USA > New Hampshire > New Hampshire as it is. In three parts. Part I. A historical sketch of New hampshire. Part II. A gazetter of New Hampshire. Part III. A general view of New Hampshire. Together with the constitution of the State > Part 36
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At the close of Mr. Burke's congressional career, which was in the spring of 1845, his party having been successful in the preceding presidential election, he was, without so- licitation or knowledge on his part, tendered, by Mr. Polk,
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the new president, the office of commissioner of patents, which he accepted, and upon the duties of which he en- tered on the 5th day of May, 1845. He continued to perform the duties of that office until the accession of Gen- eral Taylor to the presidency, when he was superseded by Mr. Ewbank, of New York. In the discharge of the du- ties of this office, Mr. Burke displayed the same indefat- . igable habits of industry, and the same close and critical research which had distinguished him in other positions.
1 His reports, while commissioner of patents, embraced a vast amount of valuable information, gathered from a wide field of investigation, and presented in a form which made them both acceptable and popular with the country. Under Mr. Burke's administration the patent office assumed a position and importance which it had never before enjoyed, and contributed its full share to the popularity of Mr. Polk's administration.
But while Mr. Burke held the office of commissioner of patents, his labors were not altogether confined to the mere duties of his office. During that period he wrote those papers upon the tariff entitled the Bundelcund Essays, originally published in the Washington Union, but subse- quently in pamphlet form, and circulated by tens of thou- sands in every state in the republic. Referring to these papers, a writer in the Democratic Review says, " After the close of the session of 1844 and 1845, when some of our timid friends began to express doubts as to the pro- priety of attempting to carry out the pledge of the Balti- more Democratic Convention upon the question of the tariff, Mr. Burke, appreciating the danger which this hesi- tation threatened to the policy of the democratic party, boldly stepped forward as its champion, and contributed to the columns of the Union the well-known series of essays
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on, or rather against, the protection system, published over the signature of Bundelcund. Nothing before emanating from his fruitful pen had so served to spread his fame ; for they were immediately republished, wholly or in part, in nearly every democratic paper in the Union, and from their appearance until the final vote on the tariff in 1846, were the object of incessant and virulent attacks from the opposition. The democratic party, with few exceptions, planted themselves firmly on the principles there laid down by Mr. Burke, which, being adopted by the committee of ways and means of the House of Representatives, and by the treasury department, were made the basis of the rev- enue law so triumphantly passed on the 30th of July, 1846."
After Mr. Burke retired from the patent office, he formed a connection with the late celebrated Thomas Ritchie, by which he became a joint editor of the Wash- ington Union. He remained connected with the Union one year, during which he contributed a large amount of the editorial matter which appeared in its columns. He had also, while he was at the head of the patent office, been a liberal contributor to that paper, as well to its edi- torial columns as in the shape of communications. And we may truthfully add, that he has, for the last twenty years, been an industrious and fertile writer, as the col- umns of many newspapers can attest, and has achieved, by his labors in connection with the press, a high position among the editorial profession.
The term of Mr. Burke's connection with the Washing- ton Union having expired, he, in the summer of 1850, returned, with his family, to his residence in Newport, in this state, where he now remains, in the practice of his profession, and employing himself in those literary pur-
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suits congenial to a man of taste, and necessary to an active mind imbued with a desire for the accumulation of knowl- edge. Mr. Burke is now in the very vigor of his facul- ties, and we trust has many years of active and useful life in store for him.
In conclusion we will add, that Mr. Burke is truly a self-made man. In the outset of his career, he had no friends possessed of wealth and influence to aid him. He had to depend upon himself alone. The writer of this has heard him remark that he graduated at a common village school, having never attended an academy or col- lege a day in his life, and having had no other assistance or tuition than that which he received while acquiring a sufficiency of Latin preparatory to entering upon his legal studies. And he has informed us that he ceased to attend the village school at the age of fourteen, having never at- tended any school subsequent to that period. His success in life is a bright example of industry, perseverance, and energy, which we commend to the youth in humble cir- cumstances who has the ambition to aspire to the higher positions of usefulness and honor in society.
CHARLES G. ATHERTON.
Hon. Charles G. Atherton was born in Amherst, July 4, 1804. His father was Hon. Charles H. Atherton, who had served as representative to Congress in 1815 and 1816, and for many years held the office of register of pro- bate for the county of Hillsborough.
The subject of this sketch entered Harvard University at the age of fourteen years, and graduated with high honors in 1822. Immediately after his admission to the bar in 1825, he took up his residence in Dunstable, now
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Nashua. In 1827 he was appointed solicitor for Hillsbor- ough county. In 1831 he was elected representative to the state legislature from Dunstable, and again four years in succession, (1833, '34, '35, and '36,) in each of which years he was elected speaker. In 1834, at his election as speaker, he had all the votes cast in the house except thirteen ; in 1835 he had them all but five ; and in 1836 all but three. In 1837 he was elected representative in Congress from New Hampshire, and held his seat in the house for three terms in succession. In 1843 he was elected by the legis- lature United States senator, which office he held till March 4, 1849. In 1850 he was elected a delegate, from the late town of Nashville, in the New Hampshire Constitutional Convention. At the fall session of the legislature in 1852, he was elected United States senator from this state, and took his seat on the 4th of March following, which office he held at the time of his death.
As a lawyer, Mr. Atherton had no superior in the state. His attainments in the common law, as well as in equity jurisprudence, were very extensive and thorough. In the management of a case he showed most masterly and con- summate skill; and in presenting the strong points to a jury, he had few equals. He was an accomplished advo- cate ; in which character he exhibited a power of com- manding, at the instant, all the resources of his mind, and a dexterity of applying them seldom exceeded. As a sen- atorial orator, his claims were of a high order. During the administration of Mr. Polk, he was chairman of the committee on finance - one of the most important *com- mittees in the Senate, particularly during Mr. Polk's ad- ministration, which was occupied with the successful con- duct of a foreign war. In opposition were Mr. Webster, then in the very acme of his intellectual strength, vigor,
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and experience, as well as other formidable opponents. In all the contests and opposition which these distinguished opponents of the administration brought to bear against the policy of the administration, Mr. Atherton, in his defence of the financial policy of President Polk, acquitted himself with consummate ability, prudence, and skill ..
His literary attainments were of a high order. Few, if any, in this country, had a more thorough and minute knowledge of American and English history and statesmen than he. He was thoroughly conversant with English literature and poetry, particularly with that of Queen Anne's time - the golden age of English literature, in whose gorgeous and captivating creations he delighted. He died November 15, 1853.
LEWIS CASS.
Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, on the 9th day of October, 1782. His father, Major Jona- than Cass, was a soldier of the revolution, who enlisted as a private the day after the battle of Lexington. He served in the army till the close of the war, and was in all the important battles in the Eastern and Middle States, where he was distinguished for his valor and good conduct, and attained the rank of captain. He was afterwards a major in Wayne's army, and, after a life of usefulness and honor, died at an advanced age, at his residence near Dres- den, in Muskingum county, Ohio. His son, Lewis Cass, the subject of this biography, emigrated, at the age of seventeen, to the then North-western Territory, and settled first at Marietta, in the county of Washington. He was thus, as he was recently called by the Convention of Ohio, one of the " early pioneers " of that immense western re-
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gion, which has already risen to such a magnitude in our own days, and is destined to attain one so much greater hereafter. The country north of the Ohio then contained one territory and about 20,000 people.
Mr. Cass bore his full share in the toils, privations, and dangers to which the defence of a new country, and its conversion from a primitive forest to the happy abodes of civilized man, are necessarily exposed. He read law at Marietta, and was admitted to the bar before the close of the territorial government. He commenced the practice, and, as was the custom then, visited the courts in a large district of country, travelling on horseback, and encounter- ing many difficulties unknown to the members of the bar at the present day.
In 1806 he was elected a meniber of the legislature of Ohio, and during the session he took his part in the busi- ness of the day. He draughted the law which arrested the traitorous designs of Burr, and introduced an address to Mr. Jefferson, which was unanimously adopted, express- ing the attachment of the people of Ohio to the constitu- tion of the United States, and their confidence in that illus- trious man. In March, 1807, he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson marshal of Ohio.
He took an active part in the war of 1812, and held the rank of colonel under General Hull. Just previous to the surrender of Detroit by General Hull, Colonels Cass and McArthur had been sent, with a small detachment, a few miles distant, ostensibly for the purpose of obtaining pro- vision, and before their return Detroit was surrendered without the firing of a gun. So disgraceful, as well as humiliating, did this act appear, in the mind of Colonel Cass, that, when ordered to deliver up his sword, he indignantly shivered it in pieces, and, strewing the fragments upon the
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ground, declared that in like manner should his body be divided and scattered before he would in any way assent to so ignoble an act.
At the battle of St. Thomas he bore a conspicuous part, and was highly complimented by General Harrison. In 1813 he was appointed by President Madison governor of Michigan, at that time one of the most important offices with- in the gift of the executive. As superintendent of Indian affairs, he rendered vast and important services to his coun- try, having formed twenty-one treaties with various Indian tribes, thus extinguishing their title to nearly one million acres of land. In 1831 General Cass was called upon by President Jackson to take charge of the war department - a position for which he was eminently fitted, and the du- ties of which he discharged with energy and general satis- faction to the country. In 1836 he was appointed minister to France, and immediately resigned his position as secre- tary of war. The position which he took in 1841 in rela- tion to the question of the famous quintuple treaty will long be held in remembrance by his countrymen. In 1848 he received the nomination of the democratic national con- vention for president of the United States. In 1850 he was once more elected senator of the United States for Michigan. His long and useful services in public life have rendered him world-renowned as a statesman, while his fame as a scholar is scarcely less limited. Plain and un- assuming in his manners, kind and social in his intercourse with his fellow-men, he will always stand prominent in the records of history as a true patriot, an able statesman, and a worthy citizen.
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LEVI WOODBURY .*
Levi Woodbury, the eldest son of Hon. Peter Wood- bury, was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, in the early part of the year 1790. His ancestors were among the first settlers of Salem, Massachusetts, which was one of the earliest plantations of that colony. From his child- hood he was trained to those habits of industry and rigid economy which so generally characterize the people of New
England. His early education was acquired at the district school in his native village during the winter months, when the labor of agriculture is suspended. While but a mere boy, he distinguished himself for his unremitted application to study, and even then exhibited that zeal in the pursuit of knowledge, readiness of apprehension, sound sense, and decision of character which so emphatically marked the whole course of his life.
At nineteen years of age he graduated at Dartmouth College, with a high reputation for talents and acquire- ments, and immediately applied himself to the study of the legal profession. He passed one year at the law school in Litchfield, Connecticut, and divided the residue of his pre- paratory term between Boston, Exeter, and his native town.
In 1812 he was admitted to the bar. By diligent atten- tion to the duties of his profession, he soon obtained an extensive and reputable practice, and acquired for himself a rank at a bar at which lawyers who are among the most distinguished in the Union have practised.
Even while a student, Mr. Woodbury's ardent tempera- ment would not suffer him to remain an inactive spectator of the political struggles that then agitated the country
* See plate.
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with more intensity, probably, than at any other period of its history ; and, accordingly, we find him mingling in the strife, and taking part upon the side of democ- racy.
In 1816 the political character of the state became changed. Mr. Woodbury was invited to the seat of gov- ernment, to discharge the duties of secretary of the Senate, and at the commencement of the following year was ap- pointed judge of the Superior Court.
Promoted to a seat in the highest judicial tribunal of the state at an earlier age than any former precedent, some ap- prehension was felt lest his legal learning and experience should prove inadequate to the creditable discharge of its du- ties. The result, however, more than realized the expecta- tions of his most sanguine friends. His patience, firmness, familiarity with legal principles, and suavity of manners made him a most acceptable and popular judge in jury trials, and the first two volumes of the New Hampshire Re- ports bear ample testimony to the diligence, great research, and accurate discrimination which he brought to bear in the preparation of his judicial opinions.
In 1819 Mr. Woodbury removed to Portsmouth, where he resided during his life, except while a member of the cabinet under the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren.
In 1823 he was elected governor of the state, and the year following he resumed the practice of his profession. His legal erudition and forensic talents secured him clients from all parts of the state, and placed him at once in a lu- crative practice.
His fellow-citizens were not content, however, to suffer him long to remain in the quiet of professional life ; and in 1825 they sent him a representative to the legislature of
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the state ; and at the commencement of the session, having never before been a member of a legislative body, he was chosen speaker of the house, and at the close of the session was selected to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate.
His reputation for learning and talents had gone before him, and on taking his seat in the United States Senate, Mr. Woodbury was regarded as the principal organ for the democracy of New England in that body; and during the administration of President Adams, on more than one oc- casion he stood forth in bold and able vindication of his party and its principles, from the attacks of the opposition, particularly in the discussion upon Foot's resolution re- specting the public lands.
At the second session of Mr. Woodbury's term, his name appears as chairman of the committee on commerce, and as member of several other important committees.
In the course of his senatorial career, many able reports emanated from his pen, and his speeches upon a variety of subjects are fine specimens of varied learning, comprehen- sive reasoning, and sound logic.
During the vacations his time was occupied in the care of his family, and in the management of important causes in the Superior Court of his own state. But the annual ab- sence from his family, and his professional duties, exposed him to great sacrifices, and at the expiration of his term . he transmitted a letter to the governor, declining a reëlec- tion. A few days after he was chosen state senator ; and ere the reorganization of the cabinet in April following, the office of secretary of the navy was tendered to him and accepted.
His industry, and his prompt and methodical manner of doing business, were soon felt in this department of the gov- ernment, and the general satisfaction which he gave in the
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discharge of its various and perplexing duties is sufficient evidence of the ability with which they were performed.
In 1833 the nomination of Mr. Taney for secretary of the treasury by President Jackson having been rejected by the Senate, Mr. Woodbury received the nomination, and was confirmed without opposition.
Placed at the head of the financial affairs of the country, in the heat of that fierce struggle which grew out of the mismanagement of the national bank, and the consequent removal from it of the government deposits, Mr. Wood- bury found himself in a situation which the most masterly abilities seemed inadequate to sustain. The sequel, howev- er, affords another proof of the consummate knowledge of human nature and accurate estimate of character displayed by President Jackson in the selection of his officers.
The indomitable energy, the never-failing firmness of purpose, the comprehension, sagacity, and unwavering fidelity to the public interests which had previously charac- terized Mr. Woodbury, shone now even more conspicuously, and triumphantly sustained him for the period of seven years in the discharge of the arduous duties of this office.
The official reports of Mr. Woodbury during this period are replete with important statistical information and able reasoning upon the various subjects of national policy. .
In 1838, when the labors of his department were bear- ing heavily upon him, the office of chief justice of the Supreme Court of his native state was tendered him. Not insensible to this honorable tribute from those who best knew him, Mr. Woodbury was not the man to consult his ease when duty required him to remain at the post of public labor, however onerous it might be, and therefore waived his own predilections for that dignified station, and declined it.
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At the expiration of Van Buren's administration, he re- signed his office of secretary, and on the following day took his seat in the United States Senate, to which he had been elected by the legislature of New Hampshire.
Soon after the inauguration of President Polk, it is gen- erally understood, Mr. Woodbury was invited to represent our government at the court of St. James ; but family con- siderations led him to decline the honor. A vacancy hav- ing occurred on the bench of the Supreme Court by the death of Judge Story, the appointment was offered to. Mr. Woodbury and accepted, which office he continued to hold until his death, September 4, 1851.
FRANKLIN PIERCE *
Was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, November 23, 1804. At the period of his birth, Hillsborough county could reckon among its sons many who had already attained the highest distinction, besides many others who were des- tined to occupy the highest rank in public life. General Stark, Daniel Webster, Levi Woodbury, Jeremiah Smith, General James Miller, General McNeil, the late Hon. Charles G. Atherton, were natives of this county. General Ben- jamin Pierce, father of the subject of this sketch, was one of the first settlers of the town of Hillsborough, and con- tributed much to the growth and prosperity of his adopted town and county. He was born in Chelmsford, now Low- ell, Massachusetts, in the year 1757. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached him, he was laboring at the plough; and immediately loosening the ox chain, leaving the plough in the furrow, he took his uncle's gun and equipments, and hastened to the scene of action.
* See plate.
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He at once enlisted in the army, was present at the battle of Bunker Hill, and after serving through the whole revo- lutionary war, after an absence of nearly eight years, re- turned to his home a thorough soldier, and commander of a company. In 1785 he purchased a fifty acre lot in the present town of Hillsborough, and in the spring of the fol- lowing year built a log hut, commenced clearing and cul- tivating his tract, and in 1787 was married to Elizabeth Andrews, who died within a year after their union. In 1789. he married Anna Kendrick, who bore him eight children, the sixth of whom was the future president of these United States. At the opening of the war of 1812 Franklin Pierce was nearly eight years of age. Two of his brothers were connected with the army, and Major McNeil was about this time married to his eldest sister, the daughter and only child of the first wife, Elizabeth Andrews. His father was active and energetic in his sup- port of the war, and engaged with patriotic zeal in the discussion of those exciting questions which then wholly absorbed the public mind. His son Franklin was a fre- quent and earnest listener to these discussions. No mode of education could be better adapted to imbue him with the principles of true democracy, the nature and spirit of republican institutions. His father had felt through life the disadvantages of a defective education, and determined, if possible, that his children should enjoy more largely of these blessings than had fallen to his lot. Franklin was se- lected as the one to receive a collegiate education. Accord- ingly we find him, while a mere boy, at the academy in Han- cock; next at that in Francestown ; and in 1820, at the age of 16, a student in the freshman class of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. During the first two years of his college life he was so inattentive to his studies, that, at the commencement of the junior year, he found his position in
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scholarship below that of any of his classmates. Deeply mortified by this humiliating proof of self-injustice, he de- termined to close his college career at once, and according- ly absented himself from all recitations for several days, hoping that suspension, or even expulsion, might be the result of such continued and systematic neglect. The fac- ulty, however, wisely, as well as leniently, paid no atten- tion to this conduct ; and at last, stimulated by reflection, and moved by the earnest entreaties of a few college friends, he resolved to return to his duties, observing to his companions, " If I do so, you shall see a change." There was indeed a change. For three months afterwards he rose at four in the morning, and closely applied himself to his studies, allowing himself only four hours for sleep. He never suffered himself after this to go into the recitation room without a thorough knowledge of the subject in con- sideration ; and notwithstanding the low standard of his scholarship during the first half of his college course, he at last graduated as the third scholar in his class. In this rigorous discipline he acquired that full command over his intellectual faculties, that power of concentrating all his mental energies at once upon the object to be gained, and that perfect self-control, so essential to success, which have since characterized, to say the least, all his greater efforts, both as a lawyer and politician. He commenced the study of law in the office of the late Judge Woodbury, the last two years of professional study being spent at the law school in Northampton, Massachusetts, and in the of- fice of Judge Parker, in Amherst. In 1827 he was ad- mitted to the bar, and began the practice of his profession in his native town. Here, also, his first effort was, as is generally expressed, a failure. In more appropriate terms, he was unsuccessful so far as the interest of his client was
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