When studying a period in American history, I like to have a figure or two that I can use as a center of gravity. I’m currently trying to wrap my head around the antebellum period in a better way and I’m making John Alsop King (no surprise, I’m sure) and William Seward my figures.
I started with my previous post on Seward in Cleveland, but this week I went through the collection of John Alsop King (JAK) papers at the New-York Historical Society to get an understanding of the first Republican governor of New York. N-YHS has two boxes of his papers with about 775 items in them. There are also letters in the Rufus King Papers and a few scattered in various collections of the society. Over the next few days I’ll post about some highlights from the two box collection.
As some background: JAK was born in 1788 (his godfathers were Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox) and was educated at Harrow in England, finished his studies in Paris, and after returning to America, attended Harvard and studied law. He served as a lieutenant of cavalry in the War of 1812 and then moved to Jamaica, Long Island, down the road from his father Rufus King’s property, and began farming. He was an avid agriculturalist for the rest of his life and was president of the Queens County Agricultural Society from 1848-1855. JAK served in the State Assembly from 1819-23 and in the State Senate from 1823-1825, when he resigned to serve as the Chargé d’Affaires to his father in London from 1825-1826. He was again elected to the State Assembly in 1832, 1838, and 1840. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Whig in 1849-1851 and he fought any measures in support of slavery. He was elected as the first Republican governor of New York in 1856 and served 1857-1858. He was also an elector from New York for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and JAK’s copy of the elector’s certification from the New York State government is below:
John Alsop King Papers, Box 1857-1866 and undated, Folder 1860-61, N-YHS
The NY Secretary of State, D.R. Floyd Jones, certified the electors on 26th November, and signed and sealed on 27th November.
Filed under: American History Tagged: electors, John Alsop King, Lincoln, N-YHS
