 ; where he remained until July, 1799, when, having ful- filled all the purposes of his mission, he solicited his recall.
Scon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to the Senate of Massachusetts, from Boston, and then was elected Senator of the United States for six years, from the 4th of March, 1804. His reputation, his ability and his experience, placed him immediately among the most prominent and influential members of that body. Especially did he sustain the Govern- ment in its measures of resistance to the encroach- ments of England, destroying our commerce and in- sulting our flag. There was no man in America more familiar with the arrogance of the British court upon these points, and no one more resolved to present a firm resistance.
In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the Pres- idential chair, and he immediately nominated John Quincy Adams minister to St. Petersburg. Resign- ing his professorship in Harvard College, he embarked at Boston, in August, 18og.
While in Russia. Mr. Adams was an intense stu- dent. He devoted his attention to the language and history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; to the European system of weights, measures, and coins ; to the climate and astronomical observations ; while he kept up a familiar acquaintance with the Greek and Latin classics. In all the universities of Europe, a more accomplished scholar could scarcely be found. All through life the Bible constituted an importart part of his studies. It was his rule to read five chapters every day.
On the 4th of March, 1817. Mr. Monroe took the Presidential chair, and immediately appointed Mr. Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of his num- erous friends in public and private life in Europe, he sailed in Jane, 1819, for the United States. On the 1 8th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Mon- roe's administration, Mr Adams continued Secretary of State.
Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's second term of office, new candidates began to be presented for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. Adams brought forward his name. It was an exciting campaign. Party spirit was never more bitter. Two hundred and sixty electoral votes were cast. Andrew Jackson re- ceived ninety-nine; John Quincy Adams, eighty-four; William H. Crawford, forty-one; Henry Clay, thirty- seven. As there was no choice by the people, the question went to the House of Representatives. Mr. Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. Adams, and he was elected.
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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 th high-minded. upright, patriotic man. There never w ... an administration more pure in principles, more con .- scientiously devoted to the best interests of the co in- try, than that of John Quincy Adams; and never, per- haps, was there an administration more unscrupu. lously and outrageously assailed.
Mr Adams was, to a very remarkable degree, al- stemious and temperate in his habits; always risi :.. early, and taking much exercise. When at his home 1 .. Quincy, he has been known to walk, before breakfast. seven miles to Boston. In Washington, it was saic that he was the first man up in the city, lighting his own fire and applying himself to work in his library often long before dawn.
On the 4th of March, 1820, Mr. Adams retired from the Presidency, and was succeeded by Andrew Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected Vice Pre -:- dent. The slavery question now began to assume portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams returned to Quincy and to his studies, which he pursued with un- abated zeal. But he was not long permitted to re- main in retirement. 1. November 1830. he w. : elected representative to Congress. For seventeen. years, until his death, he occupied the post as repre- sentative, 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 him- self bound to no party. Probably there never was a member more devoted to his duties. Ile was usually the first in his place in the morning, and the last 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, agains- the proslavery party in the Government, was sublime in its moral daring and heroism. For persisting i. 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 i. his infant years.
On the 21st of February, IS48, he rose on the flower of Congress, with a paper in his hand, to address :. . speaker. Suddenly he fell, again stricken by parsh sis, and was caught in the arms of those around him For a time he was senseless, as he was conveyed o the sofa in the rotunda. With reviving conscio s. ness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly fromd and said " This is the end of earth :"then after a moment'" pause he added, "I am content" There were the last words of the grand " Old Man Bloques.
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AndrewJackson
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SEVENTH PRESIDENT.
ANDREW
JACKSON.
NDREW 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 set- tlement, where they lived in deepest poverty
Andrew, or Andy, as he was universally called, grew up a very rough, rude, turbulent boy. His features were coarse, his form un- gainly; and there was but very little in his character, made visible, which was at- tractive.
When only thirteen years old he joined the volun- teers of Carolina against the British invasion. In 1781, he and his brother Robert were captured and imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British officer ordered him to brush his mud-spattered boots. " I am a prisoner of war, not your servant," was the reply of the dauntless boy.
The brute drew his sword, and aimed a desperate blow at the head of the helpless young prisoner. Andrew raised his hand, and thus received two fear- ful gashes,-one on the hand and the other upon the head. The officer then turned to his brother Robert with the same demand. He also refused, and re- ceived a blow from the keen-edged sabre, which quite disabled him, and which probably soon after caused his death. They suffered much other ill-treatment, and were finally stricken with the small-pox. Their mother was successful in obtaining their exchange, |
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and took her sick boys home. After a long illn s: Andrew recovered, and the death of his mother soon left him entirely friendless.
Andrew supported himself in various ways, sich 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 witn 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 occur- rence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr Jackson into disfavor.
During these years he worked hard at his profes sion, and frequently had one or more duels on hand. one of which, when he killed Dickenson, was espec- ially disgraceful.
In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then containing nearly cighty thousand inhabitants, the people met in convention at Knoxville to frame a con- stitution. Five were sent from each of the elev i. counties. Andrew Jackson was one of the delegates The new State was entitled to but one memler is the National House of Representatives. Andrew Junck- son was chosen that member. Mounting his horse he rode to Philedelphia, where Congress then Feld its
44
ANDREW JACKSON.
sessions,-a distance of about eight hundred miles. Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- cratic party. Jefferson was hi, 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, mhim and patriotic."
Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned home. Soon after he was chosen Judge of the Supreme Court of his State, which position he held for six years.
When the war of 1812 with Great Britian com- menced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair. Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there was an unknown man in the West. Andrew Jackson, who would do credit to a commission if one were con- ferred upon him. Just at that time Gen. Jackson offered his services and those of twenty-five hundred volunteers. His offer was accepted, and the troops were assembled at Nashville.
As the British were hourly expected to make an at- tack upo: New Orleans, where Gen. Wilkinson was in command, he was ordered to descend the river with fifteen hundred troops to aid Wilkinson. The expedition reached Natchez ; and after a delay of sev eral weeks there, without accomplishing anything. the men were ordered back to their homes. But the energy Gen. Jackson had displayed, and his entire devotion to the 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 set- ters, were committing the most awful ravages. De- cisive action became necessary. Gen. Jackson, with his fractured bone just beginning to heal, his arm in a sling, and unable to mount his horse without assis- tance, gave his amazing energies to the raising of an army to rendezvons at Favettesville, Alabama.
The Creek Indians had establishedl a strong fore on one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River, near the cen- ter of Alabama, about fifty miles below Fout Strother. With an army of two thousand men. tien. Jackson traversed the pathless wilderness in a march of eleven -- days. He reached their fort, called Telupeka or Horse-shoe, on the 27th of March. 1814. The bend !
of the river enclosed nearly one hundred acres of tangled forest and wild ravine. Across the narrow neck the Indians had constructed a formidable breast- work of logs and brush. Here nine hundred warriors. with an ample suply of arms were assembled.
The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly des- perate. Not an Indian would accept of quarter. When. bleeding and dying, they would fight those who et .- deavored to spare their lives. From ten in the morn- ing until dark, the battle raged. The carnage was awial and revolting. Some threw themselves into the river; but the unerring bullet struck their heads as they swam. Nearly every one of the nine hundred war- rios were killed A few probably, in the night, swam the river and escaped. This ended the war. The power of the Creeks was broken.forever. This lold plunge into the wilderness, with its terriffic slinghter. so appalled the savages, that the haggard remnants of the bands came to the camp, begging for peace.
This closing of the Creek war enabled us to con -. centrate all our militia upon the British, who were the allies of the Indians No man of less resolute will than. Gen. Jackson could hive conducted this Is.fr 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 ensted, was in reality a very arduous campaign. This wor. for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name. Ilere his troops, which numbered about four thousand mer. won a signal victory over the British amix 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 mer .. tioned in connection with the Presidency . but. in 1824. he was defeated by Mr. Adams. He was. however, successful in the election of t828, 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 memorable 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 l'me 8. 1815. The last years of Mr. Ich- son's life were that of : devoted Christian man.
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EIGHTH PRESIDENT.
MARTIN VAN BUREN.
eighth President of che United States, was born at Kinderhook, N. Y., Dec. 5, 1782. He died at the same plice, July 24, 1862. Ilis body rests in the cemetery at Kinderhook. Above it is a plain granite shaft fifteen feet high, bearing a simple inscription about half way up on one . face. The lot is unfenced, unbordered or unbounded by shrub or flower.
There is out little in the life of Martin Van Buren of romantic interest. He fought no battles, engaged in no wild adventures. Though his life was stormy in political and intellectual conflicts, and he gained many signal victories, his days passed uneventful in those incidents which give zest to biography. His an- cestors, as his name indicates, were of Dutch origin, and were among the earliest emigrants from Holland to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a farmer, residing in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, also of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel- ligence and exemplary piety.
.fe was decidedly a precocious boy, developing un- usual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At the age of fourteen, he had finished hi, academic studies in his native village, and commenced the study of law. As he had not a collegiate education, seven years of study in a law-office were required of him before he could be admitted to the bar. Inspired with ¿ lofty ambition, and conscious of his powers, he pur- sted his studies with indeftigalle industry. After spending six years in an office in his native village,
1 ARTIN VAN BUREN, the | he went to the city of New York, and prosecuted his studies for the seventh year.
In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty-one years of age, commenced the practice of law in his native vil- lage. The great conflict between the Fed val at ! Republican party was then at its height. Mr. Van Buren was from the beginning a politician. He had, perhaps, imbibed that spirit while listening to the many discussions which had been carried on in his father's hotel. Ile was in cordial sympathy with Jefferson, and earnestly and eloquently espoused the cause of State Rights; though at that time the Fed- eral party held the supremacy both in his towa and State
His success and increasing ruputation led him after six years of practice, to remove to Hudson, th. county seat of his county. Here he spent seven year- constantly gaining strength by contending in the courts with some of the ablest men who have adorned the bar of his State.
Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hadson. M.1. Van Buren married a Lady alike distinguished for beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short years she sank into the grave, the victim of consun.[ :- tion, leaving her husband and four sons to weep over her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. Van Baren wa . an earnest, successful, assiduous lawyer. Therewere of those years is barren in items of public interest. In 1812, when thirty years of age, he was chosen to the State Senate, and gave his strenuous enppert to Mr. Madison's adminstration. In 1815, he w.s ar- pointed Attorney-General, and the next year moved to Albany. the capital of the State.
While he was acknowledged in one of the most prominent leaders of the Democratic party, he liad
48
MARTIN VAN BUREN.
the nioral courage to avow that true democracy did not require that " universal suffrage" which admits the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the right of governing the State. In true consistency with his democratic principles, he contended that, while the path leading to the privilege of voting should be open to every man without distinction, no one should be invested with that sacred prerogative, unless he were in some degree qualified for it by intelligence, virtue and some property interests in the welfare of the Etate.
In 1821 he was elected :. member of the United States Senate; and in the same year, he took a seat m the convention to revise the constitution of his native State. His course in this convention secured the approval of men of all parties. No one could doubt the singleness of his endeavors to promote the interests of all classes in the community. In the Senate of the United States, he rose at once to a conspicno.is position as an active and useful legislator.
In 1827, John Quincy Adams beirg then in the Presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected to the Senate. He had been from the beginning a de- termined opposer of the Administration, adopting the 'State Rights" view in opposition to what was deemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams.
Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen Governor of the State of New York, and accordingly resigned his seat in the Senate. Probably no one in the United States contributed so much towards ejecting John Q. Adams from the Presidential chair, and placing in it Andrew Jackson, as did Martin Van Buren. Whether entitled to the reputation or not, he certainly was re- garded throughout the United States as one of the most skillful, sagacious and cunning of politicians It was supposed that no one knew so well as he how to touch the secret springs of action; how to pull all the wires to put his machinery in motion ; and how to organize a political army which would, secredy and stealthily accomplish the most gigantic results. By these powers it is said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and secured results which few thought then could be accomplished.
When Andrew Jackson was elected President he appointed Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. This position he resigned in 1831, and was immediately appointed Minister to England, where he went the same autumn. The Senate, however, when it met. refused to ratify the nomination, and he returned . experienced amid the stormy scenes of his active life.
home, apparently untroubled; was nominated Vice President in the place of Calhoun, at the re-elect.on of President Jackson; and with smiles for all and frowns for none, he took his place at the head of that Senate which had refused to confirm his nomination as ambassador.
His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal of President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated favor- ite; and this, probably more than any other cause secured his elevation to the chair of the Chief Execu tive. On the 20th of May, 1836, Mr. Van Buren re- ceived the Democratic nomination to succeed Gen. Jackson as President of the United States Ile was elected by a handsome majority, to the delight of the retiring President. " Leaving New York out of the canvass," says Mr. Parton, "the election of Mr. Van Buien to the Presidency was as much the act of Gen. Jackson as though the Constitution had conferred upon him the power to appoint a successor."
Hi, administration was filled with exciting events The insurrection in Canada, which threatened to in volve this country in war with England, the agitation of the slavery question, and finally the great commer- cial panic which spread over the country, all were trials to his wisdom. The financial distress was at- tributed to the management of the Democratic party, and brought the President into such disfavor that he failed of re election.
With the exception of being nominated for the Presidency by the " Free Soil " Democrats, in 1843. Mr. Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate until his death.
He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal habits. and living within his income, had now fortunately a competence for his declining years. His unblemished character, his commanding abilities, his unquestioned patriotism, ard the distinguished positions which he had occupied in the government of our country, se- cured to him not only the homage of his party, but the respect ot the whole community. It was on the 4th of March, IS41, that Mr. Van Buren retired fron: the presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwald. he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics of the country. From this time antil hi, death, on the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty : ears, he resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of leisure, ct culture and of wealth; enjoying in a healthy old age, probably far more happiness than he had before
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