James Gore King was an American financier, businessman, and politician. He served in the War of 1812 as an Assistant Adjutant General and was a Member of the U. S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 5th district from 1849 to 1851.
Background
James Gore King was the third son of Rufus King and Mary (Alsop) King, and brother of Charles and John Alsop King. He was born on May 08, 1791 in New York City, New York, United States. Several years of his boyhood were passed in London while his father was minister to the Court of St. James's.
Education
Between the ages of seven and ten James was a student in a London boarding school. One of his masters at this period called him a "prodigy in learning". For three years he was in a Paris school, chiefly for the purpose of acquiring the French language. Returning to America, he was tutored for Harvard by the Reverend Dr. J. S. J. Gardiner, rector of Trinity Church, Boston. He was graduated from Harvard in 1810 at the age of nineteen and began reading law with the well-known jurist, Peter Van Schaick, of Kinderhook, New York, continuing his studies at the famous Litchfield, Connecticut, school under Tapping Reeve and James Gould.
Career
In the War of 1812 King left the legal profession to serve as assistant adjutant-general of militia. At the end of the war he opened a commission house in New York, which he conducted with moderate success for three years. In 1818 he established in Liverpool the house of King & Gracie and remained as senior partner in that enterprise until 1824. He was then asked by John Jacob Astor to become manager of the American Fur Company, but declined. He accepted, however, a partnership in the New York banking house of Prime, Ward & Sands, beginning thus a long and successful career as a banker.
His interests and activities extended beyond Wall Street. In 1835 he was made president of the New York & Erie Railroad and served until 1839. The road was then making its first surveys westward from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The first construction work on the line was done in King's administration, but was stopped by the financial stringency that began in 1836 and continued for over two years. King's business reputation helped to get needed support for the enterprise. In the panic of 1837, when specie payments were suspended, he was able to render an unusual service to the financial interests, not of New York only but of the country at large. Going to London, he persuaded the officials of the Bank of England to loan £1, 000, 000 sterling (with the guaranty of Baring Brothers) to be distributed among the New York banks. The consignment was made to Prime, Ward & King and the responsibility for handling the money fell chiefly to the junior partner. So wisely was the apportionment made that the operation was a complete success, resulting in the resumption of specie payments in May 1838, with prompt repayment of the loan to the Bank of England.
King's repeated election as president of the New York Chamber of Commerce is some indication of his standing in the business community during that period, and the frequent references to him in Philip Hone's diary represent him as a leading spirit in the select social circles that foregathered on Manhattan Island in the early nineteenth century.
Meanwhile, King, with his brothers, had become interested in Whig politics, and having established a residence in New Jersey, where he had a home on the heights of Weehawken, he was elected to Congress in 1848. He served only one term, as a minority member of the House, his brother John holding a New York seat at the same time.
Achievements
Politics
King was a member of the Whig Party. While in Congress, he voted against the fugitive slave bill and the other compromise measures of 1850, and did what he could to uphold the Taylor administration.
Connections
On February 4, 1813, King married Sarah Rogers Gracie, daughter of Archibald Gracie, and sister of Eliza, his brother Charles's wife. She with four daughters and three sons survived him.