Denis Kearney

Background

Denis Kearney was born on February 1, 1847 at Oakmount, County Cork, Ireland, the second son in a family of seven.

Education

Kearney never attended school.

Career

Kearney left home when he was just eleven years old and became a cabin boy on the coasting steamer. He sailed for some years under the American flag, finally attaining the rank of first officer. By his temperance and industry he was able to buy a draying business in 1872 and abandon his seafaring life. His business prospered long enough for him to acquire some property and become a taxpayer. In 1876 he became a naturalized citizen, and the next year represented the Draymen and Teamsters' Union in presenting the grievances of organized labor to United States Senator Sargent.

In the meantime he had regularly attended a lyceum for self-culture where, as in trade-union meetings, he overcame a natural awkwardness of expression and developed into a voluble speaker. An eager reader, greatly interested in history and in the works of Darwin and Spencer, he picked up considerable information from these sources and from newspapers and political pamphlets. Through his connection with popular open-air mass meetings he developed a reputation as an agitator. His speeches dealing with current grievances, delivered in a powerful voice, were direct, trenchant, and somewhat epigrammatic; and, despite their numerous rough and violent expressions, read surprisingly well. Practically no violence resulted from his diatribes against railroad magnates, bank officials, local politicians, and particularly the Chinese; a fact tending to justify Kearney's claim that his speeches were garbled by an unfriendly press. He repeatedly warned his followers against acts of violence; and in answer to those who called him a socialist and communist, he disclaimed any desire to attack the institution of private property. Nevertheless, he was repeatedly arrested for "incendiary" utterances or upon related charges, but in each instance he was acquitted by a jury or the charges were dismissed.

In the organization of the Workingmen's Party of California, in October 1877, he look a leading part, soon becoming its president, chief promoter, and a director of the party organ, the Open Letter. As party leader, Kearney addressed his followers in almost nightly speeches, many of which were delivered on the "sand lot, " now the civic center of San Francisco, and in Oakland. Several attempts were made to undermine his leadership. Against insurgents, dissenters, and lukewarm subordinates he employed highly drastic methods, and was roundly assailed as a "dictator" and a "Cæsar. " He seems to have been devoid of any selfish political ambition, however, and fought to keep the party free from control by self-seeking politicians. Fifty-one Workingmen delegates were elected to the constitutional convention of 1878, where, in combination with a small group of Grangers, they constituted a majority on several issues. They lacked ability and experience, however, and appear to have left little direct impress upon the new constitution. By the time of the presidential campaign of 1880, the party had so dwin dled that Kearney supported General Weaver, the Greenback candidate; shortly thereafter he retired from public view. As he stated, "I was poor, with a helpless family, and I went to work to provide for their support. "

Achievements

• Denis Kearney was known as the leader of the Workingmen's Party of California, an American labor organization in the 1870s, and for his aggressive position towards Chinese immigrants. He was also credited for being the father of the national Chinese Exclusion Act.

Politics

Kearney was a member of the Workingmen's Party of California. His movement was the protest against widespread unemployment, dishonest banking, inequitable taxation, land monopoly, railroad domination, Chinese labor competition, and other economic and political evils of the day. He constantly and vehemently stressed the necessity of stopping Chinese immigration, and afterwards claimed that his agitation had made the Chinese question a national issue and hastened the enactment of the exclusion act of 1882.

Personality

Kearney was of nervous, active temperament, naturally forceful, earnest and audacious, possessed of a talent for organization, and endowed with Celtic shrewdness, quickness of repartee, and vigorous, abounding energy. He was primarily an agitator and not an original or constructive thinker.

Connections

In 1870 Kearney married Mary Ann Leary. Four children were born to them.

Spouse:

Mary Ann Leary

References

• The Drayman Demagogue: Dennis Kearney and the Workingmens Party of California, 1877-1880
• The Kearney Agitation in California
• San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis Volume 2
• The American Commonwealth (2-volume set)
• Popular Tribunals, Volume 2