Lives of celebrated Americans

Front matter

Qass.

Book.

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

Preface

" Lives of great men all remind us We may make our lives sublime.

And, departing, leave behind us Foot-prints on the sands of Time."

T)IOGR APHY is History teaching by example. It is the basis of all historical structures. The Chronicles of the nations are composed of the sayings and doings of their men and women. These make up the sum of History.

Sallust says, " I have often heard that Quintus Maxunus, Pub- •lius Scipio, and other renowned jDcrsons of the Roman Commonwealth, used to say that, whenever they beheld the images of their ancestors, they felt their minds vehemently excited to virtue. It could not be the wax, nor the marble, that possessed this power ; but the recollections of their great actions kindled a generous flame in their breasts, which could not be quelled till they, also, by Virtue, had acquired equal fame and glory."

It is ■with the earnest desire of producing precisely such efi'ects upon the minds and hearts of the young people of our country, that this volume has been prepared — ^that these images have been set up. The Roman youth were excited to great, and generous, and virtuous deeds, by the sight of material objects and the voices of Orators. Our youth have their aspu-ations for noble

IV PREFACE.

achievements awakened and cherished more by the silent yet potent ministration of Books which tell of men worthy to be imitated as examples, or studied as warnings, than by merely sensuous impressions.

The materials for this book have been drawn from the Annals of the United States of America, as Colonies and as a Federal Republic. Such persons have been selected, as examples, who seemed to illustrate by their Uves, some special phase in the political, religious, and social life of our country, during its wonderful progress from its earliest settlement until the present time. I have endeavored to present such prominent points of character and deeds, in their lives, as would give the reader a general idea of their relative position in the history of their times ; and have also aimed to make the brief sketches so attractive and suggestive, as to excite a desire in the young to know more of these characters and their historical relations, and. thus to persuade them to enter upon the pleasant and profitable employment of studying the prominent persons and events of our RepubUc. If this volume shall achieve that result, the pleasure experienced by the Author in the preparation of it, will be distributed according to his desire.

PouGHKEEPsiE, September, 1869.

Index

A.

Adams, Samuel .

Adama, John

Adams, John Q.

AUerton, Isaac .

AUison, Francis .

Alexander, "William

Allen, Ethan

Allston, Washington

Ames, Fisher

Anderson, Richard C.

Armstrong, Jolin

Arnold, Benedict l-^Asbury, Francis .

Asiie, John

Asliiiiun, Jehudi ^ Astor, John Jacob

Audubon, John J.

B.

Bacon, Nathaniel Bainbridge, William Baldwin, Thomas Baldwin, Abraham Ballou, Hosea Banneker, Benjamin Bartram, John .

Barlow, Joel Bard, Samuel Barney. Joshua .

Barry, John Barton, William Bayard, James A.

Beck, T. Romeyn Belknap, Jeremy Biddle, Nicholas .

Biatid, Richard .

Blenncrhassett, Ilarman Boone, Daniel Boudinot, P>lias .

Boudoin, James .

PAGE.

PAGE.

Bowditch, Nathaniel . . .246

. 70

Boyleston, Zabdiel

Bradford, William

Brainerd, David .

Brant, Joseph

Brewster, William

Brooks, John

Brown, Charles B.

2(;2

Brown, Jacob

Brown. James .

Brown, Moses

Buchanan, James

Buel, Jesse

Burr, Aaron

Burke, -(T]danus .

Burnett, Robert .

Byrd, William .

C.

Calvert, Leonard . . .223

. 42

Calhoun, John C.

Canonicus .

Carroll, John

Carroll, Charles .

Carver. Jonathan

Cary, Lott .

Carey, Matthew .

Caswell, Richard

Channing, William E.

. 120

Chauncey, Isaac .

Chittenden, Thomas

Church, Benjamin

Claiborne, William C.

D.

Clarke, George R.

. 104

Clay, Henry

. 393

. 346

Clinton, DeWitt .

. 142

Clinton, George .

. 377

Colden, Cadwallader

. 192

Colburn. Zerali .

. 133

Colles, Christopher

. 65

Cooper, Thomas .

VI

INDEX.

Cooper, James F, Copley, John S.

Complanter Coxe, Tench Craik, James Crockett, David Cruger, Ilemy

D.

Dana, Francis Davie, "William E.

Davidson, Lncretia M.

Daj-, Stephen Deane, Silas Dearborn, Henry- Decatur, Stephen De Kalb, Baron .

Dickenson, John Downing, Andrew J.

Dra_yton, William II.

Dunlap, William Dwight, Timothy

E.

KEdwards, Jonathan Eliot, John Ellsworth, Oliver Everett, Edward

Ferguson, Catharine Fiteli, John Flint, Timothy .

Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, William Francis, Jolm W.

Francis, John W., jr.

Fulton, Robert .

G.

Gadsden, Christopher Galloway, Joseph Gallatin, Albert .

Gallaudet, Thomas H.

Gaston, William Gates, Horatio .

Girard. Stephen .

Godfrey, Thomas Gordon, William Graham. Isabella Gray, William Greene, Nathaniel Greene, Joseph .

PAGE.

PAGE.

Greenough, Horatio . . . 393

Gridley, Richard . . .122

Grundy, Felix . . . .366

H.

Habersham, Joseph . . . 134

Hale, Nathan

Hamilton, Alexander

Hancock, John .

Harnett, Coruehus

Harper, James .

Harrison, Benjamin

Harrison, William H.

Harrington, Jonathan

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Hayne, Robert T.

Hedding, Elijah

Henry, Patrick .

Henderson, Richard

ISO

Hicks, Elias

Holmes, Abiel .

Hooker, Thomas

Hopkinson, Francis

Hopkins, Samuel

Hopkins, Stephen

Hopkinson, Joseph

Howard, John E.

Howe, Rol)ert .

Hull, William .

Humphreys, David

Hutchinson, Thomas