Name That "Handsome, Portly Gentleman"

In about December 1841, Julia Gardiner, then twenty-one years of age, was travelling from New York to the District of Columbia by train with her father and sister. As she describes below, she encountered a "handsome, portly gentleman". Your task is to name him. A few clues: the gentleman was a member of Congress from New York, and readers of this blog have encountered him before. I would love it if some of you who have not posted comments before took a stab at this and introduced yourselves.

My father was of an old family of New York, and possessing means and leisure, placed his time at his daughters' disposal, and there was no wish personal to ourselves which he did not attempt by every available means to gratify. Having become acquainted in former days, while a member of the New York State Senate, with nearly all the prominent politicians of the State, he conceived the idea of a visit to Washington during the session of Congress, thinking that our education would be singularly imperfect if, after seeing the capitals of nearly all the governments of the old world, we should neglect to see our own.

Impressions of our public men began with our trip from New York to Washington. A handsome, portly gentleman came several times into the car in which we were seated and excited the interest of myself and sister by the self-conscious manner in which he looked into the mirror at the head of the car and adjusted his cravat, while he cast several furtive glances in our direction. These glances were, doubtless, accidental, though, soon after our arrival in Washington the gentleman alluded to called upon our parents, in company with an old friend of my father, the Hon. Silas Wright of New York. Then we found that the handsome stranger was no less a personage than . . ..

ANSWER: The answer may be found here.

The Speaker Named: Rep. Michael Walsh of New York

As you probably guessed, my guess the speaker question has an unexpected answer. The speaker was Congressman Michael Walsh of New York. His entry in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress reads as follows:

WALSH, Michael, a Representative from New York; born in Youghal, near Cork, Ireland, May 4, 1810; completed preparatory studies; was graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; immigrated to the United States and settled in Baltimore, Md.; learned the trade of lithographic printer; moved to New York City; member of the State assembly in 1839; in 1843 established the Subterranean, which he stopped after two years when convicted for the publication of a libel; elected as a member of the State assembly in 1846 and again in 1848; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress; after his term in Congress was employed as a newspaper reporter; died in New York City March 17, 1859; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.

James L. Huston describes Rep. Walsh as having "a distinct class viewpoint on the economics of American life, particularly on the sufferings of the Irish in New York City. He found no reason to celebrate the northern laborer in comparison with the lot of a slave." "Walsh's statements were quite unique in the Kansas-Nebraska debate, but they obtained considerable reprinting in the northern press."

Name that Speaker

The time: May 1854

The place: The House of Representatives

The occasion: The debate on the Kansas-Nebraska Act

I don't expect you to be able to identify the speaker. But tell me something about him. Where is he from? North? South? East? West? Urban or rural? For or against the Act?

The clue: The speaker is not James Henry Hammond, pictured at the top.

Paragraph breaks added:

In reply, Mr. Chairman, to what dropped from the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Wentworth] last night, and to others who have been overflowing with sympathy for the southern slaves, I have to say, that the only difference between the negro slave of the South, and the white wages slave of the North, is, that the one has a master without asking for him, and the other has to beg for the privilege of being a slave. [Great laughter.]

The one is the slave of an individual; the other is the slave of an inexorable class. After the latter has added, by his labor and his toil, wealth to the community in which he has lived, he is turned adrift without any, among all the different employers that he has had, to give him a mouthful of victuals or a night's lodging.

I would ask the particular advocates of Abolition upon this floor, to point me to one single solitary degradation heaped upon the negro of the South that a white man at the North is not liable to have imposed on him for the time being through poverty?

Lying in State: The Quiz

I'm reading a new biography. Can you guess the subject? He's the correct answer to the quiz below. I'm sure you can Google the answer, but why not take a stab instead?

The illustration, courtesy of Son of the South, is of Abraham Lincoln's casket on view in the White House, not in the Capitol.

Name that Speaker

I haven't posted a quiz in a long time, so here's one. Who delivered a speech in 1858 that included the following passage? I have added paragraph breaks for readability.

If the inhabitants of any territory should refuse to enact such laws and police regulations as would give security to their property or to his, it would be rendered more or less valueless, in proportion to the difficulty of holding it without such protection.

In the case of property in the labor of man, or what is usually called slave property, the insecurity would be so great that the owner could not ordinarily retain it. Therefore, though the right would remain, the remedy being withheld, it would follow that the owner would be practically debarred by the circumstances of the case, from taking slave property into a territory where the sense of the inhabitants was opposed to its introduction.

So much for the oft repeated fallacy of forcing slavery upon any community.

About the illustration (which does not necessarily contain the figure who gave the speech):

A bitter indictment of the Democratic administration's responsibility for violence and bloodshed in Kansas in the wake of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. (See also "Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler" and "Democratic Platform Illustrated," nos. 1856-8 and 1856-11.) The print appeared during the presidential campaign of 1856. In the center stands Democratic incumbent Franklin Pierce, dressed in the buckskins of a "border ruffian," as the violent, proslavery invaders of the Kansas territory from Missouri were known. He has planted his foot on an American flag which is draped over Liberty, who kneels at his feet imploring, "O spare me gentlemen, spare me!!" Pierce is armed with a rifle, and has a tomahawk, dagger, pistol, and scalp on his belt. At right a similarly outfitted Lewis Cass stands licking his lips and scoffing, "Poor little Dear. We wouldnt hurt her for the world, would we Frank? ha! ha! ha! . . ." At the far right Democratic senator Stephen Douglas kneels over a slain farmer and holds up the hapless victim's scalp, exclaiming, "Hurrah for our side! Victory! Victory! "We will subdue them yet." "On the far left Democratic candidate James Buchanan and secretary of state William Marcy (with his characteristic fifty-cent" trouser patch) kneel over another victim and empty his pockets. Buchanan lifts the man's watch, saying,"T'was your's once but its mine now, "Might makes right," dont it." Pierce responds, "You may bet your life on that, ole Puddinhead," and says to Liberty, "Come Sis--sy, you go along wid me, I'le take Good care of "you" (hic) "over the left."" In the left background a cottage burns, and the mad widow of a murdered settler stands before a group of ruffians. Widow: "Come husband let us go to heaven, where our poor Children are." Ruffian, thumbing his nose: "Ho! ho! She thinks I'm her husband, we Scalped the Cus and she like a D--m fool went Crazy on it, and now she wants me to go to heaven with her, . . . " In the distance are further scenes of pillage and murder. Attribution to Magee is based on the print's clear stylistic similarity to his "Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler" (no. 1856-8). A number of satires published by John Childs during the 1856 campaign are also attributable to Magee on stylistic grounds.

Guess the President

Extra credit if you identify the writer (pictured above):

The next day after my arrival I visited the President, accompanied by some Democratic members. In a few moments after our arrival, a tall, high-boned man came into the room. He was dressed, or rather undressed, in an old brown coat, red waistcoat, old corduroy small clothes much soiled, woollen hose, and slippers without heels. I thought him a servant, when General Varnum surprised me by announcing that it was the President.

Quiz

Americans say, "A cat's got my tongue." Who says, "A great ox is standing on my tongue"?

History: Who Needs Facts?

The other day, I commented on an excellent American history/civics quiz.

At Civil War Bookshelf, Dimitri has found an article on it: "Students Know Less After 4 College Years." Dimitri rightfully highlights the following blather from Eric Foner:

A professor of American history at Columbia University, Eric Foner, said that a multiple-choice exam testing factual knowledge of history could exaggerate student ignorance of American history.

"The study of history has changed enormously," Mr. Foner said. "It's become much more broad and diverse. The study of facts about particular battles has diminished, but maybe students are in a better position to answer questions about the abolition of slavery."

Somehow, I suspect that Donald Kagan would disagree.

I can't help but note, by the way, that Dimitri pointedly failed to reveal whether he took the quiz and, if so, how he did. What's the story, Dimitri? How'd you do?

An Excellent Civics Quiz

This 60-question Civics Quiz by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute is outstanding. I strongly encourage everyone to give it a try.

Can I toot my own horn? I answered 56 out of the 60 questions correctly -- 93.33%!

Visited States

create your own personalized map of the USA

Pretty mediocre, I'd say.

Another American Accent Quiz

This quiz is remarkably accurate as well.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz