Perpetuity of the union. Speech of Hon. J. K. Moorhead, of Pennsylvania. Delivered in the House of Representatives, March 26, 1864, The
(Originally published in 1864. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)
Originally published in 1864. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
James Kennedy Moorhead was an American politician, canal builder, and pioneer in commercial telegraphy.
Background
James K. Moorhead was born on September 7, 1806, in Halifax, Pennsylvania. His father, William Moorhead, had emigrated from Ireland and settled in the United States in 1798. In 1814 he was appointed by President James Madison collector of internal revenue for the tenth district of Pennsylvania, but he died in 1817, leaving his wife, Elizabeth Young Kennedy, a widow with several children to support and no other form of income than that which could be obtained from a farm.
Education
Under these circumstances, James's schooling ended when he was eleven years old after he had completed two years in the district school in Harrisburg.
Career
At fourteen he had the full responsibility of the farm and Moorhead's ferry. Two years later he served as an apprentice to a tanner, but he never followed the trade.
Having gained a fair knowledge of building and a familiarity with water transportation, he offered a low bid and obtained the contract for the construction of the Susquehanna branch of the Pennsylvania Canal - a job which netted him almost four hundred dollars. He then remained as superintendent of the Juniata division and was the first to place a passenger packet on the system. During the ten years he spent in navigating the canal he gained a knowledge of the problems involved in managing canal transportation and in 1839 he began a connection with the Monongahela Navigation Company in Pittsburgh. In 1846 he became president of the company, retaining the position until his death thirty-eight years later. In this capacity he built many dams, locks, and reservoirs in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Kentucky, and earned for himself the title "Old Slackwater" because of the slackwater dams.
In 1840 he established the Union Cotton Factory in what is now the Northside district of Pittsburgh. Nine years later the factory burned along with his house. He rebuilt the latter but it was again destroyed in 1853 by fire. At this time he also owned a part interest in the Novelty Works in Pittsburgh.
Moorhead was one of the first to appreciate the possibilities of commercial telegraphy and it was largely through his efforts and direction, dating from 1853, that lines were established between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The operating company, of which he was president, was the Atlantic & Ohio Telegraph Company. He was also the president of the various companies owning lines to Cincinnati and Louisville. Afterward, when these lines were consolidated, they formed the basis of the Western Union System.
In politics Moorhead was an active member of the Democratic party of that day and for a short time held an appointment under President Van Buren as deputy postmaster of Pittsburgh (1840 - 1841). But in the trying years from 1854 to 1858 he left the party and aided in the formation of the Republican party.
In 1859 he was its successful candidate for Congress and served continuously in the lower house from 1859 to 1869. During the term of his membership he served on several important committees - commerce, national armories, manufactures, naval affairs, and ways and means - and was chairman of the two first named.
In 1868 he served in his last political position, as delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago which nominated Ulysses S. Grant. Moorhead always exhibited a great interest in the affairs of his church, the Presbyterian, in which he was the ruling elder, and in 1884 he went to Belfast, Ireland, as a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian Council. Shortly afterward, upon his return to Pittsburgh, he died on March 6, 1884.