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Claimants reply to the brief of the agent and counsel of the United States
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Turning On the Light: A Dispassionate Survey of President Buchanan's Administration, from 1860 to Its Close. Including a Biographical Sketch of the ... and Numerous Miscellaneous Articles
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
Horatio King was an American editor, lawyer, and public official. He served as the 19th Postmaster General of the United States in 1861.
Background
Horatio King was born on June 21, 1811 at Paris, Maine, United States, a descendant of Philip King, who had emigrated from England before 1680, settling first at Braintree, and then at Raynham, Massachusetts. He was the seventh of the eleven children of Samuel and Sally (Hall) King.
Education
Horatio received a common school education and at eighteen became printer's devil on the weekly Jeffersonian.
Career
In 1830 King, with his friend, Hannibal Hamlin, became the part owner of the weekly Jeffersonian. They turned the press while the village schoolmaster for twelve York shillings a week assisted in the editing. In another six months King became sole proprietor. His paper reflected his staunch advocacy of Jacksonian Democracy. Removing his press to Portland in 1833 he continued to edit the Jeffersonian until 1838, when he sold out to the Standard (later merged with the Eastern Argus).
In 1839 he received from Amos Kendall a clerkship at $1, 000 a year in the Post Office Department at Washington. For twenty-two years, under Democratic and Whig administrations, from Van Buren to Lincoln, he served in the Post Office Department and by ability and courtesy advanced in successive promotions until he achieved the distinction of rising from clerk to head of department. In charge of mail contracts in New England (1841) he became superintendent (1850) of the foreign mail service.
As first assistant postmaster-general (March 28, 1854 - January 1, 1861) under Pierce and Buchanan, he satisfactorily filled a position which required infinite political tact. He became acting postmaster-general (January 1861), when Joseph Holt was transferred to the War Department, and served as postmaster-general in Buchanan's cabinet from February 1 to March 8, 1861. "For the Union without reservations, equally against disunionists at the South and abolitionists at the North", King made earnest efforts during the last days of Buchanan's administration to arouse influential men on both sides to avert the impending struggle. In what has been termed the first official denial of the right of secession, he warned Representative J. D. Ashmore of South Carolina that his continued use of the franking privilege was evidence that both he and his state were still in the Union. "For God's sake, " he implored Attorney-General Black on December 14, 1860, "let us see the Government placed squarely and unequivocally on the side of the Union!". To John A. Dix, later through his efforts made secretary of the treasury, he wrote (December 17, 1860): "I am determined to sustain the Union until not a hope of its continuance remains". He remained a loyal Union Democrat throughout the war and served on President Lincoln's commission which determined compensation for slaves emancipated within the District of Columbia.
King's law practice before the executive departments, war claims, and international commissions at Washington won him wealth and a considerable reputation. His tours of Europe (1867, 1875 - 1876) resulted in his Sketches of Travel (1878), and his letters in rhyme delighted a wide circle of friends. Late in life he published Turning on the Light (1895), a defense of Buchanan's administration.
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
Politics
King was a staunch advocate of Jacksonian Democracy.
Membership
King was secretary of the Washington Monument society and a leader of the Saturday Evening Literary Club which met at his home.
Connections
King was married, on May 25, 1835, to Anne Collins of Portland. She died in 1869 and on February 8, 1875, he was married to Isabella G. Osborne, of Auburn, New York.