Stephen Girard
Stephen Girard

Author: James J. Raciti

Publisher: Sunstone Press

Published: 2015-09-01

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1632930706

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Why is Stephen Girard, a figure from late Colonial America, important today? As a teenager, he left home in Bordeaux, France with meager funds and went to sea as a merchant marine, following his family’s tradition. In early summer, 1776, he landed in Philadelphia when a British blockade forced his ship into the city’s Delaware River port. With his extraordinary intelligence and with an ability to foresee market trends and grasp the mysteries of international trade, he remained in Philadelphia and became an American citizen. By the early eighteen hundreds he had become the richest man in America. Is this reason enough to pay closer attention to Girard? Why don’t American History textbooks mention him? As the first private banker in America, he should be counted among our Founding Fathers. He labored tirelessly and unselfishly during Philadelphia’s 1793 yellow fever epidemic, risking his life caring for the sick, sometimes performing the most repulsive tasks. Most wealthy Philadelphians had left the city. In 1811, Great Britain increased its harassment of American ships. Girard put his entire fortune into the hands of the US Treasury to wage war once again with a country that refused to accept America as a sovereign nation. He proved himself a courageous philanthropist and a great patriot. The War of 1812, an American success, forever freed the country from subservience to England. When Girard died in 1831, thousands of Philadelphians showed their love and respect for him. He left most of his fortune to the City of Philadelphia and to founding an institution for poor orphans—Girard College, opening its doors to students in 1848. President Truman visited the college for its centennial in 1948 to honor this remarkable man—a man who walked the streets with Washington, Jefferson and Adams and had flags made by Betsy Ross.

CORRESPONDENCE OF NICHOLAS BID
CORRESPONDENCE OF NICHOLAS BID

Author: Nicholas 1786-1844 Biddle

Publisher: Wentworth Press

Published: 2016-08-25

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 9781361533659

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Samuel L. Southard
Samuel L. Southard

Author: Michael J. Birkner

Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

Published: 1984

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780838631607

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Biography of Samuel L. Southard, one of New Jersey's most distinguished political leaders. Southard (1787-1842) participated in most of the major political controversies of his era, from the bitter Federalist-Republican competition during the War of 1812 through the rise and flowering of the second American party system. During a career that spanned three decades, Southard served in a remarkable array of weighty offices--state attorney general, New Jersey supreme court justice, governor, Secretary of the Navy, United States senator, and president of the Morris Canal and Banking Company.

The Presidency of Andrew Jackson
The Presidency of Andrew Jackson

Author: Donald B. Cole

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13:

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In 1829 Andrew Jackson arrived in Washington in a carriage. Eight years and two turbulent presidential terms later, he left on a train. Those years, among the most prosperous in American history, saw America transformed not only by growth in transportation but by the expansion of the market economy and the formation of the mass political party. Jackson's ambivalence—and that of his followers—toward the new politics and the new economy is the story of this book. Historians have often depicted the Old Hero (or Old Hickory) as bigger than life—so prominent that his name was wed to an era. Donald Cole presents a different Jackson, one not always sure of himself and more controlled by than in control of the political and economic forces of his age. He portrays Jackson as a leader who yearned for the agrarian past but was also entranced by the future of a growing market economy. The dominant theme of Jackson's presidency, Cole argues, was his inconsistent and unsuccessful battle to resist market revolution. Elected by a broad coalition of interest groups, Jackson battled constantly not only his opponents but also his supporters. He spent most of his first term rearranging his administration and contending with Congress. His accomplishments were mostly negative—relocating Indians, vetoing road bills and the Bank bill, and opposing nullification. The greatest achievement of his administration, the rise of the mass political party, was more the work of advisers than of Jackson himself. He did, however, make a lasting imprint, Cole contends. Through his strength, passions, and especially his anxiety, Jackson symbolized the ambivalence of his fellow Americans at a decisive moment—a time when the country was struggling with the conflict between the ideals of the Revolution and the realities of nineteenth-century capitalism.