Found 5 collections related to United States -- Politics and government -- 1815-1861

Henry Clay (1777-1852), an American statesman, served as Congressman from Kentucky and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1811 to 1821 and 1823 to 1825. He was Secretary of State (1825-1829) and Whig Party senator (1831-1842, 1849-1852). Three times, he was the unsuccessful candidate for U.S. President (1824, 1832 and 1844). Collection consists of correspondence and reproductions of paintings and engravings of Clay. Correspondence includes transcriptions of Clay's correspondence, ca. 1800-1852; location of original portraits of Clay; and a few letters from the Clay family. Reproductions of portraits were collected by William S. Hunt for a planned work about Clay. less

Francis Ormond Jonathan Smith (1806-1876) was a lawyer, businessman and United States Congressman from Maine, 1833-1839. Smith assisted Samuel F.B. Morse in introducing the electric telegraph. Collection consists of Smith's correspondence with Amos Kendall, Ezra Cornell, Eliphalet Case, J.J. Speed, Jr., and others, but not including Morse, relating primarily to political matters. Some letters deal with the introduction of the electric telegraph. less

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) was an American statesman who served as Vice-President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of War, and who served in both the House and Senate representing South Carolina. The papers consist mainly of letters written by Calhoun to various parties while he served as Secretary of War, Vice-President, and Secretary of State. Many date from 1818-1824, during his term as Secretary of War, including several letters to Georgia politician David Brydie Mitchell less

Members of the Bryant family were descended from Peter Bryant (1767-1820) and Sarah Snell Bryant (1766-1847) of Cummington, Mass., and included the poet William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) and his brothers, who settled in or around Princeton, Ill. The brothers were primarily involved in farming in the area. The collection consists of correspondence and other personal papers of various members of the Bryant family. Correspondence is with family members, friends and business associates and concerns pioneering and farming in Illinois and Kansas, Cullen Bryant's life as a West Point cadet, family affairs and finances, and discussions of politics, particularly slavery and the Civil War. Also, diaries, manuscript poems of John H. Bryant, land papers, photographs and other family memorabilia, and printed matter. less