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CHAPTER 7Barnburners, Hunkers, Slavery

The period between 1841 and 1852 is bookended with the death of two political opponents of Tammany Hall, sitting Presidents both: Whigs William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. The cause of their deaths is the same, open sewers that contaminate drinking water in Washington D.C. This decade sees another major war, which has the support of the Society of St. Tammany, but whose outcome, the largest acquisition of territory since the Louisiana Purchase, divides Tammany Hall into two factions, the Barnburners and the Hunkers. These two factions mirror the national debate as to whether the new western territories, soon to become new states, should allow or reject slavery. The Barnburners are the progressive minded Democrats, who feel that slavery is an abomination. The Hunkers are the old-school Democrats—merchants who depend on the southern planters, and their slaves that labor in the fields raising cotton and tobacco. For its first fifty years, Tammany Hall is dominated by the upper class. The 1840s heralds the influence of the lower class, led by the likes of Mike Walsh and Isaiah Rynders. Walsh is the leader of the Spartan Band, a gang of ruffians, mainly Irish, which first break up Whig meetings, and then move on to Tammany Hall, where Walsh, known for his fiery orations denouncing the rich, demands to be given political support. He ultimately gets it. Rynders is a former Mississippi riverboat gambler. He comes to New York and begins operating green-groceries, saloons, and gambling houses in the Sixth Ward, before establishing his Empire Club on Park Row, down the street from Tammany Hall. From this club, he dominates the Irish gangs of the Five Points, and marshals them into a cohesive voting block that back Tammany politicians. He will go on to become extremely influential in national politics, becoming a key player in the election of President James Polk. The 1840s also sees the emergence of William M. Tweed. The issue of slavery, dividing Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party in New York State, and the nation in general, sorely tests the Sachems of the Society of St. Tammany, who strive to stay above the fray. While the Democrats generally dominate local, state, and national politics in the 1830s, the 1840s sees politics seesaw between the Democrats, and its opponents including the Whigs and the lesser Nativist parties. The Sachems, getting tired of losing elections, embraces the return of a man who has united factions in Tammany Hall in the past: Fernando Wood.

A Modern Democrat, from the collection of the American Antiquarian Society.The cartoon caption states: “I’m sittin on the Stile &ec.”

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On January 9, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports of a quote in the New-York Evening Post:

“Parties hunt in packs like wolves, and what avail is it to muzzle a single animal, when a thousand more, fiercer, mayhap, and stronger than he, are ready with open jaws to fly upon their prey?—Evening Post. Written, probably, immediately after the breaking up of a meeting at Tammany Hall.”

The Post’s equating pack wolves to political parties is spot on, and demonstrates William Cullen Bryant’s penchant for the poetic. Bryant is already a noted poet by this time. The comment in the Commercial Advertiser shows that newspapers of the day refer to their rivals in oblique terms. An article in the Albany Argus of November 24, 1840 sheds some light on what Bryant, and his antagonist William Leete Stone are referring to: “The hungry wolves of federalism are already howling for their prey. We hear cart loads of applicants for every office. If Gen. Harrison does not violate his pledges about removals, which no one of his opponents believed when he made them, his friends will poison him in less that a year—they are so hungry.—Ohio Statesman.”

In other words, the supporters of the Whigs expect to receive patronage—spoils—from the new administration, but nature will intervene. While friends of the new president will not poison him, his own doctors will.

On February 4, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports:

“A communication was received from the chairman of the Democratic Republican Young Men’s General Committee, enclosing a preamble and resolutions passed at a meeting held at Tammany Hall in respect to the fire department, condemning the bill at present before the Legislature, and the ordinance passed by the Common Council in June, 1839, creating 24 new companies as unwise, impolitic and unjust. It was referred to the fire and water committee.

The Society of St. Tammany continues to meddle in the affairs of the New York City volunteer fire department. What starts with Tammany Hall making a scapegoat of fire chief James Gulick after the Great Fire of December 1835 continues. The disarray that follows Gulick’s sacking causes the various fire companies to become extensions of gangs, and they become preoccupied with fighting each other more than fighting fires. The same article states:

“A report from the same committee relative to charges against Samuel Kinney, for insubordination; on complaint made against company No. 27, for riotous conduct; on complaint of company No. 17, for an attack made upon them by company No. 10, was ordered to be printed.”

In eight years time, a twenty-six year old son of a chairmaker, who is a volunteer firefighter, will come to lead a new engine company. Known as “Big Six,” it will adopt the image of a Bengal Tiger as its emblem. Tammany Hall will come to embrace the young firefighter and his company’s emblem.

On March 4, William Henry Harrison and John Tyler are inaugurated President and Vice President of the United States.

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On April 4, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports:

“Painful Intelligence.—We greatly fear, from the tenor of our advices from Washington, the President’s life is in great jeopardy. His disease is bilious pneumonia, and is very obstinate. A physician who has arrived from Washington this morning, apprehends that the next mail will bring tidings that the nation will weep to hear.”


“THE PRESIDENT IS DEAD! The subjoined letters, and the official document below, will convey to an afflicted country the sad tidings for which the readers of this paper must have been but too well prepared by our publication of Saturday. In other words, General William Henry Harrison—a great and good man—the beloved of the nation—for just one month President of the United States—is no more.”

The article then reports events leading up to his death, of which follows are some excerpts: “The best medical skill of the city, with important aid from Baltimore, has been called into requisition, but all has been in vain.”

“5 o’clock—the President wanders, and is at time quite insensible, All his symptoms are worse. His family hanging in anxiety over his bedside, his physicians watching every motion. His diarrhea grows worse, and leaves hardly a hope, so rapidly does it prostrate his strength.”

“10 o’clock—Reports from the sick chamber for the last four hours have all been worse. The pulse beats feebler and feebler every minute. His flesh has become cold and clammy. During this time General Harrison has spoken his last words, after which he fell into a state of insensibility. At a quarter to nine, Dr. Worthington at his bedside, he said, (and it is presumed he was addressing Gov. Tyler)—‘SIR—I WISH YOU TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF THE GOVERNMENT. I WISH THEM CARRIED OUT. I ASK NOTHING MORE.’ ”

Death of Harrison April 4 A.D. 1841, by Nathaniel Currier.From the public domain.

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The long held assumption that Harrison dies from complications from pneumonia is now in dispute. An article in The New York Times of March 31, 2014, by Jane McHugh and Philip A. Mackowiak suggest otherwise. These medical detectives theorize that in fact Harrison dies from enteric fever, also know as typhoid fever. The cause of it is drinking water in the White House contaminated by Salmonella typhi, and Salmonella paratyphi from an open-air sewage marsh a few blocks upstream from the White House water supply. They note that President’s Polk and Taylor also suffer from severe gastroenteritis. Polk will fare better than Taylor. “The best medical skill of the city” is anything but. Demonstrating the backward medical practices of the day, the article states that Harrison’s doctors prescribe several toxic medications, including opium, which prevents the intestine’s ability to rid itself of the deadly bugs. Harrison’s doctors also perform enemas on him, likely perforating the colon resulting in sepsis. The Commercial Advertiser’s article stating that “His flesh becomes cold and clammy,” is a symptom of septic shock, and support McHugh and Mackowiak’s theories. The President’s dying words, presumably wishing that Tyler adhere to Whig doctrines will not come to pass.

On April 10, the New-York Spectator reports of a:

“Riot in the Twelfth Ward.—We briefly noted yesterday, that a man named McDonald was killed at a political meeting, on the previous evening; the following are the particulars of the case. On Monday evening there was a family quarrel, in the 12th ward, among supporters of the Tammany party, concerning the nomination of alderman and assistant. The gentleman agreed on the nominating committee, Messrs. Bradhurst and Osgood were not approved, it seems, by a large portion of the constituency, to wit, the laborers on the water-works who were present in formidable numbers. They insisted on nominating candidates of their own, and to enforce their will in the matter, proceeded to use of fists and clubs, to such effect that on man of the Bradhurst party, named Patrick McDonald, was bruised and injured even unto death, and several others were seriously hurt. It is scarcely needful to add that the parties engaged were chiefly foreigners.”

This article shows the rise of “ward heelers” backed up by their strong-armed “shoulder- hitters” in Tammany politics. For its first fifty years, the Society of St. Tammany is ruled from the top—the merchant elite—to the bottom. Starting in the 1840s the power shifts, starting at the bottom of the social class, instead of the top.


“The Mayoralty.—We trust that not a man in the Whig ranks will desert his own standard. The contest for the mayoralty is between J. PHILlIPS PHOENIX and Robert H. Morris, of Glentworth fame.

Democrat Robert H. Morris, trained as a lawyer, is the former New York district attorney, and member of the Society of S. Tammany. He is known for his involvement in the Glentworth conspiracy, in which James Glentworth, a Whig and tobacco inspector, brings fraudulent voters from Philadelphia to New York City during the presidential election of 1840, in the guise of workers to lay pipes. The conspiracy is revealed, and district attorney Morris, fearing that personal papers of Glentworth will be destroyed, goes to the home of a colleague of Glentworth who is holding the papers, in the middle of the night, and by force seizes the papers without a warrant. Governor Seward removes Morris as district attorney because of this. Whig J. Phillips Phoenix is a former New York City Alderman. Morris goes on to win the mayoralty by a slim margin.

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Henry Clay, the father of the Whig Party and Senator from Kentucky, once again tries to reestablish the Second Bank of the United States with an Act of Congress. On July 4, he states his misgivings on John Tyler’s failing to heed Harrison’s last words in a letter to Francis T. Brooke:

“Mr. Tyler’s opinions about a Bank are giving us great trouble. Indeed they not only threaten our defeat on that measure, but endanger the permanency, and the ascendancy of the Whig cause. Is it not deplorable that such a cause should be put in jeopardy in such a way? He conciliates no body by his particular notions. The Loco’s are more opposed to the scheme than to an old fashion bank., and ninety nine out of a hundred of the Whigs are decidedly adverse to it.” 1

On August 3, the Albany Argus reports of a:

“ ‘REPEAL’ MEETING IN NEW-YORK—GREAT GATHERING of the DEMOCRACY!

The call of the democratic committees of the First Senate District, for a meeting in the Park in New-York city, to pass censure on the recent proceedings and contemplated measures of the whig party in congress, was enthusiastically responded to on Thursday evening.”

The article continues:

“The meeting was further addressed by Marshall J. Bacon and S.J. Tilden, the former showing that the bank is created for the convenience of a class and not for the benefit of the people, and the latter discussing the question of repeal upon the principles which form the great basis of our institutions.”

S.J. Tilden is Samuel J. Tilden. Much more will be heard of Tilden in the coming decades.

On August 6, Congress passes the Bank Bill by a vote of 128 to 98.

On August 16, President John Tyler vetoes the Bank Bill. This causes the Whigs to riot outside of the White House. This riot leads to the formation of the District of Columbia police force. 2

On August 20, the Albany Argus reports:

“Upon the receipt of the Veto message here, early this morning, the stars and stripes, floated from the top a the noble hickory in front of Tammany Hall,—at Vanderlips, Third (Old Fourth) Ward Head Quarters—and at other democratic rallying points—and a National salute was fired from the Hill. To-morrow night, it will be seen, there is to be a Triumphal Veto Procession, in honor of the occasion.” On October 29, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports:

“Tammany Hall.—The general meeting opposition party of this city was held last evening, to pass upon the nominations presented for the Senate and Assembly by the nominating conventions. As it was known that the ticket for Assemblymen was not altogether acceptable to the naturalized citizens, a grand row was expected, and the lovers of the ring were not disappointed. Mr. Field, being altogether the best and most respectable man on the list was of course the most strongly objected to, Attempts were made to strike his name off, and substitute that of a young man named Walsh. A Mr. Daly was also proposed. The result was a grand row, in which many were knocked down, and the meeting broke up in confusion—three distinct factions, each claiming the victory.”

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“a young man named Walsh…” is Michael Walsh. Born in County Cork, Ireland in 1810, he immigrates to the United States, landing in Baltimore where he learns to be a lithographer. By the 1830s he moves to New York City. A brawler, as well as one known for giving rousing speeches where he labels the elite “curs,” “grub worms,” and “vultures,” he forms the Spartan Band, one of city’s most methodical gangs. This gang is known for invading Whig headquarters, proceeding to attack the members with clubs. 3 It is these shoulder-hitters that then invade Tammany Hall.

Mike Walsh, from Tammany Hall, by M. R. Werner.

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On October 29, the New-York Evening Post comments on Walsh’s appearance at Tammany Hall:

“At the time we entered the room, three men occupied the space immediately about the stage on which the officers are usually placed, and this Mr. Walsh was addressing them, in a style of furious oratory, in vindication, apparently, of his own opinions and character. He continued his remarks about an hour, during which time the assemblage remained without organization.”

In his speech, Walsh concludes:

“I come here determined to reduce the county meeting to its legitimate purposes-to appeal from the decision of a corrupt committee, who dispose of nominations to the highest bidder, as the hireling soldiery of Rome used to sell the imperial diadem. And why do you consider a manly proper and patriotic act a dangerous innovation? Because you are slaves? Yes, abject, willing slaves-slaves by choice, while you foolishly flatter yourselves that you are democrats. Keep still gentlemen-don’t worry yourselves-this is just the place for such remarks; but you have acted so long like automatons, that to act like men seems to you to be a new state of being. But I wish you to distinctly understand me when I tell you that Tammany Hall belongs to us—we being the honest, virtuous, portion of the democratic party, and I wish you also distinctly understand that we are determined to keep possession of it until you are able to dispossess us—and that I believe is as good as a lease for life, isn’t it boys?” 4

Faced with this formidable speaker and his gang, the Sachems of Tammany Hall agree to put Walsh on the ticket for Assembly. He loses in the election, but Walsh is just getting started. The Democrats win the majority in New York State Senate and Assembly, taking back the legislature from the Whigs, who had prevailed in 1840.

On December 12, the New-York Evening Post prints the following advertisement:

“THE EMPIRE STATE REDEEMED!!—A Grand BALL will be given by the Democracy the Fourth Ward, on TUESDAY EVENING, the 14th of December, 1841, at TAMMANY HALL, in commemoration of the Glorious Redemption of the Empire State.”

On January 28, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:

“DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN YOUNG MEN’S COMMITTTEE. At a meeting of this Committee, held at Tammany Hall, Wednesday evening, January 26, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: SAMUEL J. TILDEN, Chairman. Edward H. White, Thomas Frost, Treasurer.”

Samuel Jones Tilden is born on February 9, 1814 in New Lebanon, New York to Elam Tilden and Polly Younglove Jones Tilden. 5 Elam Tilden is the founder of Tilden & Company, the oldest pharmaceutical company in the United States. In 1824 Elam starts working with the Shakers of New Lebanon, buying their medicinal herbs and producing tinctures and extracts. Elam dies in 1842, having passed control of his company to his sons Moses Y. and Henry A. Tilden, the brothers of Samuel. 6 One of its most popular herbal remedies is Fluid Extract of Cannabis Indica. Samuel attends Yale University in 1837, but ill health forces him to withdraw. He then transfers to New York University, where he graduates. In 1841 he passes the New York Bar. He will go on to become one of the most influential New York Democrats of the 19th century.

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From Formulæ for making Tinctures, Infusions, Syrups, Wines Mixtures Pills, &c. Simple and Compound,

From Fluid and Solid Extracts, by Laboratory of Tilden & Co.

On March 26, the New-York Spectator reports:

“Nomination for Mayor.—Robert H. Morris has been nominated by the Tammany Hall convention for re-election to the office of Mayor of this city.”

On March 26, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:

“German Democratic Ball.—At Tammany Hall a German Democratic Ball takes place on Monday Evening. Those who are curious to see in what manner people from the Rhine and the Danube manage these things, have now one of the best opportunities. Tickets may be obtained at the Bar at Tammany Hall.”

This notice shows that the Society of St. Tammany continues to court the Germans as well as the Irish. The population of the New York City will rise from 300,000 to 500,000 in the 1840s, due, in large part, to the influx of German and Irish immigrants, 7 many of whom are Catholic.

The New York City mayoral election is held between April 12 and April 14, and once again pits Democrat Robert H. Morris against Whig J. Phillips Phoenix. This time Morris wins by a solid majority.


“The election was conducted with exceeding quite and decorum, throughout the day, and in every part of the city except that old battle-ground, the sixth ward, where symptoms of disorder and violence were perceptible almost from the beginning. In the afternoon a decided quarrel broke out between two parties of Emerald-Islanders, the Orangemen and the Catholics, which soon brought on a general fight, and kept that part of the city in an uproar until after dark. Very early in the affray the notorious Spartan Band of Tammany rioters took part in it.”

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On May 9, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports of:

“ASTOUNDING DEVELOPMENTS! The earnest attention of every citizen of New-York—city and state—and of the whole country—is requested to the documents contained in this evening’s Commercial, establishing the fact beyond the possibility of refutation, of further frauds, and yet more enormous than any hitherto disclosed, committed by the so-called Democratic party at the late charter election.”

The documents referred to by the Commercial Advertiser are the Documents of the Board of Aldermen, Vol. VIII. The independent voters of New York City, despairing that every election seems rigged, as well as other fraud, demand that a bipartisan committee of aldermen be appointed to investigate. 8 The report that is released to the public finds that:

Various corrupt office-holders steal $100,000 from the city. A five-year contract, at $64,500 a year is awarded to clean the streets, when another bidder offers to take it at $25,000 a year. The same corrupt office-holders fraudulently sell city land to cover the increasing debt. These office-holders have the city foreclose on private property for unpaid assessments, without informing the owners, and then buying up the property for themselves. Convicts from Blackwell Island are allowed to escape on the day before the election, taken to the various wards, and then directed to vote for the Democrats by their jailers.

This report is the first in a long line of investigations into political corruption in New York City in general, and Tammany Hall in particular. Every investigation concludes with a scathing report, but it is business as usual afterwards, and fraud and graft continue to grow, decade after decade, into the 20th century.

On May 12, no mention is made in the press of St. Tammany’s Day being celebrated at Tammany Hall.

On July 4, no mention is made in the press of the Society of St. Tammany celebrating Independence Day.

On September 28, the New-York Evening Post prints a notice of the meeting of the:

“DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN YOUNG MEN’S COMMITTEE At a meeting of this committee, held at Tammany Hall, Tuesday evening, Sept. 27th, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted: Whereas the peculiar importance of the election which approaches, imperatively requires the Democracy to rally for the success of their cause, therefore Resolved, That our democratic fellow citizens of the counties near the Hudson River and on Long Island, are recommended to hold a Mass Convention at some point on the Hudson River, to respond to the nomination of BOUCK & DICKINSON, and to contribute by unity and efficiency of action to their triumphant election”

Samuel J. Tilden signs this notice. “Bouck & Dickinson” are William C. Bouck and Daniel S. Dickinson, who lose to William Seward and Luther Bradish in the gubernatorial election of 1840. Their Whig opponents are Lieutenant Governor Luther Bradish, running to replace William Seward, and his running mate Gabriel Furman. Seward declines to run for reelection because of he incurs a personal debt of $200,000 while in office, and decides to return to his profitable law practice. 9 More will be heard of William Henry Seward in the coming decades.

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On October 26, the New-York Spectator prints the following letter to the editor:

“Messrs. Editors—With this note you will receive ‘Sale’s Koran,’ which I ask you to accept; besides I wish you to read it. You have frequently abused my friend Wm. L. Marcy for having said in the Senate of the U.S. that ‘to the Victor belong the Spoils.’ This observation did not originate with the Senator, but was a quotation from ‘Al Koran,’ revealed to Mohammed at Medina, sixteen hundred years ago. Since you have become a recipient of the ‘spoils’ I hope after reading the authority you will make an apology as the case requires. I refer you to Vol. 1, page 363, 369, Vol. 2, page 331—for the purpose of showing you the gross injustice you have done my friend.”

Yours truly, Daniel Jackson.”

Just who Daniel Jackson is, and his relationship to William L. Marcy, remains obscure. However, his incredible claim, that the former Senator, Governor, head of the Albany Regency, and Tammany stalwart is influenced by quotes in the Qur’an, may, in fact, be true. An examination of a version of The Koran, translated by George Sale and reprinted in 1850, reveals the following quotes:

From Vol. 1, Chapter VIII: “They will ask thee concerning the spoils: Answer, the division of the spoils belongeth unto God and the apostle. Therefore fear God, and compose the matter amicably among you; and obey God and his apostle, if ye are true believers. ”

From Vol. 1, Chapter XLVIII: “Now God was well pleased with the true believers, when they sware fidelity to thee under the tree; and he knew what was in their hearts; wherefore he sent down on them tranquility of mind, and rewarded them with a speedy victory, and many spoils which they took: for God is mighty and wise.” 10

Thomas Jefferson purchases Sale’s Koran, while he is a student at the College of William & Mary, and comes to know it intimately. This is demonstrated by the fact that on December 9, 1805, he hosts the United States’ first Iftar—the evening meal ending the fast of Ramadan—to accommodate the visiting Tunisian envoy, Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, at the White House. 11 Considering Jefferson’s impact on Tammany Hall and William Marcy, the theory that the Qur’an has a direct influence on Marcy’s quote “To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy” is not so far fetched. Yet the notion, that in the 18th and 19th century, Jefferson and others were so enlightened as to accept Islam and disseminate the Qur’an, especially in light of 21st century extremism in both the Eastern and Western world, gives one pause.

On November 11, the New-York Spectator reports of a:

“Meeting at Tammany Hall.—The great county meeting of the Democratic Party was opened last evening with yells and shouts unusual even to the walls of Tammany. The building was crammed from top to bottom with vociferous bipeds.”

The article continues:

“The report of the nominating committee, a long winded document, was read by Levi D. Slamm. Its wind was chiefly spent in blowing the tariff to the moon, and in puffing ‘the democracy’ to the skies. All was quite enough until Mr. Slamm read the last name on the Assembly ticket—that of Mr. Vandyke—when the uproar was tremendous. ‘No!’ ‘no!’ ‘Walsh!’ ‘Walsh!’ resounded from every part of the house. At this the redoubtable Michael started forward—some pulling him back, some pushing him on—and gained the rostrum.”

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The upshot is that Michael Walsh and his shoulder-hitters once again takes over a meeting at Tammany Hall, and succeeds in getting his name on the Tammany ticket. William Leete Stone, writing in the Spectator, describes “vociferous bipeds” cramming the Hall “from top to bottom.” He could have better described the scene as “from bottom to top,” because, once again, Tammany is dominated from the bottom of the social class instead of the top.

The New York State elections are held on November 8. In the gubernatorial election, Democrats William C. Bouck and Daniel S. Dickinson defeat Whigs Luther Bradish and Gabriel Furman. In the Assembly race the Democrats again prevail and win the majority, although Michael Walsh loses. In the national election for Congress, Fernando Wood loses his seat, and he retires from politics for the time being, but again the Democrats win a majority of the seats, 24, to the Whigs 10.

On February 7, the Democratic controlled state legislature re-elects Silas Wright Jr., gaining a balance in the U. S. Senate.

On April 10, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:

To our adopted citizen particularly, we would say that the Inspectors have no right to require the production of their naturalization papers, but that if they prove themselves to be naturalized and to possess the other necessary qualifications, it is their right and duty as good citizens to DEMAND that the oath be tendered them. If any Inspector, who (after the voter shall have declared himself to duly qualified) shall refuse to tender the oath, he is liable not only to a civil suit for damages in favor of the voter, BUT TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR A MISDEMEANOR.”

The poll inspectors do well to question the immigrant voters. Many get their naturalization papers right off the boat by corrupt Tammany judges without having resided in the United States for the required five years. Of course they vote as Tammany directs them.

And vote they do. In the April mayoral elections, Robert H. Morris is reelected, winning solidly over Whig candidate Robert Smith by a margin of 5000 of the 45,000 votes cast.

Naturalization of foreigners, scene in Tammany Hall,from the collection of the Library of Congress.

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On April 13, the New-York Commercial Advertiser prints the following letter to the editor, and its response:

“Messrs. Editors—Will you be good enough to inform me what victory was celebrated by the firing of cannon this morning in the Park, and the display of the star spangled banner with the city colors from City Hall? ‘Old Tammany’ has had the stars and strips flaunting over her since Tuesday morning; the motive at the wigwam cannot be misunderstood, for her victory just obtained, through fraud and gross corruption, is warrant for this display among the faithful. I am perhaps at fault, but it may be that some glorious event I our Revolutionary history is this day celebrated—but if my reading is correct and memory good, this is not the fact; then, pray, what was the reason of the fuss this morning in the Park? This evening, I presume, we shall have another dose under the direction of our worthy Mayor. PETER SIMPLE. ‘Simple’ enough! Why, does not Peter know that this is the birth-day of the man who, when a member of Washington’s Cabinet, and affecting friendship, was slandering the great and peerless man privately, in his diary, which he prepared for publication at his death, and also paying the infamous Callender for libeling him in public.”

April 13, 1843 is the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson—New Style calendar. “Callender” is James T. Callender, a pamphleteer and journalist who dies in 1803. Initially a friend Jefferson, who supports him financially, he turns on Jefferson after Jefferson finds him too radical, and he publishes a series of articles in the Richmond Recorder in 1802, alleging that Jefferson fathers several children by his slave concubine Sally Hemings. This “libel” is corroborated by DNA analysis in 1998, and supported by the historian Annette Gordon-Reed in her two seminal works: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, an American Controversy (1997), and The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (2008). Ms. Gordon-Reed goes on to win the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2009.

On April 14, The New-York Evening Post reports of a:

“Celebration of Jefferson’s Birthday The Centennial Anniversary of the birthday of that great statesman and eminent man, Thomas Jefferson, was celebrated in Tammany Hall by a great dinner last evening. Four hundred persons sat down to the table, and the dinner went off in the most excellent style.”

May 12 comes and goes without any mention in the press of St. Tammany’s Day being celebrated at Tammany Hall.

On June 30, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports:

“His Excellency Governor Bouck is making a journey at his leisure through the southern portion of the state. His first stage was from Albany to Lindenwold, a remarkable locality in the county of Columbia, known to the ancient geographers as Kinderhook, and at present the Mecca of the pilgrim brotherhood of St. Tammany.”

“Lindenwold” is Martin Van Buren’s estate in Kinderhook, New York. The Commercial Advertiser slyly cites the Qur’an’s influence on the Albany Regency by referring Lindenwold as “at present the Mecca of the pilgrim brotherhood of St. Tammany.”

July 4 comes and goes without any mention of the Society of St. Tammany acknowledging Independence Day.

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On July 20, the Albany Evening Journal reports of:

“ ‘The Subterranean.’—This is the title of a new paper started in New York by ‘Mike Walsh,’ an ultra but honest Loco Foco. It deals some hard blows at Tammany leaders, but never harder than they deserve.”

The Subterranean’s first issue is published on July 15, 1843.

On September 27, the Albany Evening Journal reports:

“Van Buren in New York—The meeting of of the friends of Martin Van Buren in the Park on Monday last, of which we extract one or two brief accounts from the New York papers, must have been sadly disappointed the high wrought expectations of the Tammany leaders. The Plebeian had ‘bespoken’ a larger meeting than had ever before held, but the People, though earnestly entreated, refused to turn out in Mr. Van Buren’s honor, and there are scarcely office-holders enough yet in New York to fill the City Hall Park.”

The article goes on to say:

“The only speaker of any note was Attorney General Barker, who expressed the hope that the party would unite for a candidate of the Baltimore Convention, whether that candidate should be Van Buren, Johnson, Calhoun, or John Tyler.”

None of the above mentioned men will gain the Democratic nomination for president in 1844.

On September 28, the Albany Evening Journal reports of the return of Mordecai Manuel Noah:

“ ‘As you were’— Mr. M.M. Noah, the modern Major Dalgetty, whose principles are regulated by the amount of ‘pay and provant’ which he receives, has got back, after various vicissitudes, to his old quarters in the Tammany Party. A few years since he deserted the Loco Focos to the Whigs; then from the Whigs to the Tyler party, and now from the Tylerites to the Van Burenites.”

“Major Dalgetty” is a character in Sir Walter Scott’s historic novel A Legend of Montrose. He is a mercenary, who does not fight for any one cause, but instead for the love of money and the battle. Equating Dalgetty with Noah is a stretch, because even though he disagrees with the various factions of Tammany Hall over the years, Noah is committed to one cause, and one cause only: establishing a native homeland for the Jews. In 1825, Noah tries to establish a Jewish refuge to be named “Ararat” on Grand Island in the Niagara River, on the New York, Ontario border. He soon abandons the project due to lack of support. In 1845, he goes on to publish Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews, in which he correctly predicts the establishment of the State of Israel some 100 years later. It is worth noting nativist James Harper publishes it.

On November 8, the New York State elections are held. The Democrats once again prevail by controlling both the Assembly and Senate. So, as the year comes to an end, the Democrats, with the support of their Tammany brethren, control New York City, New York State, and set their sights on Washington, mindful that John Tyler has forsaken the Whig Party. On November 9, the New-York Commercial Advertiser explains the reason that the Whig Party is in crises:

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It will be seen by the returns that the Whig ticket might just as well have been chosen as not,—and would have been but for the fact that four thousand of our voters chose to stay home, and three thousand more went off on a wild-goose chase after the Native American ticket,—thus throwing away their votes,—honestly, no doubt,—in an undertaking bootless and impracticable. We respect the feelings of this Native American association more than we admire their wisdom. If the government could be entirely re-constructed, the principle they have espoused might be worthy of consideration. But that principle has been yielded—it is gone—and cannot be recovered. And the adage is no less true than coarse, that ‘he that spits against the wind, spits in his own face.’ ”

With this apt quote, the Commercial Advertiser grudgingly acknowledges that there is no turning back on the fact that the immigrants are now a vital part of the fabric of America.

On November 25, no mention is made in the press of the anniversary of Evacuation Day.

However, Tammany Hall still manages to commemorate Andrew Jackson, because on January 6, the New-York Evening Post reports of a:

“BALL IN CELEBRATION OF THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY.—The anniversary of the battle of New Orleans will be celebrated on Monday evening, by a splendid ball at Tammany Hall. The arrangements for the occasion are said to have been made with great taste and elegance.—Tammany Hall has been newly fitted up, and its saloon is a most beautiful and spacious ball room.”

From the collection of the New York Public Library.

On March 23, the New-York Spectator reports:

“The Mayoralty.—Mr. Coddington has received the nomination of the Tammany Hall Party. The American Republicans hold their general meeting this evening, to pass upon the nomination of James Harper as the candidate of that party.”

“Mr. Coddington” is Jonathan I. Coddington, a former alderman, and ardent supporter of Martin Van Buren, who names him postmaster of New York in 1837. 12

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On April 9, the New York City mayoral election is held. The Democrats run Jonathan I. Coddington, the Whigs, Morris Franklin, and the American Republicans, James Harper. Franklin is a state senator, and will go on to become president of the New York Life Insurance Company. On April 10, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports of the outcome:

“A TRULY AMERICAN TRIUMPH Our feelings at the result of the election yesterday are those in general of high exultation, though not altogether unmingled with regret. In the grand result, there are none of the party specially designating themselves ‘American Republicans,’ who rejoice more sincerely than does the Commercial Advertiser. Yet we cannot but regret that the campaign has been so injudiciously conducted, on part of the more active Whigs, as to sacrifice those wards in which they were in a decoded majority, and which, by more prudent counsels, might have been preserved in their own distinctive character. Again, our gratification at the election of so sound a Whig and so excellent a man as JAMES HARPER, to the office of Mayor, is not unmixed with regret, at the sacrifice of such a noble and true hearted Whig as Morris Franklin. And this regret is the more embittered by the reflection that the sacrifice was alike uncalled for and unnecessary.”

Harper gets 24,178 votes to Coddington’s 19,837. Franklin gets a mere 5,198. The American Republican’s also gain a majority in the Common Council. Harper’s American Republican Party will evolve from a local political party to a national one, known alternatively as the Native American Party, the Know Nothing’s, and the American Party. Even though the name changes, their Protestant tenets will remain anti-Catholic, and nativist. Harper’s party will also embrace the Temperance movement, which will be his undoing.

On April 12, the New-York Evening Post gives its take on the recent election:

“The ‘Tammany folks’ had abundant reason for bearing their ‘defeat remarkably well.’ Through such defeats they look forward to many triumphs. Tammany Hall had become so odious that, had the Whig party maintained its integrity, they would have carried the city triumphantly. But now all is gone. The Native Americans will fall to pieces. The Whig party has fallen into disgrace. Tammany Hall will ‘purge and live cleanly,’ for a year, and then be restored to popular favor again. And all this to benefit some office-seeking gentry and to gratify a persecuting spirit against Irishmen, who, though often misled, are better and truer and more disciplined friends and supporters of Free Institutions and Republican Government, than those who are to be turned out or those who will go into office.”

With this article, the Evening Post succinctly defines the strategy that has served the Society of St. Tammany well in the past, and will continue to do so in the future: when down, sit back and wait for the opposition to hang itself.

On April 23, the Albany Argus reports of:

“THE NEW-YORK POLICE BILL This important bill, which contemplates very material and, is believed, valuable changes in the police government and organization of the city of New-York, is at last, we infer from the admissions in whig quarters, placed upon a footing satisfactory to the new ‘native’ authorities. All admitted the value and importance of the proposed reorganization of the city police, as reported to the House by Mr. Mann, and that under it, it would be become as efficient, as it is now unavoidably, from defective organization, inadequate to the wants of the city. And yet a committee for the board or party elect came up, warmly opposed to it, because it was understood that the designation of the officers would remain in the hands of the present board. That sufficiently obviated, and the ‘spoils’ (which the whigs and natives never care for—oh no!) secured, the combined whig and ‘native’ partisans support the bill.”

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The bill originates through the efforts of industrialist Peter Cooper, who is a member of the Common Council. 13 Cooper is a member of the Society of St. Tammany. 14

On May 1, the Whig National Convention is held in Baltimore. With John Tyler expelled from the party, the delegates select the old Whig Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey as their candidates for President and Vice President. Ambrose Spencer, former member of the Clintonain faction of the Democratic-Republican Party, former Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court, and in-law of De Witt Clinton, is the Convention’s Chairman.

On May 7, Governor Bouck signs the Municipal Police Act into law. Up to this time, New York City’s answer to fighting crime is a cobbled together group of night watchmen, marshals, health and fire wardens, inspectors, and lamplighters. The new law abolishes these disparate recipients of patronage—part time collectors of fees—and aims to replace them with a “Day and Night Police” of 800 men, to be trained a military manner. The members of the new police force are to be paid a full time salary, and have their new position as their only job. However, this law is known as “permissive legislation”—that is, it is up to New York City to accept it, or not. The new nativist administration of Mayor Harper chooses not to. Instead, Harper creates a force of 200, native born, temperance minded men that he himself selects. Known as “Harper’s Police,” they have no uniform, only a star shaped copper badge. Consequently, the term “copper” or “cop” is coined. 15 This new police force will enforce Sunday liquor laws, drive the fruit vendors—mainly women—off the streets, and prohibit the sale of alcohol on the Fourth of July. Because of this Mayor Harper will last only a year, after which the new Municipal Police will be implemented, and a long, complex, relationship with the Society of St. Tammany will begin.


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On May 9, with the Democratic National Convention just weeks away, the New-York Evening Post prints the following article:

“The note of Preparation.—Last evening the ‘Central Convention of Van Buren Associations’ held their first meeting at Tammany Hall, for the purpose of organizing and entering in earnest on the work of the Presidential campaign. We are told by a gentleman who is not prone to exaggeration, and who has much familiarity with popular assemblies, that its enthusiasm and energy far exceeded anything he had ever before witnessed. The events of the last two weeks at Washington, have had the effect of rousing the democracy of this city, and the proceedings of the meeting last evening, are an earnest that from this time forward, there will be not faltering here or elsewhere. The deepest indignation was felt at the attempt by a portion of the members of Congress to influence the action of the National Convention, and defeat the formal declaration of the choice which the people have already made. Each mention of Mr. Van Buren’s name was received with deafening applause, and the session was closed nine earnest and hearty cheers.”

The Post assumes that Van Buren, “the choice which the people have already made,” will be the foregone nominee at the Democratic National Convention. It is not to be. “The events of the last two weeks in Washington,” refers to President John Tyler’s securing the treaty of annexation that he had been secretly negotiating with the Republic of Texas’ President Sam Houston. The prospect of Texas entering the Union as a slave state will be the major topic at the Democratic National Convention. The anti-annexation faction lead by Martin Van Buren, and the pro-annexation faction lead by James K. Polk will mirror the formation of two new factions in the Democratic Party of New York: the Barnburners and the Hunkers.

On May 27, the Democratic National Convention is held in Baltimore. It is a battle between the Southern, expansionist Democrats, in favor of the annexation of Texas, and the Northern Democrats who oppose it. Three candidates initially emerge: Martin Van Buren, James Buchanan, Senator from Pennsylvania, and Lewis Cass, former Ambassador to France. Buchanan is seen as a moderate, and Cass pro-annexation. With the convention hopelessly deadlocked after eight ballots, a former Mississippi riverboat gambler and delegate from New York City by the name of Isaiah Rynders proposes that his friend James K. Polk of Tennessee be the nominee. Level-headed, practical, and a man that believes that actions speak louder that words, Rynders, in a moment of weakness, later states that he “had elected Polk President of the United States.” 16 Much more will be heard of Rynders. Polk is the former Governor of Tennessee, and Speaker of the House of Representatives. Based on his call for admitting the Republic of Texas as a slave state, and the Oregon Territories as a free state, he is unanimously accepted on the following roll call. The delegates then select future governor of New York, Silas Wright, as the candidate for Vice President, but being a friend of Van Buren, he declines, and George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania gains the nod. Polk is the first “dark horse” presidential candidate, and Wright is the first person to decline a nomination for Vice President.

The Democrats of New York react to the rejection of their native son by planning a mass rally to be held on June 4 in City Hall Park. Gansevoort Melville, older brother of the great 19th century novelist Herman Melville, is sent to Van Buren’s estate, Lindenwold in Kinderhook, New York, to persuade Van Buren to address the rally. Instead, Melville returns with a letter from Van Buren that he reads to the people. On June 5, the New-York Evening Post prints the letter, which begins:

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“Lindenwold, June 3d, 1844 Gentlemen—I had the honor to receive by the hands of Mr. Gansevoort Melville your communication requesting me, in behalf of a convention of delegates from the several Wards of the City and County of New York, to preside at a Mass meeting of the Democracy to be held on the 4th inst. to respond to the nominations of the Baltimore Convention.”

An excerpt of the letter continues:

“…let no one for a moment suppose that, in thus yielding to the proprieties of my position, I am in the slightest degree influenced by lukewarmness, much less hostility to the success of the nominations to which it is the purpose of those your represent to respond. Far, very far is that from being the true state of my feelings. I have known Messrs. Polk and Dallas long and intimately. I have had frequent opportunities for personal observation of their conduct in the discharge of high and responsible public duties. The latter has, by my appointment, represented the country abroad with credit and usefulness. They are both gentlemen possessed of high character, of unquestionable patriotism and integrity, each able to discharge the duties of the station for which they have been respectively nominated.”

This letter confirms Van Buren’s fundamental political philosophy: party loyalty comes first. Gansevoort Melville, a lawyer, and a member of the Court of Common Pleas, finds that he prefers politics to litigation, and goes on the road to stump for Polk, but avoids any connection with Tammany Hall. 17 With the reading of Van Buren’s letter, the Democratic Party of New York falls in line behind Polk.

On August 16, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports:

The painful office devolves upon us, this morning, of announcing an event to which we have for some months looked forward to with sad anticipation, and for which the readers have been in a measure prepared. William Leete Stone, since April, 1820, the editor-in-chief of the Commercial Advertiser, died yesterday morning, at the residence of his father-in law, Rev. Mr. Wayland, at Saratoga Springs. His age was 52 years. Mr. Stone’s long and painful illness was chiefly caused by excessive devotion to the toils of the study—to the unremitted labor of the mind—the injurious effects of which were not counteracted by sufficient exercise of the body.”

On August 16, William Cullen Bryant praises his rival, adversary, and the man he attacked on Broadway on April 20, 1831. Writing in the New-York Evening Post, he states:

“Colonial William L. Stone, editor of the Commercial Advertiser of this city, died yesterday morning, after a protracted illness, at the residence of his father-in law, the Reverend Mr. Wayland, at Saratoga Springs. Col. Stone for more than twenty years conducted one of the most prominent papers of the whig party. He wrote with great facility and clearness, and from long experience and acquired the art of making up a journal interesting to a large class of readers.”

Flush from the Democratic Convention, Isaiah Rynders returns to New York City and forms the Empire Club at 28 Park Row, just down the street from Tammany Hall. It is cited as being “one of the most effective auxiliaries of the Wigwam.” 18 Like Walsh’s Spartan Band, but with much greater influence and scope, its members are of Rynders ilk—who had a reputation as a brawler on the Mississippi, settling dust-ups with a Bowie knife, and a red-hot poker. From his club, he coordinates the Irish gangs from the “Bloody Ould Sixth”—the Five Points of Manhattan. He then begins to organize them into what matters most: voting for Tammany.

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Starting in August, newspaper articles citing Tammany Hall begin to emerge—through 21st Century online databases—in the New York Herald, and its weekly subsidiary the Weekly Herald. Started in 1835, its editor is James Gordon Bennett Sr. By 1861, the Herald will have a circulation of 84,000 copies, and will call itself “the most largely circulated journal in the world.” 19 On August 31, the Weekly Herald reports:

“The most active instrumentality at present in the field for Mr. Polk, appears to be that of the ‘Empire Club’—of the extent of whose powers to aid the cause, and the value of whose agency, we believe not very many require special enlightenment. We miss the great guns at the public meetings of the democracy. The scepter of old Tammany appears to have been idly cast away, and neither in the newspaper organs, nor in the popular gatherings do we recognize that dignified, bold, confident and authoritative tone and character which distinguished them in other days”

With this article stating “The scepter of old Tammany appears to have been idly cast away…” the Herald confirms that Tammany Hall is now ruled from the bottom of the economic ladder to the top.

On September 4, the Democratic State Convention is held in Syracuse, New York. Silas Wright and Addison Gardiner are nominated candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Wright is the long term Senator from New York, a former member of the Albany Regency, and friend and colleague of Martin Van Buren. Gardiner is lawyer from Rochester, New York, and a former Judge of the Eight Circuit Court of New York. Governor Bouck willingly agrees not to run for reelection.

A daguerreotype of Silas Wright, by the studio of Mathew Brady. From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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On September 10, the New-York Evening Post reports of a:

“GREAT MEETING AT TAMMANY HALL. The democrats of the city of New York assembled last evening at Tammany Hall, to respond to the nomination at the Syracuse Convention. As might have been expected from the enthusiasm with which the nominations of Silas Wright and Addison Gardiner have been received, the assemblage was prodigiously large; so large that it was impossible for hundreds who came to obtain access to the building.”

On October 29, with the State and National elections impending, the New-York Herald reports of Isaiah Rynders quelling a divisive meeting at Tammany Hall. Levi D. Slamm, presiding over the meeting, attempts to address the raucous crowd:

“I hold in my hand—(confusion)—which will be published to-morrow in the public journals. (Cries of ‘read it,’ and tumult) I now hold in my hand, (hissing and cheering) and I will now read it (violent tumult for several minutes, during which the speaker attempted to read it, but was completely drowned with cries of ‘turn him out,’ ‘sit down,’ &c.) At this moment there were some indications apparent their threats would be fulfilled, when a person calling out ‘why don’t you turn him out—try it.’ There was a rush to the platform, during which Capt. Isaiah Rynders, of the Empire Club arose and slapped his hand energetically on the desk, which had the effect of restoring a partial calm. Mr. Rynders stepped forward, and his presence produced great comparative tranquility. He said that he regretted that division should appear on the eve of victory.”

On October 31, the New-York Herald reports of competing Whig and Democratic throngs in City Hall Park:

“At the gate to the Park, opposite to Tammany Hall, there was assembled a great number of persons having Clay badges, while on the other side were a still greater numbers, shouting loud and long of ‘Polk and Dallas’—‘Free Trade’—‘Our Country’s Freedom’—‘Wright and Gardner’—‘Three groans for the Whigs,’—‘Down with Henry Clay,’ &c &c. On the Park side these were responded to by ‘Three cheers for Henry Clay,’ Ditto for ‘Theodore Frelinghuysen,’—‘American Industry,’—‘No foreign influence’—‘Fillmore and Wilkin.’ ”

“Fillmore and Wilkin” refer to Millard Fillmore and Samuel J. Wilkin, the Whig nominees for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York. Wilkin is a former anti-Jacksonian member of Congress from the Sixth Congressional District on Long Island. Fillmore is a lawyer from Western New York, a former National-Republican, a Loyal Whig. Much more will be heard from Millard Fillmore.

The first week of November sees the presidential election, and in New York State, the gubernatorial election, the election for state senate and assembly, and the congressional elections. With the presidential election hinging on the Texas-Oregon question, Polk invokes the concept of Manifest Destiny, yet to be given a name, that western expansion to the Pacific is America’s destiny, and manifest. The Whigs, and later the Republican Party, reject the concept, seeing it smack of imperialism, believing that America should set an example of democracy rather than one of conquest. 20 Polk’s embrace of conquest brings out the Democratic voters, especially in the West, and he narrowly defeats Clay. The gubernatorial election is close as well, with Silas Wright defeating Millard Fillmore 49.5 to 47.4 percent. In the elections for the New York Legislature, the Democrats once again prevail, maintaining a majority. In the congressional elections the Democrats gain 21 seats, to the Whigs 9, and the Know Nothings 4. So, as has been seen time and time again, the Society of St. Tammany is back on top.

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In New York, it is initially believed that Clay wins, but within a day or two it becomes clear that Polk is the victor. Upon hearing the news, Isaiah Rynders proceeds on horseback to the home of New York lawyer Benjamin Butler (who, at Rynders insistence, had placed Polk’s name in nomination at the Baltimore Convention) to congratulate him. Remarkably, Theodore Frelinghuysen is residing at the house next to Butler’s, presumably to take New York by storm upon his victory. On seeing Frelinghuysen poke his head out a window to see what the ruckus is, Rynders then addresses the defeated vice presidential candidate:

“You stated the other night sir, that you would feel glad when your time came to be relieved of the cares of office, We Democrats have taken you at your word, As a Democrat, I am glad to announce that James K. Polk has been elected President, and George M. Dallas Vice President, and that, therefore, you are relieved from all further cares of duty as Vice President.”

Benjamin Butler then addresses the jubilant Rynders from his window:

“The Empire State has saved the Union, the Empire City has saved the Empire State, and the Empire Club has saved Empire City!” 21

For all Butler’s bluster, his praise for Rynders, intimating that the Empire Club is key to Polk’s victory, has merit. Rynders stumps the state for Polk, getting out the vote. And a close vote it is, with Polk prevailing by just over one percent. In 1844, New York State has the largest number of electoral votes: thirty-six. Had the scale tipped slightly to Clay, he would be president.

On January 9, the New-York Herald reports of another celebration of the Battle of New Orleans at Tammany Hall:

“EIGHTH OF JANUARY BALL AT OLD TAMMANY This annual festival of the St. Tammany Society, excited more than usual interest the present year, from the knowledge that Vice President Dallas was to be present, attended by several other distinguished gentlemen from abroad”

One of the “other distinguished gentlemen” is Mirabeau B. Lamar, the former President of the Republic of Texas. He and Sam Houston are brothers in arms. Texas in January of 1845 is still “abroad,” and the fact that Lamar travels from Texas to New York City, some 1,500 miles away, to celebrate with the future namesake of Dallas, Texas, demonstrates that Tammany Hall is increasingly entwined in American politics. Notably absent from the Ball is Governor Silas Wright. An opponent of slavery, he will not live long enough to see the rise of the anti-slavery faction of the Democratic Party: The Barnburners.

On January 18, special elections are held in the New York State Legislature to elect two U.S. Senators. It will define the coming split in Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party of New York, and the United States. The issue: slavery. The first, Class 1, is to replace Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge who resigns to become Governor of the Wisconsin Territory. The elect Democrat Daniel S. Dickinson, Lieutenant Governor of New York, and future head of the pro-slavery faction of the Democratic Party: The Hunkers. The second, Class 3, is to replace Silas Wright Jr., who becomes governor. They elect John Adams Dix. Dix is a former New York Assemblyman, who will go on to be a leader of the anti-slavery faction of the Democratic Party: The Barnburners.

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On January 21, the New-York Herald reports:

“The Ironsides Club Ball.—Last evening there were gathered together to sport ‘the light fantastic toe,’ some three hundred members and friends of this club, at Tammany Hall. The room was splendidly decorated, good eating and drinking provided, and everything appeared to go off with the greatest satisfaction.”

The Ironsides Club is another Democratic club, which has its roots, as does Tammany Hall, in Philadelphia. 22 The phrase “the light fantastic toe,” meaning to dance nimbly, originates in John Milton’s 1645 poem L’Allegro, which includes the lines:

“Com and trip as ye go, On the light fantastic toe.”

The phrase is updated, and immortalized in 1894 with James W. Blake and Charles B. Lawlor’s The Sidewalks of New York. It is a song that defines the end of the 19th, and the beginning of the 20th century in New York City. It is one of the most popular and enduring songs about New York, with a chorus evoking a simpler time:

“East Side, West Side, all around the town The tots sang ‘ring-a-rosie,’ ‘London Bridge is falling down’ Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O’Rourke Tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York”

Sheet Music Cover, The Sidewalks of New York, Published by Richmond-Robbins, Inc.,1914. From the public domain.

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On January 27, the New-York Express reports of a challenge to the annexation of Texas at a meeting at Tammany Hall, and a harsh critique of how Tammany is now ruled by the lower social class:

“The chief thing worthy of attention at the meeting is the hands into which Tammany Hall has fallen. The better portion of the party wished for Ex-Mayor Morris to preside. The convicts of the Sessions, and the refugees from justice, demanded their fitting chief, Captain Rynders. It is but fair of him to say—for justice to all is due,—that but for his forbearance in not assuming the chair, the Ex-Mayor would not have had the honor of presiding, for the Jacobin Captain seemed to have a decided majority of the voices with him. The consequence of such a spirit on the part of the majority, was a manifestation of great dislike to all among ‘the democracy; who hold back in the annexation of Texas, and a disposition to groan at, or to hiss such men as Martin Van Buren, Silas Wright, and Preston King. A resolution complementing Silas Wright, whom these people have just elected Governor, was howled down. Oh, Shame on the slave-holding aristocracy of the South, that they consort and ally themselves with the refuse population and rabble of our Northern cities, and have in them their own real, hearty compatriots! We say this especially for the Richmond Enquirer, who has just been embracing Capt. Rynders and his crew of thimble-riggers, stuffers, gamblers, and loafers.”

Preston King is a Congressman from upstate New York. On November 13, 1865, he will commit suicide by jumping into New York Harbor.

On February 21, The New-York Herald reports of Isaiah Rynders taking his cause of the annexation of Texas to Albany:

“In our next Weekly Herald, probably, we shall be able to give a likeness of this famous Captain, with a view of his club grouped around the stove of their club room, and deliberating on the annexation of Texas. The Captain, himself, departed very suddenly yesterday morning for Albany. On Friday evening he unexpectedly calls for his bill at the Exchange Hotel, in Barclay street, and ordered the waiter to call him precisely at 5 o’clock next morning, as he proceeded to Albany as a sort of pilgrimage to Mecca. Probably the Captain will regulate things in the capitol and put the barn-burners and old hunkers in their proper position before he returns, just as he has frequently here set Tammany Hall in order.”

A detail of Henry R. Robinson’s Grand Presidential Sweep-Stakes for 1849.Isaiah Rynders, center, is seen without a hat. He views a 1848 horse race between

Zachary Taylor, Lewis Cass, and Martin Van Buren. From the collection of the Library of Congress.

The “pilgrimage to Mecca” is a sly reference to Qur’an’s influence on William Marcy defining the Spoils System. The Democratic factions in Tammany Hall and in New York, debating slavery in the ever-expanding Southern and Western United States, are finally given names: The Barnburners and the Hunkers.

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The Barnburners are forward thinking men who would otherwise be labeled radicals. They oppose the expansion of National debt, corporations subsidized by the Federal Government, and in general, opposition to the impending Polk administration supplanting the now fragmented Albany Regency. But one issue stands at the forefront of their beliefs: opposition to the extension of slavery. Their name is derived, according to historian Gustavus Myers, by a contractor, presumably a Hunker, that states: “These men are incendiaries; they are mad; they are like the farmer, whom to get the rats out of his granary, sets fire to his own barn.” 23 Martin Van Buren, Samuel J. Tilden, Silas Wright, and the tragic Preston King lead this faction. The Hunkers are the conservatives. They support state chartered banks, internal improvements supported by public debt, and are committed to staying out of the issue of slavery. The reason for this is that they are, for the most part, successful merchants and brokers who depend on the Southern planters and their slaves. They are old-time office holders who want to maintain the status quo. Their aim is to hold on to power: “to get all they can get and keep all they can get.” 24 The origin of their name is obscure. Myers states that it has its origins in the Dutch word honk, meaning post, goal, or home. The word hunker, as defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary, means to squat or crouch down low. The former and future governors of New York, William Marcy, Horatio Seymour, as well as Senator Danial S. Dickinson are among its leaders. So, as Tammany Hall goes, so goes the Nation. While the Barnburners and the Hunkers originate in New York State, they mirror the divisions within the United States, which will come to a head in sixteen years. The following political cartoon, shows the complexities that will face the Democratic Party in the coming years. In it William Cullen Bryant, and Benjamin F. Butler, former United States Attorney General under Martin Van Buren, sit atop a burning barn. John Van Buren is seen raising a ladder, while his father Martin, depicted as a fox is seen leaping off the roof. Meanwhile, Franklin Pierce is seen to the side, stuck in the mud.

Barn-Burners In A Fix. Published by John Childs, 84 Nassau Street, New York, 1852.

From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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On March 1, the New-York Evening Post prints the following advertisement:

“AMERICAN REPUBLICAN BALL, of the 7th and 13th wards, to be held at Tammany Hall, on TUESDAY EVENING, March 4th 1845. THOMAS E. SUTTON, Chairman. J.N. Leggett, Secretary Tickets for the above Ball can be had of S.N. Leggett, 480 Grand st. or Wm. Madden, corner of East Broadway and Catharine st.”

The timing of the American Republican Party trying to stage a Nativist Ball at Tammany Hall is no coincidence. It is clearly trying to steal the thunder of the inauguration of James Polk. These efforts will be in vain.

In February, Congress, mindful of James K. Polk’s arrival in Washington, and after several amendments expanding the pro-slavery provisions of Tyler-Texas treaty, passes a bill that allows President-elect Polk to offer the Republic of Texas immediate annexation into the Union, and President Tyler signs it on March 1. 25 On March 3, his last day in office, Tyler preempts Polk, and sends by courier the provisions of the bill directly to the Republic of Texas in Houston City, offering Texas admission to the Union. 26

On March 4, Democrats James K. Polk and George M. Dallas are inaugurated President and Vice President of the United States. Now president, Polk allows Tyler’s dispatch to Texas to go through. 27

On March 6, President Polk appoints former senator, governor of New York, and Tammany Hunker, William L. Marcy as his Secretary of War.

On March 13, the New-York Evening Post reports:

“Glorious Celebration.—Monday next will be signalized with all the splendor of an Inauguration and Annexation Ball at Tammany Hall, in honor of the birthday of General Jackson. It is wise and patriotic to celebrate this day, and the committee, consisting, as it does, of members ot the Tammany Society and the two General Committees, furnish an ample assurance to the public that the preparations will be made on a scale of elegance hitherto unequalled”

This Ball, which receives the blessing of the Society of St. Tammany, is clearly staged by the Hunkers.

On March 15, the New-York Evening Post reports:

“The Day.—This 17th day of March is an important day on the calendar. It is what is popularly called St. Patrick’s Day, and will be observed in the usual manner by our Irish population. It is also the birthday of General Jackson, and to-night there is to be a grand ball at Tammany Hall, in honor of the old patriot and sage.”

Celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day occur in New York City since before the Revolutionary War. According to Edward O’Reilly, the manuscript reference librarian of the New-York Historical Society, the first known reference to a celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in New York City is in the New-York Post Boy of March 1756. The first known reference to a St. Patrick’s Day parade is in the New-York Gazette of March 1766. Irishmen serving in the British Army stage these events.

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After the Revolutionary War, the Irish-American societies stage parades on the 4th of July. By the 1840s these societies band together and begin marching on March 17. This parade will become one of the largest in the world. The Post’s linking Andrew Jackson to St. Patrick is no accident. Jackson’s parents are Scotch-Irish immigrants from Ulster, now Northern Ireland. March 15, 1845 is Andrew Jackson’s seventy-eighth birthday. It will be his last.

By this time, a potato blight, that has been traced to Mexico, 28 having spread to North America, makes its way to Ireland. It has been suggested that ships from New York City and other North American ports bring the blighted potatoes to Ireland, as well as Europe, where it rapidly spreads. 29 The result is the Great Hunger—an Gorta Mór: Ireland’s Great Famine, which will last until 1852. It decimates the Irish population, with at least a million people dying and a million more emigrating from Ireland. 30 Many of these immigrants make their way to New York City, and from 1840 to 1850 its population swells from 312,000 to 515,000. 31 In addition to the Irish, the Germans, also immigrate to New York, having suffered from the potato blight as well. 32

On March 21, the New-York Evening Post reports of a convention at Tammany Hall that meets to nominate the Democratic candidate for mayor. Two men lead the pack. One is the industrialist and inventor of the first American steam engine, the Tom Thumb, Peter Cooper. The second is the son of a German immigrant and sugar refiner. His name: William F. Havemeyer. Havemeyer wins the nomination on the second ballot. The Post states its opinion of him:

“A better nomination could have hardly been made. Mr. Havemeyer is one of our best known and respectable merchants; a man of business habits and tried integrity; whose political principles have always been decidedly democratic, and who possesses the ability, as well as the disposition, to administer our municipal affairs with economy and decision.”

A detail of a daguerreotype of William F. Havemeyer,by the studio of Mathew Brady. From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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What the Post does not state is that by 1845 Havemeyer has retired from business, and is independently wealthy. His father, also named William, establishes one of the first sugar refineries in New York City in 1809. Along with his cousin Frederick, William follows his father’s lead, and the two of them establish their own sugar refining company in 1828. In 1842, William sells his interest in the company to his brother Albert, establishing his fortune. In 1844, Havemeyer enters politics, becoming a Democratic elector for James Polk. By this time he is on the General Committee of Tammany Hall. 33 Havemeyer, running against nativist James Harper, is touted in the campaign as a “native New Yorker” by the Tammany Democrats. 34 Making a good case for nepotism, the Havemeyer family will come to dominate sugar refining in the United States and the world into the 20th century. In 1856, Frederick C. Havemeyer expands his company to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, just north of Wallabout Bay, building what will become the largest sugar refinery in the world. The Brooklyn refinery becomes known as Domino Sugar at the turn of the 20th century.

On April 8, the New York City charter election is held. It is a three-way race. In addition to the incumbent mayor, James Harper running on the nativist American Republican ticket, and the Democratic nominee, William Havemeyer, the Whig Party’s choice is Dudley Selden. Selden is a former Jacksonian, having served in Congress from 1833 to 1834, when he resigns, presumably protesting Jackson’s anti-bank policies. Selden essentially plays the part of spoiler, getting 7,082 votes. Harper receives 17,472, and Havemeyer prevails, winning solidly with 24,183. In addition, the Democrats win a majority in the Common Council. 35

On May 13, Mayor Havemeyer formally adopts the Municipal Police Act, disbanding “Harpers Police,” and with it comes the task of appointing the Superintendent of Police. The New-York Herald of May 26 reports of Havemeyer meeting with the Tammany controlled Common Council:

“Mayor Havemeyer and the Democracy.—Appointment of Justice Taylor.—The nomination of Justice Taylor, by the Mayor as Superintendent of Police, has created a perfect tempest —a genuine hurricane amongst the ranks of the democratic party throughout the city and its five thousand grogshops. There will be a prodigious struggle made to defeat this appointment and throw out the nomination.”

What does Tammany have against Mr. Taylor, who is a police justice at the Tombs? Nothing, except that he is a Whig. The Tombs is the informal name given to the Hall of Justice and House of Detention, built in 1838 on the edge of the Five Points. It replaces the colonial Bridewell Prison, which was located on the edge of City Hall Park. Mayor Havemeyer presumably seeks to appoint Taylor based on his merit. It is not to be. The Common Council holds sway and they reject Taylor. After the Common Council rejects Justice Taylor, Havemeyer nominates George W. Matsell, also a police justice at the Tombs, for Superintendent of Police, and the Common Council approves him. 36 The city is then is divided into three police districts, with their associated station houses, courts, clerks and magistrates. As alluded to in the Commercial Advertiser, and showing the beginning of Tammany’s influence over the New York Police Department, the Common Council doles out the eight hundred new positions of police officers to their own: loyal Democrats, some of whom are members of the gangs of New York. 37

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1845 On June 8, Andrew Jackson dies at his plantation, The Hermitage, in Nashville, Tennessee. On June 17, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports of a letter sent to the Common Council:

Mayor’s Office, June 16, 1845To the honorable the Common Council: Gentlemen—Intelligence has reached me this afternoon, in apparently authentic form, of the death of General Andrew Jackson. He expired on Sunday, June 8th at 6 o’clock, at his residence at the Hermitage. I have thought it proper to communicate officially to you this event, in order that you may take measures to enable the people of this city, in sympathy of the whole people of the Union, to manifest their sorrow for the national loss. With great respect, gentlemen, Yours, &c. W. F. HAVEMEYER.”

A daguerreotype of Andrew Jackson, taken shortly before his death.Attributed to Edward Anthony, Mathew Brady Studio.


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On June 23, the New-York Evening Post reports of a massive funeral procession held in New York City in honor of the late Andrew Jackson. The arrangements are held in concert with the City of Brooklyn. Thirteen Divisions of the United States Army march through the streets of lower Manhattan, ending up in front of City Hall, where a prayer, oration, requiem, and a benediction are delivered. The Society of St. Tammany, the Democrats, the Whigs, and the American Republicans all march together with the Fifth Division.

In July, President Polk dispatches 3,500 American troops to the disputed Nueces Strip: the area in what will become the State of Texas, bordered by the Nueces River in the north, and the Rio Grande in the south. A veteran of the War of 1812, and the Second Seminole War leads the troops. His name: Zachary Taylor. At this time, Mexico believes that the Republic of Texas’ southern border ends at the Nueces River.

In the November elections for New York State, Democrat and Barnburner Samuel J. Tilden is elected to the Assembly, beginning his long career in politics that will have its zenith in the presidential election of 1876. The Democrats maintain their majority in the State Senate and Assembly. The New-York Commercial Advertiser of November 8 sums up the results:

“The die is cast—the election has been decided, and the Whigs have suffered an overwhelming defeat.—The Democratic ticket has been carried by an unusual majority.”

On December 20, the New-York Globe reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall that includes the following excerpt from one of the resolutions:

“That in the final consummation of the great measure of the Annexation of Texas, by its admission as a State into our confederacy, we behold one of the mighty results of the election of James K. Polk.”

On December 29, President Polk signs legislation admitting Texas into the Union.

On January 16, the Albany Argus reports of the:

“Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans.—The democracy of the city of New York celebrated the anniversary of the 8th of January by giving a superb entertainment at Tammany Hall. We have endeavored for two or three days, to copy from the Globe an account of this splendid affair, and also the Texas and Oregon fete at Castle Garden, on the same evening—but the crowded state of our columns with legislative and other interesting matters has prevented it.”

James K. Polk will be the last decisive president of the United States until, arguably the greatest of all, Abraham Lincoln, fifteen years hence. After Polk, the Nation will suffer a progression of increasingly lame presidents. By the end of his term, Polk will oversee the greatest expansion of the United States since Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase in 1803. By 1849, the United States, under Polk’s direction, will be a land from sea to shining sea. Polk will deal with the issue of slavery in the West by arguing that the Missouri Compromise line should extend to the Pacific. This will further polarize the Nation, as mirrored by the Barnburner and Hunker factions of the Society of St. Tammany. The anti-slavery Barnburners will give birth to a new political party in two years time: the Free Soil Party.

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On February 14, the Republic of Texas officially becomes the State of Texas, formally ceding its territory to the United States.

On April 4, the Weekly Herald reports on the nominations for mayor in the upcoming election:

“The bustle and preparation consequent upon an election in the city of New York, are now visible at every corner. The mighty upheaving of all the discordant elements of which the several political parties are composed, is distinctly seen; the various nominees for the mayoralty have been put forward; the usual flattering letters, accepting the honor, have been published—the drum and fife heard in the streets at night; and the blue lights of the procession are sending their ghastly glare over the city. The citizens of New York have, thus far, three nominees for the mayoralty presented to them The democratic party were for a long time divided on the nomination, on account of the present mayor, Mr. Havemeyer, declining re-nomination; but at last settled on Mr. Andrew H. Mickle, a respectable tobacco merchant downtown, as candidate of the party. The Whigs proper have nominated Justice Taylor, who was selected by the fag end of the old native party, who seeing the utter impossibility of again reaching power in this city, assumed the name of City Reformers and formed a coalition with the whigs, with the hope of securing a portion, at least, of the loaves and fishes. The natives have nominated Wm. B. Cozzens as their candidate for the same office.”

Mayor Havemeyer’s declining to run for second term is because the Common Council, which is dominated by Tammany Hall, constantly thwarts him. Independently wealthy, he has no need for graft or patronage, and genuinely tries to effect reform in the city, only to run head first into the Common Council. Their rejecting Justice Taylor as Superintendent of Police is just one example. It is not the last we will hear from Havemeyer. By contrast, Andrew H. Mickle is considered “one of the people.” Legend has it that he is born in shanty in the “Bloody Ould Sixth” that is occupied by a dozen pigs. 38 As a tobacco merchant, he is dependent on the southern planters, and their slaves who raise their tobacco. In contrast, Havemeyer, by this time, is a committed Barnburner, opposed to slavery. Justice Taylor, the Whig nominee, as noted in the Herald, is just going through the motions. Nativest nominee William B. Cozzens is one of the original proprietors of the restaurant and bar at Tammany Hall along with Abraham “Brom” Martling. We last hear from Cozzens in 1825 after he is summarily replaced at Tammany Hall, and opens an inn at West Point, whose fare, according to cadet Robert E. Lee, is “untouchable.” What Cozzens has been doing for the last twenty years is unclear.

On April 4, leading up to the mayoral election, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:

“Notice is hereby given, that the Naturalization Committee appointed by the Democratic General Committee will be in session at Tammany Hall from 10 till 2 o’clock, every day (Sunday excepted) until after the election.”

Again, the Society of St. Tammany, to get out the vote, speeds the naturalization, through corrupt judges, of the multitude of immigrants having just fallen off the boat, literally—the Atlantic voyage being notoriously brutal—who are beginning to flee the potato famine of Europe and Ireland. Andrew Mickle goes on to win a decisive victory.

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On April 23, the current president of Mexico, Mariano Paredes, declares his intent to fight a “defensive war” against American encroachment in the Nueces Strip. It is worth noting that in 1846 alone, the Mexican presidency changes hands four times. On April 25, the Mexican Cavalry cross the Rio Grande, and falls upon a 70 man United States Army patrol commanded by Captain Seth Thorton, killing 16 soldiers. 39

On May 11, President Polk addresses Congress, stating that:

“Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States and shed American blood on American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are now at war.” 40

On May 13, Congress declares war on Mexico.

On May 19, the Albany Argus reports:

‘THE EMPIRE CITY IN THE FIELD![From the Globe of Friday.]

MEETING IN RELATION TO OUR AFFAIRS WITH MEXICO. At a meeting of citizens held last evening, to talk into consideration our relations with the Mexican Government, and to suggest such measures as may tend to a vigorous prosecution of the war against Mexico…”

On August 8, on the Saturday before it is set to adjourn, President Polk submits a request to Congress for $2,000,000 to sway Mexico to end the war. The timing of this request is calculated to prevent any debate. But David Wilmot, Congressman from Pennsylvania, along with Barnburner Preston King of New York, among others are ready. In a special night session, Wilmot introduces a rider to the appropriations bill that will ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. It comes to be named the Wilmot Proviso. It passes in the House, but is defeated in the Senate. It will be reintroduced two more times, and become a major factor it the presidential election of 1848.

On September 3, the New-York Evening Post reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall. The article carries lengthy resolutions commending the Democratic controlled 29th United States Congress, President Polk, Vice President Dallas, and support for the war with Mexico. In addition, according to the Post, the following resolution is carried without dissent:

“Resolved, That our distinguished governor Silas Wright continues to enjoy the unbounded confidence of the democracy of the city and state—faithful to their doctrines, to the interests to the state, an able upright and talented executive, he is well deserving of the continued regard of the people who are satisfied their best interests could not be in safer hands.”

On September 4, the Albany Evening Journal has a different take on the meeting:

“Tammany-Hall is great on Resolutions! They ‘go it blind’ there. On Wednesday evening, at a gathering, Resolutions in favor of Polk, Wright, Free Trade, Oregon, and the War with Mexico, were adopted. ‘Mike Walsh’ undertook to show the absurdity of glorifying Texas, Free Trade, and Gov. Wright, in the face of the fact that His Excellency voted against the Annexation of Texas, and in favor of the Tariff of ’42. But ‘Mike’ was put down and the Resolutions carried.”

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And so, the struggle between the Barnburners and the Hunkers continues, with Mike Walsh being the wild card. This division between the two factions of the New York Democratic Party does not bode well for Silas Wright.

By this time, Mike Walsh’s The Subterranean is the most virulently independent newspaper since James Cheetham’s American Citizen, published from 1800 to 1810. The Subterranean carries the motto: “Independent in everything—Neutral in nothing.” Two quotes from his newspaper demonstrate its extreme nature. The first, his take on Tammany debauchery:

“Accident. Pierre Young, the well known smoucher, met with a very serious accident at the late dinner and debauch given by that incorrigible set of loafers known as the Tammany Society. It appears, as near as I can gather, that on rising to give a toast, toward the close of the performance, he pulled out his handkerchief to wipe the grease and slabber from his face, when some six or eight pounds of ham and other eatables dropped upon the floor.”

The second, his anti-Semitic remarks on Jewish Alderman Mann Hart:

“Mann-Manessa-or whatever the devil it is-Hart, the wandering Jew who formerly speculated in the cast-off garments of Congressmen, and who is now Alderman of the Fifth Ward, and a pretended broker, shaver, or bogus money dealer in Wall street, takes pretty extensive airs upon himself since he got into the Common Council.” 41

Articles of this ilk cause Walsh to be accused of libel, and he is convicted and sent to the prison on Blackwell’s Island in the East River for a brief time.

Blackwell’s Island Penitentiary.From the collection of the New York Public Library.

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On October 26, the Albany Evening Journal reports:

“Mike Walsh is one of the Tammany Hall nominees for the Legislature! Well, Mike’s reputation is a great deal worse than his heart; and he has a hundred fold more talent than ninth tenths of the Loco Focos who have represented the city—Will he be elected? Doubtful. The ‘upper ten thousand’ will scratch him. They deem him too closely a representative of the legitimate principles of their party, to thrust him into the Legislature. But Mike will make a good run; and if he is not elected, it will be no fault of the ‘b’hoys.’ ”

On November 3, the New York State elections are held are held. It is a contentious one. In the governors race the Whig candidate is John Young, a United States Congressman from upstate New York. The Democrats seek the reelection of Silas Wright. The Whig candidate for Lieutenant Governor is Hamilton Fish, and for the Democrats, incumbent Addison Gardner. Young easily defeats Wright, but Gardner is reelected. In the race for Congress the Whigs take 21 seats to the Democrats 11. The Democrats maintain a majority in the State Senate, but the Whigs prevail in the Assembly, however Michael Walsh is elected as a Democrat. Although Hamilton Fish, a former Congressman is defeated, his political career is just getting started.

On December 28, the New-York Evening Post reports of:

“RELIEF TO IRELAND. On Saturday evening, in accordance with the previous notice, a large number of people assembled at Tammany Hall, to take into consideration the famishing condition of the people of Ireland, and to devise a means for their relief. A.H. Mickle, Esq., Mayor, presided, and after reading the call of the meeting, addresses were delivered by Messrs, Connery, Greeley, and Hogan. These gentlemen presented the most vivid accounts of the destitution and suffering of the Irish people, and the necessity of doing something immediately for their relief.”

“Messrs. Greeley” is Horace Greeley, the noted editor of the New-York Tribune.

In February, Preston King reintroduces the Wilmot Proviso to Congress, amending it to state:

“—And be it further enacted, that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any Territory on the Continent of America, which shall hereafter be acquired by, or annexed to, the United States, except for crimes whereof the party shall be duly convicted: Provided always, that any person escaping into such Territory, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed, in any one of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed out of said territory to the persons claiming his or her service.” 42

Again, the Proviso passes in the House, and is defeated in the Senate. King would have done well to quit at “duly convicted,” because what follows becomes a template for the notorious Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

On April 4, the Albany Evening Journal reports:

“Sherman Brownell, after a long struggle in the Convention, has been nominated at Tammany Hall, for Mayor of New York.”

J. Sherman Brownell is a Tammany Sachem and merchant. In 1839, he is elected Register of New York City, defeating James Gulick, the former chief of the New York City volunteer fire department.

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On April 20, the New York City mayoral election is held. Andrew Mickle returns to private business, going on to become extremely wealthy. 43 Opposing Democrat nominee Brownell is the Whig candidate, William V. Brady. The spoiler candidate is an obscure independent by the name of Ellis G. Drake. Drake gaining 2000 votes is just enough to propel Brady over Brownell in a very tight race. Brady is a silversmith and jeweler and a former Alderman. He is regarded as fiscally conservative. So for the first time in ten years the Whigs gain the mayoralty. Clearly, the division between the Barnburners and the Hunkers is the reason for the Democrats loss.

On May 1, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice;

“Society of Tammany or Columbian Order. Brothers:—A regular monthly meeting of the Society of Tammany, or Columbian, will be held in the Council Chamber of the Great Wigwam, on MONDAY EVENING, May 3d, at half an hour after the setting of the sun. General and punctual attendance is requested. By order of the Grand Sachem, ASBURY W. KIRK, Secretary Manhattan, Seasons of Blossoms, Fourth Moon; Year of Discovery 355th; of Independence, 71st; and of the Institution, 58th.”

This notice shows that the Society of St. Tammany continues to use quaint quasi-Native American language. In keeping with its doctrine to keep the private aspects of the society private, the Grand Sachem goes unnamed.

On May 8, the New-York Evening Post reports on:

“THE CELEBRATION AND ILLUMINATION. “Yesterday was the day set apart for the city authorities to celebrate the victories achieved by the American arms in Mexico. At sun-rise a salute was fired from the Battery and Tompkins Square, which was repeated at the same places at noon. The shipping, the various hotels and public buildings, at early dawn, were decked with flags, which continued to wave until a late hour in the evening. The day was not only celebrated by the residents of the city, but thousands flocked in from the neighboring towns and villages to witness the display. By noon the principal thoroughfares were crowded with people, so that at times it was almost impossible to pass along.”

The article goes on to state:

“It was a general remark that the proprietors of Old Tammany had outdone their neighbors, their exhibition being the most complete. A constant stream of rockets and a beautiful display of appropriate fireworks issued from the top of the building.”

What New York City and Tammany Hall are celebrating is General Winfield Scott’s Mexico City Campaign. Augmenting Zachary Taylor’s campaign in northeastern Mexico, President Polk dispatches General Scott by sea, departing from New Orleans, to Mexico’s Bay of Campeche, with the intent of invading Mexico’s heartland. On March 19, Scott achieves the United States’ first major amphibious landing at Veracruz, beginning the siege that city. Veracruz surrenders after twelve days. Among Scott’s invading force are Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. After flanking and routing Antonio López de Santa Anna’s forces at Cerra Gordo, Scott arrives at Mexico’s second largest city, Puebla, in early May and enters the city unopposed. 44 It is worth noting that the people of Puebla hate Santa Anna, and that the Mexican government is in disarray. 45

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Scott’s disciplined troops treat the Mexican civilians with respect, winning their hearts and minds. Ahead is the successful capture of Mexico City. 46 Already a veteran of the War of 1812, and the Indian Wars, Winfield Scott will go on to serve longer than any other general in the United States Army, fifty-three years. Many online lists cite him as one of the greatest American generals. A veteran of politics, seeking the Whig presidential nomination in 1840, he will attempt it again in 1848, and finally prevail in 1852.

From the collection of the New York Public Library

On June 23, the New-York Evening Post reports of President Polk’s impending visit to New York City:

“ We understand that the Society of Tammany has made arrangements to appear in full force at the reception of the President of the United States on Friday. An excellent band of music is engaged. Several military companies have tendered their services as an escort, and their offer has been accepted. It is suggested to our democratic fellow citizens would do well to rally round the tri-colored cap of the society and join them in the procession. The society, we are informed, will be at the head of the civic procession.”

On June 28, the New-York Evening Post reports:

“At nine the President visited Tammany Hall, where he was introduced by Alderman Purdy to an immense throng, attended by much cheering and great clapping. The President replied briefly and then was conducted to his apartments at the Astor.”

“Alderman Purdy” is Elijah F. Purdy, a Society of St. Tammany Sachem. “The Astor” is Astor House, the first luxury hotel in New York City, located at Broadway and Vesey Street. John Jacob Astor, who by this time is the wealthiest man in America, builds it in 1836. The fact that the Society of St. Tammany is able to fête President Polk, at a low point in their political influence in New York—having lost the race for mayor and governor to the Whigs—shows Tammany’s continued impact on national politics. However, this celebration is but a momentary truce between the Barnburners and the Hunkers.

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On August 27, former Governor Silas Wright dies at his home in Canton, New York, at age fifty-two. In Wright’s biography by Jabez Delano Hammond, the author states:

“Never did the death of a private citizen of the state of New York produce a sensation, throughout all ranks and every part of the community, so intense as the sudden death of Mr. Wright. The common councils of the cities of New York and Albany, as soon as the melancholy news reached those cities, immediately assembled to express their respect for his character and merits, and their regret for the loss which the public had sustained by his death. The flags of the shipping in the port of New York were displayed at half-mast. The city of Albany set apart a day on which funeral honors should be paid to the deceased; and the adjutant-general of the state, in pursuance of the directions of the governor, ordered that the national colors should on that day be displayed on the capitol and state arsenal, and that minute guns should be fired from 12 to 2 o’clock. The Tammany Society of New York passed resolutions expressive of ‘its high respect for the distinguished dead,’ and that its members should wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.” 47

Being abandoned in life by the Hunkers of Tammany Hall for his opposition to slavery, the Society of St. Tammany honors Wright in death.

On October 11, the New-York Evening Post prints the following letter to General Zachary Taylor who is commanding his forces near Monterrey, Mexico:

“New York, April 20, 1847Maj. Gen. Z. Taylor,

U.S. Army: Sir—I take great pleasure in enclosing to you the within resolutions of the Democratic Republican General Committee of the city and county of New York. They embody, as I believe, the sentiments of the great mass of the people in the section of our common country. Attentive observers of the gallantry and good conduct which has distinguished our army, its officers and men, since the war with Mexico, and remarking that in every stage of this unhappy controversy, not sought by us, those to whom so large a portion of the honor and interest of our country have been committed, have uniformly exhibited themselves as worthy depositories of such a trust, the Democratic Republican General Committee of this city have felt it due alike to themselves and to those whom they represent, to give expression to the sentiments contained in the enclosed resolutions. I am, sir, with much respect, Your obedient servant, ROBERT H. MACLAY.”

What follows are laudatory resolutions praising General Taylor, General Scott, President Polk, and the war effort. They go on to deride the government of Mexico. So, one year before the presidential election, with President Polk pledging to serve only one term, the Society of St. Tammany begins to court Zachary Taylor. Their attempts will be in vain. Just who Robert H. Maclay is, other that being a Tammany Hall Sachem, is unclear.

On October 23, the New-York Herald reports of an:

“Uproarious Meeting of the Democracy at Tammany Hall. The Syracuse Convention Nominations. The Wilmot Proviso and the Mexican Whigs. Terrible Uproar and Confusion.

The lengthy article gives an accounting of the general tumult at Tammany Hall between the Barnburners and the Hunkers. It begins with the following excerpt:

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“From sundry indications in and around Tammany Hall, the several ward headquarters during the day, we were prepared for an exhibition of confusion and riot, such as the walls of Old Tammany have witnessed many a times and oft. Such a scene did take place, for in the course of our experience we never saw the various elements of which the democratic party is composed in so perfect a state of disorganization and uproar. All the cohesive power, for which that party is celebrated, seemed to have departed form them, leaving in its place a principle of a totally different character.”

The main contention at the meeting is the slavery issue in the impending new territories in the West, reflected by another excerpt:

“Mr. Brady—Fellow citizens. ‘Hurrah’—‘Cheers’—hisses—confusion. ‘Go on Brady my boy’—‘Where’s the $36,000?’ Cheers and laughter. Capt. Rynders and Mr. Brady speak to each other. Brady—‘Why don’t you go on.’ ‘Hurrah.’ Mr. Liebenau—I offer this as a substitute for them all. Reads: Resolved that the spirit of democracy is in favor of extending the bounds of ‘freedom,’ but not of slavery, and in favor of prosecuting the war in Mexico with vigor and success. Here ensued a genuine rough and tumble fight; the resolution handled in a very rough manner of the auditory, who seemed disposed to put him out of the room.”

“Mr. Brady” is James T. Brady, an Irish immigrant, and a celebrated lawyer, known for winning large sums for his clients in civil cases. 48 More will be heard from Mr. Brady in the coming years.

On November 2, the New York State elections are held. As per the New York State Constitution of 1846, the incumbent state officers and members of the legislature are forced to resign on December 31, 1847, and a new general election is held. The Senators are now chosen for a two year term, with the Assemblymen still elected annually. The Whigs win the majority in the Senate and the Assembly

On January 11, the New-York Herald reports of a:

“Grand Ball at Tammany Hall.—The Tammany Society of this city gave a grand ball last night at Tammany Hall. At an early hour, about four hundred ladies were in attendance, all admiring the taste manifested in the decoration of the hall, which eclipsed any thing of the kind ever known in this city. The room was beautifully hung with the stars and stripes, and a row of fire arms around the entire hall. On the east end of the hall were handsome representations of the battles of Monterey, Cerro Gordo, Vera Cruz, Buena Vista, &c. &c, and the names of the gallant officers who had fought in the Mexican Battles, encircled in wreaths of evergreen.”

With this celebration, the Society of St. Tammany, this time led by the Barnburners, links the Mexican-American War, the anniversary of Andrew Jackson’s battle of New Orleans, and the return of Martin Van Buren into the political fray. The article continues:

“At nine o’clock, ex-President Van Buren was escorted to the Hall by a portion of the committee, and the company being formed into flies, he marched through the room amid the applause of his friends. A ten o’clock Col. Burnett, Maj. Dyckman, Capt. Ferry, Capt. Innis, and Lieuts. Hill and Croft were escorted to the room and were received with the strongest enthusiasm. A general promenade then look place, Mrs. I. leaning upon the arm of the ex President.”

Following this article is a brief notice:

“Military Parade—A fire company, with No. 6 on a well perforated target, passed our office yesterday, headed by Dingle’s excellent band.”

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This notice may be one of the first references to the Americus Engine Company No. Six. One of its original members is a young volunteer firefighter, who is born in Cherry Street on April 3, 1823. His name: William M. Tweed. Many recent histories claim that in 1848, a New York State Assemblyman by the name of John J. Reilly asks Tweed to form No. Six. This turns out to be false. Wikipedia’s Tweed article links Reilly to Tweed, and cites The Encyclopedia of New York, edited by Kenneth Jackson. The Tweed entry, by Allen J. Share in Jackson’s encyclopedia, cites Oliver Allen’s The Tiger, the Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall. Allen’s history of Tammany Hall offers no citation backing up his claim linking Reilly to Tweed. An examination of The New-York Civil List shows that there is no assemblyman by the name of John J. Reilly elected to the state assembly in the 1840s. It takes until 1856 for an assemblyman from New York County, by the name of John J. Reilly, to show up in Albany. 49 This demonstrates that even an eminent historian, such as Kenneth Jackson, can sometimes get the facts wrong. The son of a middle class chairmaker named Richard Tweed, William attends public school, learning the three “R’s” that will serve him well in the future, and goes on to learn his father’s trade. As late as the 1960s, his middle name is cited as Marcy, but the historian Leo Hershkowitz refutes this, stating that: “Marcy was surely tacked on by newspapermen as a clever thought, a nickname befitting a ‘corrupt’ politician,” referring to the head of the Albany Regency, William L. Marcy. 50 Tweed’s mother’s maiden name is Magear, but Tweed only uses the letter “M” during his life. Young Tweed is a fire buff from an early age, and prior to enlisting in Engine No. 6, he is a volunteer in the Black Joke Engine Company No. 33. 51 Engine Company No. 6 goes on to adopt the image of a Bengal Tiger as its logo. The image of a tiger will become inextricably linked to Tammany Hall. Being a member of a volunteer fire company is perilous. Besides risking their lives fighting fires, the volunteers are often attacked by street gangs on the way to a fire, and battle with competing fire companies, racing to get to a fire first. To this day, FDNY companies sport bumper stickers on the back of their trucks stating: “IF YOU CAN READ THIS YOU’RE SECOND DUE!” By January of 1848, three months shy of his twenty-fifth birthday, Tweed is tall, burly, weighs over two hundred and fifty pounds, and will soon gain the notice of the Society of St. Tammany.


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On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, and in nine months time, Fernando Wood will take full advantage of the California gold rush. After he loses his congressional seat in 1842, Wood returns to New York, invests in three small sailing ships, and leverages them to become a shipping merchant. With the profits from his shipping trade, along with the inheritance from his second wife Anna, he begins to invest in Manhattan real estate, becoming adept at land speculation in nearly every ward, in what is now commonly called “flipping.” This will make his fortune. William Tweed, who himself will come to know a little something about land speculation, goes on to state: “I never yet went to get a corner lot, that I didn’t find Wood had got in ahead of me.” 52

On January 31, the New-York Evening Post reports of a:

“DEMOCRATIC WAR MEETING AT TAMMANY HALL On the evening of Saturday, the 29th instant, a meeting of the democracy of New York, remarkable for its numbers, was held at Tammany Hall, for the purpose of the masses concerning the war. The hall, at an early hour, was so crowded that no further access could be obtained, and the neighboring streets were filled with a dense crowd.”

The lengthy article, which copies the many resolutions in support of the Mexican-American War, includes this final resolution:

“Resolved, The indefinite extension of our territory and the spread of our free institutions, has nothing in it alarming to our minds—that the mechanical improvements of the present age greatly more than counterbalances the inconveniences of increased area; and that our Constitution, rightly understood and rigidly expounded, is able safely embrace under its gigantic shelter, all the millions that can be nourished between the Atlantic and Pacific seas. The reading of the resolutions was followed by cries for ‘General Houston!’ “Sam Houston!’ ‘the hero of San Jacinto!’ General Houston ascended the platform amidst the applause of the multitude.”

The fact that Samuel Houston, now a Senator from the State of Texas, attends this meeting at Tammany Hall is remarkable, and again shows that the Society of St. Tammany has its finger on the pulse of the Nation, because in three days time…

On February 2, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the Mexican-American War. The United States is now a “gigantic shelter” “between the Atlantic and Pacific seas.”

On February 23, having reached his eighth decade, former president John Quincy Adams dies. Contrary to the belief of most former presidents that they should retire after leaving the presidency, Adams is elected to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts in 1830. Adams is a longtime abolitionist, opponent of the Mexican-American War, and foe of Tammany Hall and the Democratic Party. It is in the House, stating a loud “No” against a measure to honor veterans of the Mexican-American War, that he has a cerebral hemorrhage and collapses on February 21, 1848. 53 He dies two days later in the Speaker’s Chamber, having never left he Capitol. 54

On March 8, the New-York Commercial Advertiser reports of arrival of the body of John Quincy Adams in New York, and a grand procession honoring his remains. Thirteen divisions march through the streets of lower Manhattan. Putting politics aside for the day, the procession includes the Society of St. Tammany, the American Republican General Committee, and the Young Men’s Whig General Committee.

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With the suspension of politics for a day honoring John Quincy Adams behind them, the Society of St. Tammany gets back to the business of winning elections. On April 24, with the mayoral elections three weeks away, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:

“NATURALIZATION COMMITTEE Notice is hereby given that the Naturalization Committee appointed by the Democratic Republican General Committee will be in session at Tammany Hall, from 10 to 6 o’clock every day this month.”

On April 1, the New-York Evening Post reports of incumbent Mayor William Brady being nominated by the Whigs for the upcoming election. The Barnburners and Hunkers of Tammany Hall, temporally put aside their differences and agree to ask former Mayor William Havemeyer to, once again, run. 55 The article reports that:

“The committee of eighteen, (one from each ward,) appointed by the Mayoralty Convention, to inform Mr. Havemeyer of his nomination to the Mayoralty, met at Tammany Hall last evening, and with several members of the press, proceeded to the house of the Ex-Mayor, in Vandam Street. After the committee had been introduced by the secretary, Henry Errben, Esq., chairman of the committee, rose and tendered to Mr. Havemeyer the nomination, in the following brief remarks. Sir—In behalf of the Democratic Convention, appointed to select a candidate for the honorable office of Chief Magistrate of this city, we have the gratification of tendering you the nomination of Mayor, and hope to obtain your acceptance of the same.”

Upon hearing the remarks of the committee, Havemeyer graciously accepts the nomination.

On April 8, the mayoral election is held. William Havemeyer narrowly defeats William Brady by 928 votes. 56 Perhaps the 928 come from newly naturalized voters.

On May 8, the New-York Herald reports:

“The Barnburners of New-York.—This is the name of a new party, originating among the democracy of New York, and promising, from the position of the country and the prospects ahead, to become as important and powerful in future events as the famous locofoco party was in a former age in Tammany Hall. One of the principal leaders and originators of this party, is John Van Buren, whose eloquence, wit and talent, have been reverberated from the farthest ends of the Union. According to present appearances they will play an important part in the ensuing Presidential election. In a couple of weeks the democratic convention will meet in Baltimore. The barnburners will knock on the door of that convention for admission. According to present appearances and prospects, the influence of the hunkers of New York and of the nullifiers of the South, will prevent the entrance of their delegates. On their rejection from that body, they will accordingly organize themselves into an independent democratic party, and will proceed to issue a splendid address to the United States, and probably nominate the same distinguished man who received the first fruits of their recent efforts at a recent convention in this State—we mean General Taylor.”

John Van Buren is the second son of Martin Van Buren, a noted lawyer, and the former Attorney General of New York State. James Gordon Bennett’s Herald is remarkably prescient in predicting the Barnburners forming a new political party after the Democratic National Convention. Except for one fact: General Zachary Taylor, heavily courted by both the Democrats and the Whigs, will come down from the fence on the Whig side.

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1848 On May 22, the Democratic National Convention is held in Baltimore. Having the largest number of votes, thirty-six, New York State enters the convention divided between the Barnburners and the Hunkers. After much tedious debate, the New York delegates are allowed half a vote each. The Barnburners then oppose the following plank of the Democratic platform:

“7. That Congress has no power under the Constitution to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution; that all efforts of the Abolitionists or others made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences; and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanence of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions.” 57

The committee on credentials then offers a compromise that will table the discussion of slavery until the Barnburners and the Hunkers agree to pledge themselves to the final decisions of the convention. Realizing that the pro-slavery convention delegates outnumber them, the Barnburners withdraw from the convention en masse. 58 The Democrats, including the New York Hunkers, go on to nominate Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan for president and William O. Butler for vice president. The following political cartoon satirizes Thomas Ritchie, an influential Richmond publisher, for his support of Lewis Cass. It shows Ritchie, as a baker, putting the head of Lewis Cass into the “Presidential Oven.”


Cass is brothers in arms with William Henry Harrison and Richard Mentor Johnson in the War of 1812’s Battle of the Thames, in which Chief Tecumseh is killed. He goes on to become the 2nd Territorial Governor of Michigan, and later Andrew Jackson’s Secretary of War, overseeing the Indian Removal Act.

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Cass is the leading proponent of the Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, coining the term in his Nicholson Letter of 1847. 59 This doctrine states that the voters of the Western States, rather than Congress, should be allowed to decide the slavery issue. Cass, most certainly, is the source of the preceding Democratic platform plank. As noted in chapter six of this history, Cass, while 2nd Territorial Governor, travels from Michigan, via Erie Canal, to attend an anniversary celebration of Tammany Hall in May of 1831: a time before the Barnburners and the Hunkers. William O. Butler of Kentucky is also a veteran of Battle of the Thames, as well as the Battle of New Orleans. He goes on to serve as Zachary Taylor’s second in command in the Mexican-American War. Thus, the presidential election of 1848 will shape up to be a three-way race: a battle of two war heroes, and a spoiler.

On June 7, the Whig National Convention is held in Philadelphia. Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, two seasoned politicians, are up against two war heroes: Winfield Scott, who is a contender for the Whig presidential nomination in 1840, and Zachary Taylor, who, up to this point has no political experience. Taylor, who is a Whig for barely a month at this point, is nominated on the fourth ballot. His running mate is Millard Fillmore, the current Comptroller of New York State, former congressman, and failed candidate for Governor of New York.

On June 10, demonstrating, literally, the private aspect of Tammany Hall, the New York Herald reports:

“There was a tremendous meeting at Tammany Hall last night. At a little after seven o’clock, the steps of the Hall were speedily crowded and the people seemed anxious to hear Senators Benton, Hannegan, Houston, Judge Bowlin, and the other famous orators, now visitors to our city, accompanying General Cass on his tour of the North. Before eight o’clock, we attempted to make our way into the house, to get into the gallery allotted to reporters. We tried several doors, and made our way to some extent into the passages of Tammany. Here it was a curious and picturesque sight. The long corridors and galleries, and the flights of stairs leading to the great hall, and we may say, the famous hall of the famous Tammany, were densely packed with a living mass, all waiting for the opening of the doors of the hall at the appointed hour. For some time we pushed along in the crowd, but found every effort to get along was in vain. At length we succeeded in getting round to the bar room, and there upon making ourselves known to the gentleman behind the bar, we were conducted, with great courtesy and kindness, along private and subterraneous passages, up stairs and down stairs, through kitchens and cellars, till at length, on ascending a little ladder in a little passage, we came to a sort of trap door, and on its opening discovered ourselves in a gallery of the famous Tammany Hall, and beneath us the great place of democratic rendezvous, with the staging already filled with people, but the large room itself empty and void.”

Senator Benton is Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. Of course, Senator Houston is Sam Houston of Texas. Judge Bowlin is James B. Bowlin, congressman from Missouri. All three of these gentlemen are rightly called “famous orators.” Edward A. Hannegan, senator from Indiana, not so much. An alcoholic from early age, he goes on to kill his brother-in-law, but is acquitted of manslaughter. He then develops a morphine habit. That such a colorful, despicable politician arrives at Tammany Hall shows that the Hall will take all comers. The fact that presidential candidate Lewis Cass is accompanied to the “famous hall of the famous Tammany” by such imminent men as Benton and Houston, once again, shows that the Society of St. Tammany, albeit splintered at this time, is still a formidable political force.

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Once the doors are opened, and Tammany Hall is no longer “empty and void,” Andrew Stevenson of Virginia, former Minister to the United Kingdom under Andrew Jackson, and chairman of the recent Democratic National Convention, addresses the capacity crowd. Linking the South to the Hunker point of view in the North, and alluding to “every little domestic difference” between the Barnburner and Hunker factions at Tammany Hall, he states:

“I care not for names—whether barnburners or hunkers—I doubt not, we shall see the handy yeoman of New York State rush with one heart and mind to the battle and to the victory, and carry the man whom the democracy have chosen in victory and triumph. All that the South asks for, is non-interference—leave us to our rights and our property—and when the time comes she will stand by you as you in the coming combat will, in spite of every little domestic difference, stand by your country.”

Meanwhile, the Barnburners are preparing upstate.

On June 22, a preliminary convention of the new Free Soil Party, originating with the Barnburners, and born out of their dissent at the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore, is held in Utica, New York. Salmon P. Chase of Ohio spearheads this new party. A long time opponent of slavery, Chase will go on to have a long career in politics and the law, culminating with his nomination by Abraham Lincoln as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1864. Banking and politics cross roads at Tammany Hall time and again, demonstrated by the unlikely connection between Salmon Chase and Aaron Burr: In 1877 the Chase National Bank is formed, and named in honor of Salmon Chase, who dies in 1873. In 1955 it merges with the Bank of the Manhattan Company, founded by Aaron Burr in 1799. One merger begets another, and today these two banks form the core of one the world’s largest public corporations: JPMorgan Chase. At this convention, Martin Van Buren, and Charles Francis Adams are nominated for president and vice president. Adams is the son of John Quincy Adams, and grandson of John Adams. A resolution at this convention calls for a full national convention to be held later in the summer.

On August 9, the national Free Soil Party convention is held in Buffalo, New York. It includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams are confirmed as candidates for president and vice president. This convention fully merges the anti-slavery Liberty Party with the Free Soil Party. The final plank of the platform is a resolution stating:

“That we inscribe on our banner ‘free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men,’ and under it will fight on, and fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions.” 60

In fact, Martin Van Buren knows that a “triumphant victory” is not possible. Van Buren is not getting any younger, and becomes increasingly bitter. His hatred of Lewis Cass and his principle of popular sovereignty 61 betray what had been Van Buren’s core tenet from the start of his political career: party loyalty comes first. His actual aim is to split the Democratic vote in New York State, allowing Taylor to win New York’s thirty-six electoral votes, and thereby, the election.

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In the month of September, three New York State conventions are held. Showing that the Democratic Party is hopelessly split, the Hunker faction meet in Syracuse, New York on September 5, and nominate Reuben H. Walworth for governor and Charles O’Conor for lieutenant governor. Walworth, from upstate New York, is a former congressman and Chancellor of New York, the highest judicial officer in the state, reviewing all State Supreme Court decisions until the office is abolished in 1846. O’Conor is a first generation Irish-American born in New York City, and a respected lawyer. O’Conor will go on to become a foe of William M. Tweed. On September 13, the Barnburner/Free Soil convention meet in Utica, New York. They nominate John Adams Dix for governor and Seth Merrill Gates for lieutenant governor. Senator Dix will go on to have long political and military career, and is noted as the person responsible for preventing Maryland from seceding from the Union. Utica seems to be a popular convention spot, because on September 13 as well, the Whigs convene there. The nominate Hamilton Fish for governor and George Washington Patterson for lieutenant governor. Fish is the acting lieutenant governor, and will go on to become a prominent politician, both at the state level, and nationally. Born to a wealthy New York City family, he is a descendent of Peter Stuyvesant, and named after Alexander Hamilton. 62 Patterson is a former Assemblyman from upstate New York.

On September 19, the New-York Herald reports of a:

“TREMENDOUS OLD-HUNKER MEETING At TAMMANY HALL.CASS AND BUTLER. WALWORTH AND O’CONOR.

That branch of the democratic party, generally known as the sweet sounding name of old hunkers, held a mass meeting, in Tammany Hall, last evening, for the purpose of submitting the nominations of Cass and Butler, for President and Vice President, and Walworth and O’Conor, for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York, and other officers to the rank and file, the hard-fisted and butt-enders, the tail-enders, and bobbers, of the party in this region, for their ratification. The assemblage was very large and enthusiastic.”

Using the colorful slang of the mid 19th century, James Gordon Bennett’s Herald tries to link the “old hunkers to the proletariat working class “butt-enders.” A butt-ender is a Bowery B’hoy who keeps a cigar butt chomped continually in the corner of his mouth. 63 The “tail-enders and bobbers” are presumably of the same ilk as the butt-enders, but the origin of these terms remains obscure.

On November 7, the United States presidential, and the New York State elections are held. In the elections for the state legislature, the Whigs win an overwhelming majority in the Assembly. In the Congressional elections the Whigs crush the opposition, taking 30 seats, leaving the Democrats and the Free Soil Party with 1 each. In the presidential election, the Democrats are routed both nationally and in New York. Taylor and Fillmore take 163 electoral votes, carrying 15 States. Cass and Butler carry 15 States as well. The difference: the Whigs taking New York’s 36, and Pennsylvania’s 26 electoral votes. Martin Van Buren, and his Free Soil Party fail to take a single State, but he achieves his aim: the defeat of Lewis Cass. In the New York governor’s race, Whig Hamilton Fish prevails over Free Soil John Adams Dix, and Democrat Reuben Walworth. This shows that Tammany Hall locally, and the Democrats nationally, are cleaved in two by the issue of slavery—in what will foreshadow events of the Union, occurring in twelve years, five months, and five days time.

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On November 25, the New-York Weekly Herald devotes an entire page, five columns, to the Whig celebration of the election of Zachary Taylor and Milliard Fillmore. The speeches go on and on, and at some point turn from celebratory to ponderous, causing dissent among the ranks. The Herald then notes:

“Muttering curses, ‘not loud but deep,’ the gallant, lively, spirits who had come to give vent their bursting patriotism, bewailed the remorseless fates which had infiltrated on their unwilling ears the prosaic orations of the foregoing speakers. There is a point, however, at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. It was evident that a crisis was approaching. The band seizing a pause in the awful solemnities of the occasion, struck up a the soul-stirring air:— ‘What is this Tammany Hall to me, love, In the wilds of Amerikey? You don’t make a fool of me, love, In the wilds of Amerikey!’ ”

On February 6, the New York State Legislature elects Whig William H. Seward, the former governor, to the U.S. Senate.

On March 5, a Monday, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore are inaugurated President and Vice President of the United States. Taylor, clearly deferring to his chosen religion, the Episcopal Church, refuses to take the oath of office on Sunday, March 4. With James K. Polk’s presidency ending on the fourth, the United States is without a president for one day.

Zachary Taylor, people’s candidate for President.From the collection of the Library of Congress

It has been almost a year since the New-York Evening Post has reported significantly on Tammany Hall. On March 15, the pro-Whig Albany Evening Journal gives its take on this:

“The Editor of the Post, since his divorce from Tammany Hall, has become a sort political Ishmaelite; or perhaps a political drab, who is only happy while railing and snarling those in authority.”

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“Those in authority” being the new president, Zachary Taylor. The Ishmael that the Journal refers to is not the Ishmael of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, which will be published in 1851, but rather the Ishmael of the Book of Genesis, the bastard son of Abraham and his servant Hagar, who is cast into the wilderness. However, Allan Nevins’ The Evening Post, A Century of Journalism, gives a clearer view of the Post’s politics in the late 1840s:

“Bryant in the campaign of 1848 had bolted from the regular Democratic ticket along with the other ‘Barnburners’ of New York. The nickname referred to the Dutchman who burned his barn to exterminate the rats, for they were accused of trying to destroy the party to get rid of slavery in the territories. It was impossible for the Evening Post to support the regulars’ nominee, Lewis Cass, who had expressed pro-slavery views, or the Whig nominee Gen. Zachary Taylor, who owned four hundred slaves.” 64

On March 21, the New-York Evening Post gives this cursory mention of Tammany Hall:

“Mayoralty.—The hunkers hold their convention for the nomination of a candidate for Mayor, to-day, at Tammany Hall.”

The Barnburners hold their separate mayoral convention on the same night. With Mayor Havemeyer declining to run again, the Barnburners get wind of the Hunkers seeking to nominate Myndert Van Schaick, and in a move to “steal the Hunkers thunder,” nominate him as well. Van Schaick is a former New York Assemblyman, Senator, and New York City Alderman. Being one of the founders of New York University, and a proponent of the Croton Aqueduct—completed in 1842—he is very popular among the public. 65 The voters of New York City are faced with the bewildering fact the Van Schaick is now the candidate for the two opposite factions of Tammany Hall. Although William Havemeyer again retires to private life, he will return. The Whigs mayoral candidate is Caleb S. Woodhull. Woodhull is a former Alderman and an unremarkable politician, except for the fact that he will go on to preside over one of the worst riots in the history New York City.

On April 14, the Weekly Herald gives this summation of New York City’s Charter Election, of which one result is extending the Mayor’s term from one year to two.

“The Whigs have elected their Mayor, fourteen out of eighteen Aldermen, and the same number of Assistant Aldermen. This rescue was brought about by the dissensions in the democratic ranks. The democrats of the old school would not consent to the election of a free soil candidate; and hence the whigs had only a show of opposition. Many of the Tammany Hall party either voted not at all, or voted for neither candidate.”

The Herald suggests that the Hunkers—”the democrats of the old school”— have purposely quashed the election of Van Schaick, further dividing Tammany Hall, and the Democratic Party of New York. But the Council of Sachems, trying to remain above the fray are growing weary of this dissent, resulting in one lost election after another. The Sachems need a strong leader, one that is able to form a fusion of the Barnburners and Hunkers. In one year’s time they see the return of one who had quashed warring factions of Tammany Hall in the past: Fernando Wood. 66

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In early May, New York City sees its deadliest riot to date. It is a riot that stems from an issue that would be laughable if the results were not so tragic: who plays a better Macbeth, an American or a Brit? It is now known as the Astor Place Riot. British actor William Charles Macready and American actor Edwin Forrest have a serious rivalry, with the actors performing Shakespeare in each other’s country twice in the 1840s. Both are considered to be the leading actors of the day. Forrest gets his start at the Bowery Theatre, which caters to the working class. One of his biggest fans is Isaiah Rynders. In May of 1849, Macready returns to American for a final tour at the Astor Place Opera House, which caters to the upper classes and has a dress code of white vests and kid gloves.

On May 7, Macready and Forrest both perform Macbeth: Macready at the Astor Place Opera House, and Forrest at the nearby Broadway Theatre. In his terrific, although by his own admission, “informal” history The Gangs of New York, Herbert Asbury gets to the core of what drives Isaiah Rynders. Asbury states that Rynders “sometimes permitted his love of the Irish and hatred of the English to upset his judgment.” 67 Rynders’ Tammany B’hoys mob Macready’s performance at the Astor Opera House, and bring the play to a halt by pelting the stage with all manner of rotten fruit, eggs, shoes, and the like. At the Broadway Theatre, Forrest’s performance is met with a standing ovation.

Edwin Forrest, left and William Charles Macready, right,both depicted as Macbeth.From the public domain.

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1849 On May 9, The New-York Evening Post reports on the backlash to Forrest, with events already spinning out of control:

“A scandalous charge having been preferred against Mr. Forrest yesterday in a morning paper, to the effect that the persons who were concerned in interrupting the performance of Mr. Macready on Monday evening, at the Astor Place Opera House, by the commission of various outrages and acts of violence, were instigated and paid for by for by Mr. Forrest.”

The article then prints a letter from the merchant and literary elite of New York, imploring Macready, who is ready to set sail on the next ship to England, to give one final performance. They assure him, mistakenly, that order will prevail:

“To W.C. Macready, Esq: Dear Sir—The undersigned, having heard that the outrage at the Astor Place Opera House, on Monday evening, is likely to have the effect of preventing you from continuing your performances, and from concluding your intended farewell engagement on the American stage, take this public method of requesting you to reconsider your decision, and of assuring you that the good sense and respect for order prevailing in this community, will sustain you on the subsequent nights of your performance.”

This letter, signed by, among others, Washington Irving, Herman Melville, and Mordecai M. Noah, persuades Macready to give one more performance on May 10. Seizing at the chance to embarrass the new Whig mayor, Isaiah Rynders is ready, and fans out across the city distributing handbills stating: “SHALL AMERICANS OR ENGLISH RULE IN THIS CITY?”

Detail of Rynders’ Handbill, from the public domain.

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Mayor Woodhull is ready as well. Woodhull summons Superintendent of Police, George W. Matsell, and instructs him to protect the Astor Place Opera House. Macready takes to the stage at 7:30. By this time the crowd outside, fueled by a warm spring evening and Rynders’ handbills, has grow to ten thousand. Macready’s detractors pelt the theatre with stones, try to set it on fire, and conduct running battles with the police. In a panic, Macready completes his performance in pantomime, and escapes the theatre in disguise. Matsell, clearly out of his league, calls for the state militia, they arrive at 9:15, and the battle lines are drawn. The mob begins to attack the militia, and Superintendent Matsell, declares that force will be used if the mob does not retreat, to which the mob responds, “Burn the damn den of the aristocracy!” The police and the militia respond as well, firing first into the air, and then with successive volleys, point blank into the crowd. When the dust settles, eighteen in the crowd are killed. Four others later die of their wounds. One hundred and fifty in the crowd are wounded, and one hundred and seventeen are arrested. It is worth noting that none of the dead, wounded, or arrested are Rynders’ men. 68

Great riot at the Astor Place Opera House, by Currier & Ives.From the collection of the Library of Congress.

By this time, in Troy, New York, there resides an eighteen years old ironworker, brothel bouncer, and bare-knuckle boxer by the name of John Morrissey. An Irish immigrant, Morrissey gets wind that a minion of Isaiah Rynders disparages Morrissey’s boxing skills, laughing at the prospect of a bout. Morrissey makes his way down the Hudson (although it is unclear if Morrissey arrives before or after the events of May 10,) marches into the Empire Club, and finding that his proposed opponent is out, declares, “I can lick any man here.” Rynders men immediately set upon him, while Rynders looks on. Morrissey holds his ground against at least a half-a-dozen men, but is finally brought to the floor with a blow from an earthenware spittoon. Much impressed by the guile of this young Irish upstart, Rynders nurses Morrissey back to health, and takes him under his wing. 69 Thus Morrissey starts his career as an immigrant runner for Tammany Hall, and ends it rubbing elbows with the likes of Cornelius Vanderbilt 70

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1849 On June 15, former President James K. Polk dies at his home, Polk Place, in Nashville, Tennessee. Four years in Washington takes its toll on Polk’s health, but he takes a tour of the South after he leaves office to foster goodwill among the states. On this tour, he contracts cholera, most likely in New Orleans, and dies upon returning home. His retirement from office is the shortest all Presidents, and he is the youngest former President to die, at age fifty-three. No mention is made in the New York press of Tammany Hall acknowledging Polk’s death. His presidency is considered by many polls to be one of the best, but the Barnburner and Hunker factions of Tammany Hall are too busy fighting to give Polk his due.

A daguerreotype of James K. Polk, by the studio of Mathew Brady. From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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On July 28, the Weekly Herald reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall, that include the following resolution:

“Resolved, That we look upon every attempt to engraft the question on slavery or anti-slavery on the doctrines of the democratic party, as eminently dangerous to the existence, both of the party and the Union, that, while we regard slavery as an evil, and should regret its extension, yet the democratic party ought not prescribe a faith for its members on the subject, whilst under our own government. Some of the States of the Union are encumbered with slave populations, and others are free from it, the united democracy of the nation cannot have a common faith on such a question. The democratic party is neither a pro-slavery or an anti-slavery party, it leaves its members, North and South, East and West, to entertain their own opinions, and to act according to their own convictions, on this irrelevant question.”

With this resolution, the Sachem’s of the Society of St. Tammany, in an attempt to rise above the Barnburners and Hunkers, try to put aside the question of slavery and reunite the Democratic Party. They deem the slavery question “irrelevant,” hoping that everything will work out in the end. This, looking back through the lens of history, is wishful thinking. Nonetheless, an attempt at a fusion between the Barnburners and Hunkers will occur in meeting at Tammany Hall in the fall.

On October 20, the New-York Evening Post prints a notice of a meeting at Tammany Hall that includes the following:

“A motion was made and carried that the Chair appoint a committee of one from each Ward, to meet with the delegates appointed by the Judicial and Heads of Departments, to make the necessary arrangements for the County Meeting. The Chair appointed the following gentlemen: John Scott, G.W. Isaacs, E.A. King, Wm. M. Tweed…”

This may be the first mention of William M. Tweed in the New York press.

On October 22, “The County Meeting” is held at Tammany Hall. In it, the less radical members of the Barnburners and Hunkers agree to several resolutions. As reported in the New-York Evening Post of October 30, the fourth resolution contains the following excerpt:

“4. Resolved, That we congratulate the national democracy on the successful issue of the recent state elections, whereby the democratic party has been restored to power in a majority of the states, and in both branches of Congress; and especially we congratulate our fellow members of the sister states on the re-union of the democratic party of the State of New York…”

The Sachems of Tammany Hall try to put a good spin on the fact that the Democratic Party maintains a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives in the elections of 1848. That being said, the “re-union of the democratic party in the State of New York” will immediately be challenged by an alternative “Democratic-Republican Executive Committee” led by Mike Walsh. Walsh’s actions will further steel the Sachems to embrace the moderates, led by Fernando Wood. 71

In the November State Elections The Whigs maintain their majority in the Senate, and reunified Democrats take the Assembly. A Whig politician by the name of Henry Jarvis Raymond wins an Assembly Seat from New York County.

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On February 11, the New-York Evening Post reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall on February 5, which begins with another call for unity within the Democratic Party:

“On motion a committee of five was appointed by the Chair to prepare a statement of the proceedings of the proceedings of the meeting for publication. The chair appointed Messrs. Peter Parks, Fernando Wood, James Leonard, Charles Edwards, and L.B. Shepard to constitute that committee. On motion of Mr. Parks, the following resolutions was unanimously adopted: Resolved, That we are in favor of an entire and perfect union of the democratic party, and that we are opposed to the introduction of the ‘Wilmot Proviso’ as a test of the democracy of any individual.”

The Post then reports:

“The disunionists, foiled in their game, appear to have acted with characteristic violence and want of discretion. The Squad seceded from the committee and endeavored to get up a new organization.”

One of the virulent resolutions that “The Squad” calls for is the following:

“Resolved, The we continue to regard Martin Van Buren as a traitor and an ingrate, and to detest those who supported the infamous Coalition formed at Buffalo by whigs, negroes, and the so called leaders of the Van Buren faction.”

One of the members of this faction, seeking to quash unity in the Democratic Party is a former Democrat of the New York State Assembly, and colleague of Mike Walsh. His name: Daniel E. Sickles.

On February 20, the New York Evening Post reports on another meeting at Tammany Hall. This one is unencumbered by “The Squad.”:

“The General Committee.—At a full and spirited meeting of the Democratic General Committee,held at Tammany Hall last evening, Mr. Fernando Wood was chosen the permanent Chairman by a unanimous vote…”

The meeting goes on to rebuke the faction trying to maintain dissent within the Democratic Party:

“Resolved, That the resolutions adopted a the mass meeting at Tammany Hall, properly rebuke the efforts now being made, by fanatics north and south, to dissolve this glorious union—and constitute a platform upon which the united democracy can securely stand. Resolved, that the effort of Daniel E. Sickles, and a few other unscrupulous politicians, to disturb the harmony of the democratic party, and inculcate their peculiar and ultra opinions, are in perfect character with their previous systematic and treacherous attempts to defeat the state and county nominations of the democratic party, by issuing circulars inviting treason, and giving, like the Hartford Conventionists, aid and comfort to the enemy.”

As a teenager Daniel Edgar Sickles begins his association with Tammany Hall as a member of the election day shoulder-hitters that steal the opponents ballot boxes. Although a college dropout, in 1840 he is able to enter the law office of Benjamin Butler, the former Attorney General under Martin Van Buren, and is admitted to the bar three years later.

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By this time, a noted prostitute, known for her beauty by the name of Fanny White, catches Sickles eye. As a New York State Assemblyman, he is censured by the Legislature for escorting White into the chambers at Albany, and is accused of accepting money from her to finance his election in 1847, thereby being labeled a pimp by his opponents. 72 His controversial life will continue, replete with murder, a successful insanity defense led by his Hunker colleague James T. Brady, and charges of insubordination at the Battle of Gettysburg.

On April 16, the New-York Evening Post reports on the election of Sachems at Tammany Hall. The following excerpt from the lengthy article highlights the results:

“Two tickets were run; one in favor of the union of the democracy and of recognizing only the regular General Committee, of which Fernando Wood is chairman; and the other disposed to encourage the Sickles and Brady faction.”

On May 2, the New York Evening Post reports that the faction led by Fernando Wood has gained the upper hand:

“RE-ORGINAZATION OF THE PARTY IN THE CITY. It is understood that the Sachems of the Tammany Society have by a vote of 10 to 1, (Sachem M.M. Noah being absent) recommended the General Committee to provide for the election on the 20th of May, of a Democratic County Convention, to prepare a detailed and efficient system of party organization for the Democracy of this city.”

One would assume that the extreme Hunkers are in retreat, but, in fact, Fernando Wood seeks to accommodate them. On June 27, the New York Evening Post reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall, with the following resolution clearly showing the mark of the Hunker hand:

“Resolved, That our government is one of limited power, and that Congress has not the right to exercise powers not clearly expressed, specifically granted or manifestly implied in the provisions of the constitution. That it has ever been the policy of the democratic party, and one which they can never abandon, to adhere to a rigid construction of the Constitution, and oppose the exercise of all doubtful powers.”

With this resolution, the Hunkers reaffirm the core tenet of the Society of St. Tammany, one going back to the very beginning: the power of the States should supplant the power of the power of the Federal Government. They also show that Fernando Wood is willing to come down on both sides of an issue to accommodate his personal agenda: one advancing the political career of Fernando Wood. Wood will become all things to all people. He will go on to oblige the moderate Hunkers and Barnburners alike, mirroring events in Congress in the fall.

On June 18, the New York Evening Post, clearly in the Barnburner camp, gives a second hand account—the reporter of the Post being denied admission—of a dinner held at Tammany Hall, for New York Senator Daniel S. Dickenson:

“THE DICKENSON DINNER Was eaten at Tammany Hall last evening. Mr. Dickenson made a long speech in favor of the compromise, in which the cold meats of the banquet presented every day in Congress were served up. A speech in favor of the compromise is a drowsy matter at the present time, particularly when uttered by Senator Dickenson, after so many better ones.”

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Dickinson is a former New York State Senator, and Lieutenant Governor under William C. Bouck. He is elected to the United States Senate in 1844. He is one of the leaders of the Hunker faction of the New York Democratic Party. The “compromise” refers to debates in Congress trying to deal with the slavery issue in the Western territories. It is a “drowsy matter” because President Taylor is unwilling to compromise. However, the compromise will awake from its nap as nature intervenes in the coming weeks, and this sad event will tip Congress to enact a series of compromises that will forestall the inevitable for ten years.

On July 9, on the floor of the United States Senate, a speech by Andrew Butler of South Carolina is interrupted:

“IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,Tuesday, July 9, 1850.

Mr. Butler proceeded to address the Senate; and having spoken an hour, on a private communication from Mr. Webster, he suspended his remarks. Mr. Webster.—Mr. President, I have permission from the honourable member from South Carolina to interrupt the progress of his speech, and to make a solemn and mournful suggestion to the Senate. The intelligence which, within the last few moments, has been received, indicates that a very great misfortune is now immediately impending over the country. It is supposed by medical advisers and others that the President of the United States cannot live many hours.” 73

President Taylor attends a Fourth of July fund raising celebration at the Washington Monument, which began construction in 1848. At this event he reportedly consumes raw fruit and ice milk. 74 In the following days, Taylor becomes severely ill with what his doctor at the time diagnoses as cholera morbus, an archaic 19th century medical term that serves as a catch all phrase for people suffering with intestinal aliments. Medical science has not progressed much in ten years, and Taylor’s doctors worsen his ailment by proscribing calomel, ipecac, opium, and massive amounts of quinine, as well as bleeding him. 75 At 10:35 PM on July 9, Taylor dies. He is sixty-five years old. 76 While conspiracy theories exist to this day that Taylor is assassinated by arsenic poisoning, the common consensus is that what causes President Taylor’s death is the same thing that causes President Harrison’s death: open sewers in Washington D.C. . This basic lack of hygiene contaminates his food on that hot July day, resulting in Taylor contracting acute gastroenteritis. Taylor is the last President of the United States to own slaves. It is worth noting that his son, Richard Scott, will go on to become a Confederate General.

On July 10, in Senate:

“The following communication, received by the Secretary of the Senate, was read ;Washington, July 10, 1850.To the Senate of the United States : In consequence of the lamented death of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, I shall no longer occupy the chair of the Senate; and I have thought that a formal communicationto the Senate, to that effect, through your Secretary, might enable you the more promptly to proceedto the choice of a presiding officer, Millard Fillmore.” 77

And so, on July 10, 1850, Millard Fillmore of New York completes his first day as the thirteenth President of the United States.

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Millard Fillmore is born on January 7, 1800 in a hamlet now called Summerhill, near Moravia, New York. Moravia is in Cayuga County in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The distance from Tammany Hall to Moravia is 250 miles, and demonstrates the political distance between Fillmore, and the Hall. Trained as a lawyer, he is an Assemblyman from 1829 to 1831, and chairs the committee that enacts a new bankruptcy law eliminating debtor’s prison. He serves in Congress from 1833 to 1835, and from 1837 to 1843, first as a National Republican and then as a Whig. In Congress, he opposes Texas being admitted as a slave state. Declining to be re-nominated to Congress in 1842, he then runs unsuccessfully for Governor of New York in 1844 as Whig, losing to Silas Wright. Fillmore assumes the presidency as a moderate on the issue of slavery, opposing calls by the abolitionist in general, and the Barnburners is particular, to prohibit slavery in all the territories gained by the United States after winning the Mexican-American War.

In July, no mention is made in the New York press of the Society of St. Tammany acknowledging the death of Zachary Taylor, or the ascendency of Millard Fillmore.

Between September 9 and September 20, President Fillmore signs into law a series of bills known as the Compromise of 1850. Beginning with the conclusion of the Mexican-American war, a variety of proposals are debated in Congress to deal with the issue of slavery in the new territories. They span the political spectrum, from banning slavery in all new states, to popular sovereignty, to no restriction of slavery at all. Zachary Taylor is first and foremost a soldier, and the word compromise is foreign to him. He proposes that all the new territories be divided into two free states: California and New Mexico, without discussion or compromise. This confuses his fellow southern slave owners, and causes the ire of southern leaders, who speak the word secession. In February, Taylor holds a contentious meeting with them, saying that he will personally lead the Army against any secessionists, and states that anyone: “taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico.” 78

Taylor’s death causes Congress to come up with a final compromise, which is spearheaded by the grand old Whig, Henry Clay, in January of 1850. With Taylor dead, and Millard Fillmore taking the middle road, the Compromise in enacted into law by a Congress that has a Democratic plurality. What follows are the components of the Compromise:

California is admitted as a free state.

The slave trade is abolished in the District of Columbia, but slavery itself remains.

The New Mexico and Utah territories are organized under the rule of popular sovereignty.

The current borders of Texas are established, and Texas receives ten million dollars in compensation to pay off its debt.

And finally, the most notorious aspect of the Compromise: the Fugitive Slave Act.

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This Act vastly strengthens fugitive slave laws that had been in effect since 1793. This new law severely penalizes officials, mainly in the north, who do not arrest alleged runaway slaves, the key word being alleged. It encourages bounty hunters to travel to northern cities such as New York City and Boston, and snatch free men and women of color off the streets, taking them to the slave markets in the south.

An exceptionality well drawn lithographic broadside,depicting the Effects of the Fugitive-Slave-Law.

Attributed to Theodor Kaufmann, and published by Hoff & Bloede (1850.)From the collection of the American Antiquarian Society.

William H. Seward, the Whig Senator and former governor from New York opposes the Compromise. Daniel S. Dickinson, the Democratic Senator from New York, and Tammany Hunker, is a member of the Committee of Thirteen, the core group of Senators supporting the Compromise.

On September 14, the New York Commercial Advertiser reports of the State Democratic Convention held in Syracuse, at which Horatio Seymour in nominated as the Democratic candidate for Governor:

“Mr. Seymour is an ‘Old Hunker’ of the most Hunkerish sort. We mean no personal disrespect by this. Mr. Seymour himself, we believe, glories in the appellation.”

Seymour is born on May 31, 1810. Although admitted to the bar in 1832 he prefers politics, and is taken under the wing of Governor Marcy, who names him his military secretary in 1833. In 1841 he is elected as a Democrat to the State Assembly, as well as mayor of Utica from 1842 to 1843, serving simultaneously. He is elected Assembly Speaker in 1845. By the late 1840s he becomes a leader of the Hunker faction, along with Daniel S. Dickinson.

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On October 12, the New York Commercial Advertiser reports:

“Last night the names of Fernando Wood for Mayor and John Graham for District Attorney were dragged, by the vote of the Tammany Hall convention, into the honorable confraternity of Democratic candidates.”

On October 15, the New-York Evening Post reports that William M. Tweed is nominated for Assistant Alderman from the 11th Ward of New York City.

In the November elections, the Whigs win the majority in the New York Assembly . In the Congressional elections, the Democrats come back and split the House with the Whigs, 17 to 17. In the race for governor, Hamilton Fish declines to run for re-election, and the Whigs nominate Washington Hunt, a Whig Congressman to run against Seymour. It is the closest governors race in the history of New York, with Hunt prevailing by just 262 votes. Fernando Wood loses the mayoralty to Whig Ambrose C. Kingsland, a member of the merchant elite. William Tweed loses his first election as Alderman to a Whig as well, but these three gentlemen, Seymour, Wood, and Tweed, are just getting started.

By this time Tweed is made foreman of the Americus Engine Company No. 6.The seventy-five members of “Big Six” are fiercely loyal to their company, and highly competitive. Each wearing a red shirt, they follow Tweed, in a white firecoat, as he leads them in “running the machine.” 79 A huge man, Tweed has no patience for competing fire companies, and in particular attacks Hose Company No. 31 with “axes, barrels, and missiles.” Whereby, the city’s chief fire engineer suspends him for three months. 80 These exploits only serve to increase his esteem in the eyes of the Society of St. Tammany.

The Whig Party also begins to become divided on the issue of slavery, with many northern Whigs opposed to the Compromise of 1850. One faction is led by William H. Seward, and the other led by Henry Clay and Millard Fillmore. After much continuous debate, the New York State Legislature decides on Hamilton Fish. Fish is a compromise candidate because although he is opposed to the Fugitive Slave Act, he is a friend of Henry Clay. On March 19 he is elected U.S. Senator.

On June 24, the New-York Evening Post reports of a reunified Society of St. Tammany reviving an annual rite of passage that had lapsed for twenty-four years:

“The Tammany Society of the Fourth July.—This venerable Society announces its intention to commemorate the approaching anniversary with more than the usual solemnity. In the circular letter of invitation, which has be dispatched by the committee of arrangements, they say: Circumstances, essentially of a national character, and profoundly appealing the fealty and fidelity of every citizen of the American Union, have induced the Society of Tammany to celebrate the approaching Anniversary of that day with the highest observances and honors of the Order.”

The subtext of “Circumstances, essentially of a national character…” is that the Society of St. Tammany decides to take some of the credit for the Compromise of 1850.

On July 3, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:

Celebration of the anniversary of American Independence, at Tammany Hall, July 4th, 1851.—The society will assemble at the Great Wigwam, on the 4th of July, at 12 o’clock for the transaction of business. At 2 o’clock the large room of Tammany Hall will thrown open, for the admission of members, invited guests, and friends of the society. With ladies accompanying them.”

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William Tweed’s Americus Engine Company has by now gained national fame, and in July he takes his “boys” on a tour of the eastern seaboard. Gearing up for his entry into politics, he first visits Philadelphia, then Baltimore, and finally Washington, where he arrives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, leading a column of seventy-five “redshirts” with their gleaming fire engine in tow. Tweed is bedecked in a tall beaver hat and his white fireman’s coat, with his silver fire trumpet at his side. Tweed is anything if not voluble, but in the presence of the President Fillmore he becomes tongue-tied and manages only “These are Big Six boys.” But Fillmore puts Tweed and his men at ease, greeting each one in turn. A reporter that is present then asks Tweed why he fails to give a speech, and Tweed, smiling, responds, “I let the boy’s looks speak for themselves.” To which the reporter replies “But wouldn’t any seventy-five young men in red shirts look as well? The smile fades from Tweed’s lips, and he puts the matter to rest, angrily retorting, “Does Croton Dam look like Niagara Fall? Not by a damned sight!” Big Six then visits Montreal before returning to New York City. 81

From Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metrpolis (1886.) By Benjamin Perley Poore.

On September 18, the New-York Daily Times begins publication. In 1857 it shortens it name to The New-York Times. In 1896 the hyphen is dropped from the nameplate. George Jones, and Henry Jarvis Raymond are its founders. Raymond is a Whig politician, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, and former editor of the New-York Courier and Enquirer. Jones is a former banker from Albany. The two meet while working at the New-York Tribune. As of July 2015, over 67,000 articles mentioning the word “Tammany” can be found in the Times archive.

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On September 25, the New-York Daily Times makes its first mention of Tammany Hall:

“Laid Over.—The Democratic meeting called this evening at Tammany Hall, has been postponed until Monday evening of next week.”

On September 30, the New-York Daily Times reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall:

“OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN.Democratic Ratification Meeting at Tammany Hall.

Last evening the door of Old Tammany were thrown open, and the Democracy called together for the purpose of ratifying the nominations of State officers at the Syracuse Convention. A large platform had been erected at one end of the hall, over which was a large banner, which bore the following inscription: ‘Strict Construction of the Constitution—National and State.’In front of the orchestra there was also a banner with the inscription:‘ The Union of the Democracy upon Principles.’ ‘The Union—it Must and Shall be Preserved.’ ”

The lengthy article lists the vice presidents and secretaries, prints the resolutions, and excerpts the comments by various members of the Society, including these remarks from Isaiah Rynders:

“Capt. Rynders followed in a speech on union and harmony. He was very glad to see the party united, for he observed side by side upon the platform, the extreme Hunker, who would bite himself backward, and the extreme ‘Burner, who used to bite everybody around him. [Laughter.] The Captain advocated the State ticket, and called on the Democracy to come up to the work.”

The State Democratic Convention held in Syracuse on September 10, nominates candidates for State Assembly and Senate, as well as state officials.

On October 8, the New-York Evening Post reports of the local Democratic nominations for candidates running for Common Council, including:

“Seventh Ward.—It is expected that Mr. William Tweed will be nominated for Alderman.”

On October 9, the New-York Evening Post reports of Mike Walsh contesting a Tammany nomination:

“Assembly Nomination—The nomination of Thomas Boese as Member of Assembly for this ward, is contested by Mike Walsh, who claims to be the regular nominee.”

On November 4, the New York State elections are held. In the race for state officials, the Democrats elect the Secretary of State, Comptroller, Attorney General, State Engineer, Judge for Court of Appeals, and Inspector of State Prisons. The Whigs elect the Treasurer, and Canal Commissioner. The Whigs maintain a slim majority, 65 to 63 in the Assembly, and the Democrats manage a split in the Senate, 16 to 16. Mike Walsh returns to the Assembly. In the New York City elections, William Tweed is elected to the Common Council, and the Democrats gain a majority of the city’s Aldermen. This shows that the Democrats, for the last several years dominated by the Whigs due to pro and anti-slavery factions, are reunified, and are again a force to be reckoned with.

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1851 On December 5, the New-York Daily Times reports:

“The ‘Tammany Society,’ had a pow-wow at the Great Wigwam last evening. One pale-face was made a red-skin, and several others were suggested as candidates for admission to the Council Chambers of the tribe. The war-hatchet was buried by several distinguished warriors, and after passing round the calumet of peace, the Council adjourned until the third moon.”

This article is worth noting, in that even though Henry Raymond is an anti-slavery Whig, he seeks a moderate, even handed approach to reporting, stating the Times intent in its first issue:

“There are few things in this world which it is worthwhile to get angry about; and they are just the things anger will not improve.”

The anti-Tammany New York press would have likely reported this “pow-wow” in derisive terms, with barbed asides.

A photograph from a glass negative, of Henry J. Raymond.By the studio of Mathew Brady, from the collection of the Library of Congress.

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On December 27, the New-York Evening Post reports of Tammany Hall’s influence stretching to Texas:

“General Houston arrived in town yesterday, and is stopping at the Irving House. We are informed that, several months since, General Houston was made a member of the Tammany Society, and that he will, in all probability, be initiated this evening. After the ceremonies are through with, the doors of old Tammany will be thrown open to the public—to hear a speech from the General.”

On April 4, the Weekly Herald prints a lengthy article of:

“THE EVENTS OF THE WEEK. Our columns, this morning, are literally overflowing with news, from almost every part of the inhabitable globe.”

The article includes shipping news, reporting:

“By the arrival of the steamship Crescent City, we have advices from San Francisco to the second of March—two weeks later. The fact that she brings upwards of a million and a half in gold dust, is decidedly the most interesting feature of this intelligence.”

Between 1851 and 1854, at the height of the Gold Rush, one hundred seventy-five million dollars in gold makes its way from California to New York City. 82 Over a hundred thousand men sail to northern California from New York and other eastern cities, seeking their fortune. While the gold flows eastward, Fernando Wood realizes that money can be made sailing west. One of his business endeavors is chartering a bark, the John S. Cater, loading it with supplies for the miners, and setting sail for San Francisco, where the goods are sold at a huge profit. It later turns out that Wood has swindled his brother-in-law who had provided up front money for the bark, by falsifying documents that mask the profit. He is indicted by a grand jury, but one day before the case goes to trial, the stature of limitations expires. It is alleged that Wood pays off a judge to delay the case. 83

Graft and corruption will become rife on the local level as well, fueled by the Gold Rush. By this time the Tammany dominated Common Council, which includes William M. Tweed, will become known as “The Forty Thieves.” They will sell ferry leases, and street railway franchises to the highest bidder. They will take a cut of a corrupt fireworks manufacturer, who charges the city $4,100.00—$93,000.00 in 2014 dollars—for a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. They will go on to buy land for a pauper’s burial ground on the cheap, and sell it back to the city for $100,000,00. 84 By the time the taxpaying citizens get wind of this in 1853, William Tweed will have moved on to Congress.

On April 17, the New-York Daily Times print an editorial that begins:

“ABORIGINAL POLITENESS. A correspondence has met out attention between a Committee of the ‘Tammany Society or Columbian Order,’ and four distinguished Democratic Sachems who have been recently elevated to membership. The valiant Red Skins, who have arrived at this distinction, are Gen. Cass, Senators Dickinson and Dix, and Canal Commissioner Mather. The respective missives of the Committee and the Neophytes are choice specimens of the grave, deliberate and poetic style which has drawn the admiration of the polished schools of civilization to aboriginal rhetoric since the days of Powhattan and Raleigh.”

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Finally, Lewis Cass, who first visits Tammany Hall on May 12, 1831, is made a Sachem in the Society of St. Tammany, an institution once dominated by his mortal enemy: Martin Van Buren. Tammany Hall’s General Committee, with Fernando Wood most likely in the background, continues to play both sides against the middle, by inducting Hunker Daniel S. Dickinson, and Barnburner John Adams Dix. The fourth inductee is John C. Mather, former Canal Commissioner So, within the last four months, the Society of St. Tammany admits three new Sachems, that will go on to vie for the Democratic presidential nomination in June: Samuel Houston, Lewis Cass, and Daniel S. Dickinson. None of these men will prevail, with a dark horse “doughface” gaining the nod.

Between June 1 and June 5, the Democratic National Convention is held in Baltimore.In a wide-open field, 12 candidates compete for the nomination for president. Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, Stephen A. Douglas, and William Marcy lead the pack. All four of these gentlemen are unable to gain the majority, though each one leads at one point or another throughout 34 ballots. The Virginia delegation then nominates dark horse Franklin Pierce, the former Senator from New Hampshire. Pierce consolidates his supporters, and gains the nomination on the 49th ballot. William Rufus King, Senator from Alabama is nominated as Vice President. King describes his running mate as a “northern man with southern principles.” King is an intimate of James Buchanan, and the two bachelors live together for ten years from 1834 to 1844. Many historians now believe that Buchanan and King are a gay couple. Franklin Pierce is considered to be a “doughface,” a disparaging term, defining a politician who exhibits “the willingness to be led about by one of stronger mind and will.” 85 It comes to mean a Northern Democrat who sides with the Southern Democrats in political disputes, leading up to the Civil War.

On June 10, the New-York Daily Times reports the Society of St. Tammany getting behind the Pierce and King:

“DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN MEETING TAMMANY IN A BLAZE A meeting of the ‘Democracy’ was held at Tammany Hall last evening, to ratify the nominations of the late Baltimore Convention, for President and Vice-President. Banners were displayed during the day in front of the Hall, which was brilliantly illuminated early in the evening.”

The lengthy article goes on to state:

“Daniel E. Sickles, Esq., then read the following resolutions, which were concurred in: Resolved: That the Democracy of the City and County of New-York approve of the nominations made by the National Convention, of Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, for President, and William R. King, of Alabama, for Vice-President of the United States, and will use every just means, and make every honest effort to insure their election.”

On June 15, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:

“Preparations for the Fourth. The Tammany Society propose to celebrate the next Fourth of July with more than usual animation. The following invitation has been issued to proposed guests on the occasion. We have no doubt that the secondary objects of the celebration will be promoted in no inconsiderable degree by the exertions of the Tammany Society. Union! Strength!! Victory!!!—Past Grievances to be buried in Exertions of the Future—Baltimore Platform, founded in Granite. Rough Hewn in ‘44, Faced in ‘48, Polished and Erected in 1852.”

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Between June 17 and June 20, the Whig National Convention is held in Baltimore at the same venue that the Democrats convened in: the Maryland Institute. The contentious convention finally selects Winfield Scott over President Fillmore. Secretary of the Navy, William A. Graham of North Carolina is nominated as the candidate for Vice-President. It is worth noting that Franklin Pierce serves under General Scott in the Mexican-American War, albeit ingloriously, falling under his horse early on, and then debilitated by diarrhea.

On July 6, the New-York Evening Post prints an article, which begins:

“The Tammany Celebration. The Celebration of the Tammany Society yesterday passed off very pleasantly. The oration of Mr. John C. Mather was a very clever production. At five o’clock, the sachems and the invited guests partook of a cold collation, when letters were read from a number of distinguished gentlemen, who were prevented from being present. After the reading of the letters, the Grand Sachem announced the regular toasts.”

The article concludes:

“The attendance was very large, and the spirit evinced harmonious and enthusiastic. Besides gentlemen who spoke, there were many distinguished gentlemen present. Nearly every state in the Union was represented by at least one of its citizens; and all seemed highly gratified by the zeal and union manifested by the New York democracy.”

For the second year running, after a gap of twenty-four years, the Society of St. Tammany holds an Independence Day celebration in its Great Hall. Again, the fact that “Nearly every state in the Union was represented by at least one of its citizens” demonstrates Tammany Hall’s continued impact on the Nation.

On July 7, the New-York Evening Post has an entire page, six columns, devoted to printing the letters from various high level politicians, sending their regrets not being able to attend the Fourth of July celebrations at Tammany Hall. Former President John Tyler politely declines, as does James Buchanan, and Samuel Houston. But the article begins, remarkably, with a letter from Martin Van Buren. In it he ruminates about past disagreements, but states that the invitation “revives recollections reaching to a far distant day, of similar meetings at which I had the pleasure of acting…” Van Buren ends his letter by leaving no doubt he is squarely behind Franklin Pierce and William King:

“Gen. Pierce and Mr. King have both been brought up in the true democratic faith, and spent their lives among the straightest of their sect. They are honest men, long tried in public life, possessing talents abundantly adequate to the successful discharge of every duty, and private characters above all cavil or reproach.”

What Van Buren does not realize, unable to see into the future, is that Franklin Pierce will come to be regarded as one of the worst Presidents in the history of the United States. The Post’s William Cullen Bryant, clearly mindful of their past disputes, directly follows Martin Van Buren’s letter with one from Lewis Cass.

On July 20, the New-York Evening Post reports of the:

“Programme of Arrangements for the Funeral Ceremonies of the late Hon. Henry Clay.”

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Clay, who dies on June 29 in Washington, white still serving as the senior Senator from Kentucky, is given a grand procession from City Hall to Union Square. Among the divisions marching in honor of the Senator from Kentucky is the Seventh, which includes the “Society of Tammany or Columbian Order.” William M. Tweed is cited in the article as being a member of a committee that oversees the closing ceremonies at City Hall. Tammany Hall shows a united front, and honors in death, the man that stood at the forefront of its most fierce opposition.

The unity that Tammany Hall shows in the death of Henry Clay does not last long, because on August 18, the New-York Daily Times reports of:

“The Democracy Indignant.—A portion of the Democracy gathered at Tammany Hall on Monday evening, for the purpose of expressing their indignation at the course pursued by the General Committee in ordering the primary meetings. The keeper of the Wigwam refusing to open the door, they adjourned to the El Dorado.”

On August 24, the New-York Daily Times reports of two competing factions in Tammany Hall who are trying to install their inspectors to oversee (rig) the upcoming Democratic primary elections. The article concludes with the following:

“These rival manifestoes will undoubtedly be referred to the Sachems of the Tammany Society, but we hardly think they will be able to compromise the difficulty, and reconcile the two clans. It is a battle for the spoils, and it will be difficult to make a division that will be mutually satisfactory. At the present time, ‘it is a pecooliarly nice muss,’ as one attendant remarked on Friday evening.”

The Times makes a key observation: this dispute, between the remnants of the Hunkers and the Barnburners, is not about national issues such as slavery. It is about money. The two Democratic factions in Tammany Hall fully expect that Franklin Pierce will be become President, and the want to have their elected officials in place to receive patronage—spoils—from the new chief magistrate.

On August 27, the New-York Daily Times report of:

“THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMANY MEETINGS.Terrible Riots and Bloodshed.

THE HUNKERS TRIUMPHANT. Last evening, between the hours of 7 and 9, was the time appointed for the election of Democratic Delegates to the different State and County Conventions. The difficulty which had arisen between the General Committee, and those who were opposed to the action had in that body on the 5th of the present month, led us to believe that there would be much difficulty, and probably some rioting, but we never dreamed that we should see such scenes as we witnessed last night.”

The article goes on to detail the rioting in the various wards in the City, including:

“Eighth Ward.—Here the Sickles people made up in energy what they lacked in numbers. A party headed by Bill Poole undertook to take the ballot boxes by storm, but they were repulsed, and Poole’s brother was badly beaten in the melée.”

William—Bill the Butcher—Poole, is the leader of the Bowery Boys, an anti-Irish gang with its roots in the Native American Party. His archenemy will come to be Irishman John Morrissey, the protégé of Isaiah Rynders, and like Poole, a bare-knuckle boxer.

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On September 16, the New-York Evening Post reports of the Democratic Congressional nominations, including:

“Fourth District—Mike Walsh. Fifth District—William M. Tweed.”

On September 22, the New-York Evening Post reports:

“ Last night the General Committee at Tammany Hall, through the agency of certain pseudo conventions, nearly completed their appointments of candidates for city offices, by the selection of Jacob A. Westervelt, one of our government ship-builders, and a very respectable citizen, for Mayor.”

Jacob Aaron Westervelt is considered one of the great shipbuilders of the 19th century. In a career lasting over fifty years he and his partners design and build over 200 vessels, from sailing packets to steamships. A loyal Democrat, he is elected to the Common Council in 1840, but remains above the political fray.

On October 19, the New-York Evening Post reports of a mass meeting at Tammany Hall, that includes the following resolution:

“Resolved: That we will give a hearty and cordial support to the democratic state nominations, and that we will use all honorable means to secure the triumphant election of Horatio Seymour for Governor, and Sanford E. Church for Lieutenant Governor.”

On November 2, the United States Presidential election is held, as well as the New York State and City elections. Franklin Pierce and William King rout Winfield Scott and William Graham, in the largest landslide of a presidential election to date. The Democrats prevail over the Whigs in New York State as well, with Horatio Seymour defeating incumbent Washington Hunt, and gaining the majority in Congress. The Democrats carry the whole ticket including Canal Commissioner and Inspector of State Prisons. The Democrats win the majority in the New York State Assembly. In the election for New York City Mayor, Democrat Jacob Westervelt defeats Whig Morgan Morgans. Mile Walsh is elected to Congress, and on November 6, the Weekly Herald reports the following exchange at a meeting in Tammany Hall:

“Q.—What about Bill Tweed?A.—Bill Tweed’s chair is on the way to the Capitol—a chair made with his own hands last week.”

On December 13, Frances Wright dies at her home in Cincinnati, Ohio. Having withdrawn from the public stage, she marries a French doctor by the name of Guillayme D’Arusmont and they have one child, a daughter. The 1840s sees Wright in declining health, and subsequently she and D’Arusmont divorce. On December 17, the New-York Evening Post prints her obituary, which contains the following excerpt:

“We well remember the first appearance of Miss Wright at the Park Theatre in this city, where she was about to deliver a series of discourses ‘on knowledge’ we believe the subject was. A fierce storm of obloquy broke upon the heads of all who proposed to listen to her words, to see what good or ill there might be in them. The newspapers raved, the pulpits thundered, the parlors shrieked; while on the other hand, Tammany Hall, then a defender of free discussion, and a host of admirers gathered from the Mechanic and other societies, insisted that she was an angel of light come to emancipate and redeem mankind.”

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NOTES ON CHAPTER 7

1 Robert Seager II, The Papers of Henry Clay, Volume 9, The Whig Leader, January 1, 1837-December 31, 1843 (The University Press of Kentucky 1988) p. 5572 http://www.treasury.gov/about/history/Pages/1800-1899.aspx (accessed February 4, 2015)3 Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 6354 M.R. Werner, Tammany Hall (Doubleday, Doran & Company 1928) p. 465 John Biglow, The Life of Samuel J. Tilden (Harper & Brothers 1895) p.126 Allison Guertin Marchese, Hidden History of Columbia County, New York (The History Press 2014) p. 1047 Oliver E. Allen, The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall (Addison-Wesley 1993) p. 528 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) pp. 132-1339 Glyndon Van Deusen, William Henry Seward (Oxford University Press 1967) pp. 87-9010 George Sale, The Koran: commonly called The Alcoran of Mohammed, Vol. 1 (J.W. Moore 1850) pp. 138, 41511 http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/Public/focus/essay1009_jefferson.html (accessed April 12, 2015)12 Henry Collins Brown, Valentine’s Manual of the City of New York (Old Colony Press 1917) p. 22913 C. Edwards Lester, Life and Character of Peter Cooper (John B. Alden 1883) p. 3214 New-York Evening Post (October 29, 1841)15 Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 63816 Matthew P. Breen, Thirty Years of New York Politics (John Polhenus Printing Company 1899) pp. 307-30817 Laurie Robertson-Lorant, Melville, a Biography (University of Massachusetts Press 1996) p. 13018 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 13619 Carl Sandberg, Storm Over the Land: A Profile of the Civil War (Harcourt, Brace 1942) p. 8720 Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America 1815-1848 (Oxford University Press 2007) pp. 705-70621 Matthew P. Breen, Thirty Years of New York Politics (John Polhenus Printing Company 1899) pp. 310-31122 Jeremiah Hughes, Niles’ National Register, Volume LX (Hezekiah Niles 1841) p. 21523 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 14024 Ibid.25 Charles Sellers, James K. Polk, Continentalist (Princeton University Press 1966) p. 21526 William W. Freehling, The Road to Disunion: Volume 1: Secessionist at Bay, 1776-1854 (Oxford University Press 1991) p. 44827 Michael F. Holt, The fate of their country: politicians, slavery extension, and the coming of the Civil War (Hill and Wang 2005) p. 1528 JS Neiderhauser, Phytophthora infestans: the Mexican Connection (Cambridge University Press 1991) pp. 25-4529 Michael Doheny, The Felons Track (M.H. Gill and Sons 1951) p. 4130 David Ross, Ireland: History of a Nation (Geddes & Grosset 2002) p. 22631 Oliver E. Allen, The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall (Addison-Wesley 1993) p. 5232 Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 73533 John Craig Havemeyer, Life, Letters, and Addresses of John Craig Havemeyer (Fleming H. Revell Company 1914) pp. 21-3034 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 13835 Ibid.36 Obituary of George W. Matsell, The New York Times (July 26, 1877)37 Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 63838 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) pp. 138-139

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39 K. Jack Bauer, Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest (Louisiana State University Press 1993) p. 14940 Edwin Williams, Statesman’s Manual, Presidents Messages, Inaugural, Annual and Special from 1789 to 1846 (R. Craighead, Printer 1847) p.148941 M.R. Werner, Tammany Hall (Doubleday, Doran & Company 1928) pp. 52-5342 Mason I. Lowance, A House Divided: The Antebellum Slavery Debates in America, 1776-1865 (Princeton University Press 2003) pp. 25-2643 Ibid.44 Edward Deering Mansfield, Life and services of General Winfield Scott (A. S. Barnes & Co. 1852) p. 39345 Robert L. Scheina, Santa Anna: A Curse Upon Mexico (Potomac Books 2003) p.4646 Timothy J. Lynch, Paul S. Boyer, Christopher Nichols, David Milne, The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History (Oxford University Press 2013) p. 69147 Jabez Delano Hammond, Life and Times of Silas Wright, Late Governor of the State of New York (Hall & Dickson 1848) p. 73348 https://pfaffs.web.lehigh.edu/node/54238 (accessed May 5, 2015)49 Franklin B. Hough, The New-York Civil List, containing the Names and Origin of Civil Divisions, and the Names and Dates of Election or Appointment of the Principle State and County Officers from the Revolution to the Present Day (Weed, Parsons & Co. 1858) pp. 235, 25350 Leo Hershkowitz, Tweed’s New York: Another Look (Anchor Press/Doubleday 1978) p.551 Matthew P. Breen, Thirty Years of New York Politics (John Polhenus Printing Company 1899) pp. 45-4652 Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 83153 Theodore Parker, A Discourse Occasioned by the Death of John Quincy Adams: Delivered at the Melodeon in Boston, March 5, 1848 (Bela Marsh 1848) p. 2654 John T. Morse, Jr., John Quincy Adams (Houghton, Mifflin and Company 1882) pp. 307-30855 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 14256 Ibid.57 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29574 (accessed May 20, 2015)58 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 14259 Michael A Morrison, Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War (University of North Carolina Press 1997) p. 8460 O.C. Gardiner, The Great Issue: or The Three Presidential Candidates: being A Brief Historical Sketch of the Free Soil Question in the United States, from the Congresses of 1774 and ’87 to the Present Time (WM. C. Bryant & Co. 1848) p. 14061 Irving Stone, They Also Ran (Doubleday 1966) p. 23662 A. Elwood Corning, Hamilton Fish (Lanmere Publishing Co. 1918) pp. 12-1563 Luc Sante, Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1991) p. 7764 Allan Nevins, The Evening Post, A Century of Journalism (Boni and Liveright 1922) p. 24365 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 14466 Ibid. pp. 148-14967 Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York, An Informal History of the Underworld (Alfred A. Knopf 1928, Vintage Books 2008) p. 3968 Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) pp. 761-76469 M.R. Werner, Tammany Hall (Doubleday, Doran & Company 1928) p. 6770 T.J. Stiles, The First Tycoon, The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (Alfred A. Knopf 2009) pp. 398-39971 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) pp. 144-14672 Wilmer L. Jones, Generals in Blue and Gray: Lincoln’s Generals (Prager Publishers 2004) p. 18673 Senate & House of Representatives, Obituary Address delivered on the Occasion of the Death of Zachary Taylor (William M. Belt 1850) pp. 3-4

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74 Elbert B. Smith, The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore (University Press of Kansas 1988) p. 15675 Jim Sampas, Scandal and Heat Did Zachary Taylor In (The New York Times July 4 1991) retrieved July 8, 201576 Jack K. Bauer, Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest (Louisiana State University Press 1985) p. 31677 Senate & House of Representatives, Obituary Address delivered on the Occasion of the Death of Zachary Taylor (William M. Belt 1850) pp. 7-878 www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/zacharytaylor (accessed July 13, 2015)79 Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 82380 Oliver E. Allen, The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall (Addison-Wesley 1993) p. 8481 Denis Tilden Lynch, “Boss” Tweed: The Story of a Grim Generation (Transaction Publishers 1931) p. 6382 Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 65683 Oliver E. Allen, The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall (Addison-Wesley 1993) p. 6384 M.R. Werner, Tammany Hall (Doubleday, Doran & Company 1928) pp. 70-7185 Leonard L. Richards, The Slave Power: The Free North and Southern Domination 1780-1860 (Louisiana State University Press 2000) p. 86

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