Dictionary of the United States Congress : comp. as a manual of reference for the legislator and statesman

Front matter

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DICTIONARY

Preface

Political laws, wisely framed, have made the United States powerful and wealthy to a degree unexampled in modern times ; and I have thought that a book of facts, recording the public services of our National law-makers, from the foundation of the G-overnment, would be a deserved tribute to them, and, at the same time, be generally useful. The record has been made in each case as correct and concise as possible. Of many men more might have been written, but that was not deemed expedient in a work of this kind ; and where not enough has been said, the fault must be attributed to the indifference of the persons mostly interested, or to the neglect of their friends. Not being a politician, it has given me but little trouble to be impartial. My intention has been to express no opinions of living men, and but seldom to echo public opinion in regard to the dead. My leading object has been to prepare a kind of labor-saving machine, for the benefit of all who feel an interest in the political history and future prosperity of the Eepublic; and, in the Appendix, I have endeavored to bring together, from the Government archives, a mass of Legislative and Executive information, calculated to be of service to Members of Congress, while engaged in their public duties, and especially in their examination of the Public Documents.

Washington, January, 1864. ,