(Excerpt from President Lincoln's Cabinet Mr. Usher's rem...)
Excerpt from President Lincoln's Cabinet Mr. Usher's remarks in regard to Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet were first made in a speech delivered at a banquet given by Mr. D. M. Edgerton in honor Of Judge D. D. Hoag, in Wyan dotte, Kansas, on June 20, 1887. The address was impromptu and at the urgent request Of those who heard him Mr. Usher, upon the following day, reduced his remarks to writing; and again I was the amanuensis used for the purpose. They were put in pamphlet form and a very limited number distributed among those who were present upon that occasion. In view of the interesting character and the importance of many Of the facts testified to by Mr. Usher in these state ments, it has seemed worth while to put them in a permanent form and to give them a wider distribution than has hereto fore been done; and while doing so to make known some Of the salient facts as to the life and activities Of Mr. Usher himself. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
https://www.amazon.com/President-Lincolns-Cabinet-Classic-Reprint/dp/0259955760?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0259955760
https://www.amazon.com/Usher-chairman-Judiciary-Committee-Senate/dp/B00089BVEM?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00089BVEM
John Palmer Usher was descended from a young English Puritan, Hezekiah Usher, who settled in Boston, Massachussets, about the middle of the seventeenth century, becoming a bookseller and later a selectman. Among his descendants were John Usher, who became lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire in 1692, and Dr. Nathaniel Usher, who with his wife, Lucy (Palmer), lived in Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y. , when their son, John Palmer, was born.
After receiving a common-school education Usher studied law in the office of Henry Bennett of New Berlin, N. Y.
Usher was admitted to the bar in 1839. A year later he moved to Terre Haute, Ind. , and began the practice of his profession. He rode the circuit, and was sometimes engaged with Abraham Lincoln in the argument of cases.
In 1850-51 he served in the Indiana legislature. When the Republican party was organized in 1854, Usher became an active supporter of its principles and in 1856 was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress.
He was appointed attorney-general of Indiana in November 1861, but four months later resigned to accept the position of assistant secretary of the interior at Washington. In January 1863 he was appointed head of that department, following the resignation of Caleb B. Smith.
When the Civil War closed Usher decided to retire from political life and resume the practice of law in one of the growing Western states. He accordingly resigned as secretary of the interior on May 15, 1865, and removed with his family to Lawrence, Kan. , where he accepted appointment as chief counsel for the Union Pacific Railroad, a position which he held to the end of his life. He represented the company in much important litigation in both state and federal courts.
Usher's only writings were his two reports (1863, 1864) as secretary of the interior (Executive Document No. 1, vol. III, 38 Cong. , 1 Sess. ; and House Executive Document No. 1, pt. 5, 38 Cong. , 2 Sess. ) and a chapter in Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln (1886), edited by A. T. Rice; but in 1925 Nelson H. Loomis published President Lincoln's Cabinet, by Honorable John P. Usher, a pamphlet containing the substance of an after-dinner speech delivered in 1887 together with a newspaper interview. He died in a hospital in Philadelphia.
John Palmer Usher was known for his service in the Cabinet of President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. He advocated plans for the colonization of former slaves, suggested clemency and moderation, investigated the damage claims and capital sentences. He also presented two reports. In his first report he called special attention to the benefits of the new homestead law. He recommended a small tax on the net profits of gold and silver mines, larger Indian reservations, also larger appropriations for these wards of the nation. His last report contained a comprehensive statement concerning public lands, which, he said, had included about one fifth of the entire country and had been the cause of about one fourth of all the laws passed by Congress to that date.
(Excerpt from President Lincoln's Cabinet Mr. Usher's rem...)
On January 26, 1844, Usher married Margaret Patterson. They had four sons.
