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The Branding of Right-Wing Activism
The Branding of
Right-Wing Activism
The News Media and the Tea Party

Khadijah Costley White

1
 1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Costley White, Khadijah, author.
Title: The branding of right-wing activism : the news media and the Tea Party /
Khadijah Costley White.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017061042 (print) | LCCN 2018015356 (ebook) |
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(hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780190879327 (paperback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Tea Party movement-Press coverage. | Press and
Politics-United States. | Conservatism in the press-United States. |
Mass media-Political aspects-United States. | United States-Politics
and government-2009-2017. | BISAC: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES /
Journalism. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies. | POLITICAL SCIENCE /
Political Ideologies / Conservatism & Liberalism.
Classification: LCC JK2391.T43 (ebook) | LCC JK2391.T43 C67 2018 (print) |
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CONTENTS

Headphone Culture: A Preface  vii

Acknowledgments  xiii

1. Welcome to the Party   1

2. The Tea Party as Brand   32
3. R
 ebranding Political Conservatism through Race,
Gender, and Class   77
4. Reading the Tea Leaves—the News about the News   148
Conclusion: Boundaries Blurred   182

Appendix: Sources and Methodology  195

Notes  203
Index  255
HE A DPHONE C ULT URE: A PREFACE

On May 26, 2016, Donald Trump—alleged billionaire, real estate mogul,

former reality TV star and Fox News contributor—cinched the final num-
bers necessary to become the Republican Party nominee for president. In
response it seemed that, finally, the news media woke to the part they had
played in his success. In a New York Times column titled “My Shared Shame:
The Media Helped Make Trump,” Nicholas Kristof made the case that the
news media had given Trump $1.9 billion “in free publicity”—190 times
more than Trump had spent in advertising—and had failed to fact-check
Trump or look thoroughly enough at his policy proposals. “On the whole,”
Kristof concluded, “we in the media empowered a demagogue and failed
the country. We were lap dogs, not watchdogs.”1
Media scholar Victor Pickard wrote in The Huffington Post that because
Trump was good for news ratings and ad sales, the news media had “popu-
larized Trump and, in doing so, turned our political process into a reality
TV spectacle.”2 Seemingly clueless to this reflexive move in news, a later
New York Times headline declared a “Battle of the Network Stars: Trump vs.
Clinton,” saying that the Republican and Democratic conventions would be
“rebooting two series we’ve been watching for decades.”3
President Barack Obama gave a statement soon after Trump’s primary
win, pushing back at the sensationalism surrounding the presidential
campaigns and declaring, “This is not entertainment. This is not a reality
show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States.”4 He was
wrong; Trump’s victory was each of those things, reflecting patterns in
political branding and news coverage that well preceded the 2016 campaign.
I would later write in an online essay that “Trump is the natural conse-
quence of the Tea Party, an anti-establishment brand that—through the
sheer force of its hostility—now controls the media and political elite that
first started it.” Like the Tea Party, the Trump political brand drew on
racial resentment, religiosity, and angry emotions to connect with media
audiences and voters.5 Famed white supremacist David Duke issued a
national endorsement for Trump, declaring him to be a candidate “riding
a wave of anti-establishment feeling that I’ve been nurturing for years.”6
A New York Times headline chimed in: “Is Trump Winning? Among Whites
and Men, for Sure.”7
Trump’s brand as a presidential candidate did more than appeal to fans
and voters; it made money off its political publicity, too. The day after
Trump’s daughter Ivanka wore a dress from her own fashion line during a
speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, New York news out-
lets reported on all the items she wore selling out in stores. They even pro-
vided further instructions on how to buy more Ivanka products.8 Soon
after Donald Trump was elected president, the White House website posted
a page promoting the jewelry line of his wife, Melania.9 Trump made it
clear that he saw himself and his politics as key to a valuable brand. On
Twitter, he referred to himself as a “ratings machine” and boasted that
news of performing at his upcoming inauguration had boosted one music
artist’s sales.10 “Some people just don’t understand the ‘Movement,’” he
wrote. The Trump triumph and the political skyrocketing of his brand
took me back not only to the Tea Party, but to a single moment on a family
vacation the very same year that the conservative activist phenome-
non was born.
***
During a holiday weekend a few years ago, several relatives and friends sat
around after an afternoon meal in our small cabin. My fourteen-year-old
brother lay stretched out on the couch with my computer, watching a film
with headphones on. Everyone else was holding different conversations—
my mom and sister, my boyfriend and me, my grandmother and a family
friend, each pair engaging in their own boisterous discussions. My brother,
still wearing headphones, occasionally took his eyes off the computer
screen to comment on a topic in the room that caught his attention. Then,
just as quickly, he would return to his movie. At one point my grandmother
directed a question at him, repeating it several times while he continued
staring seemingly oblivious at the computer. We all laughed as she dryly
remarked, “Oh, you can hear everything you want with those headphones
on, but now you can’t hear me?”
Today’s media environment is much like this scene of a teenager with
headphones in a room full of clamoring adults. In the digital era, the inces-
sant availability of information through a variety of devices, platforms,
mediums, and formats seems like the noise of many voices in a crowded
room. My brother, like many media consumers, chose to tune out of the
numerous discussions that surrounded him. But he also chose when to
tune in, like countless others who regularly engage the discourse that

[ viii ] Headphone Culture: A Preface

c­ onstructs the ever-expanding, digitally enhanced public sphere. He used
the headphones to focus attention on his selected media and took them off
to respond to the topics and discussions that interested him and to share
the information he gathered with the rest of the family. “Headphones”
here stand in for the dialogic and dualistic identity of all citizens, includ-
ing journalists, as media consumers and producers in a digital media envi-
ronment. In today’s expanded media system, Facebook, Twitter, political
blogs, YouTube, and other social media provide people with the opportu-
nity to screen out, consume, engage with, distribute, and produce a vari-
ety of political news and information all at the same time. It is a news and
information culture that emphasizes circulation over professional norms
and is frequently directed (or misdirected) by users who have the ability to
speak back, fact-check, and amass their own news audiences. Moreover, it
emphasizes marketing practices, profits, and success as key to under-
standing, appreciating, and evaluating contemporary politics. As a result,
the news media have become more like their users and engage in branding
practices that I call “raising the volume.”
The Tea Party that rose soon after the inauguration of President Barack
Obama in 2009 was created by a news media raising the volume in a head-
phone culture: the Tea Party was a story produced by conservative leaders,
reified by media echo chambers, shaped by competing nonprofessional
media narratives, and intentionally promoted, lent significance, and given
meaning by the national news media on the right, left, and center.
“Headphone culture” refers to a set of factors that have made old, familiar
journalism categories and debates increasingly outdated and irrelevant.
These factors include the consolidation and fragmentation of news media;
advances in digital technology, including the growth and accessibility of
mobile media; the popularity of user-generated content, social media, and
alternative media; the rise of mediated politics, such as political branding;
and the prevalence of neoliberalism as an ideology.
In this environment, journalists are pressed to raise the volume when
they address their audiences and professional peers, presenting their con-
tent in a way that pushes people either to take off their headphones and
relay the journalists’ messages, or to keep their headphones on and choose
their messages to the exclusion of all others. News outlets and journalists
today literally raise the volume by yelling their reports, increasing the
quantity of ads (visually, numerically, and sonically), and producing more
content across multiple platforms.11 Whether it is a reporter ranting about
the Tea Party or an outlet passing on a deliberately deceptive video about
an Obama official, journalists raising the volume often violate traditional
news norms, ethics, and practices to get their messages to readers, listeners,

Headphone Culture: A Preface  [ ix ]

or viewers and drown out their ubiquitous competition. It’s a state of
affairs of which anyone familiar with fake news stories and the Russian
meddling in the 2016 American presidential election is now well aware.
The Tea Party’s national rise both reflects larger ideological and rhe-
torical shifts in news and exemplifies headphone culture as a unique
branding environment in which the news media engage their topics
through the language of marketing, promotion, consumption, differentia-
tion, and competition. In the process, a journalistic emphasis on facts,
policy, investigation, and serving the public interest falls at the wayside,
prioritizing the coverage of viral spectacles that sell over reporting on
issues and policies that promote the public good.
This project specifically defines “raising the volume” as a set of brand-
ing practices by which members of the news media effectively created and
sustained the Tea Party. The news media did not just cover the Tea Party in
a way that fueled its publicity and growth—alongside conservative activ-
ists and political strategists, numerous news reporters, anchors, and com-
mentators in outlets across the political spectrum actively began the Tea
Party and branded it, functioning as its brand strategists, purveyors, and
promoters. That is, the rise of the Tea Party in news narratives provides a
specific account of how the news media moves beyond serving as a mere
instrument when it comes to political branding practices. The discursive
and categorical distinctions between the press, publicists, activists, politi-
cians, and celebrities are increasingly muddled. Tea Party news stories
reveal how the news media discuss and portray the meaning and role of
journalism in the contemporary moment.
The Tea Party coverage shows that news outlets respond to, provoke,
and target one another in an effort to stand out in today’s media land-
scape. Similar to the observations of Joe Cappella and Kathleen Hall
Jamieson12 in their study of Reagan-era conservative media, this book
shows that partisan news outlets covering the Tea Party got people to
tune in to their conversations by working with producers in other plat-
forms to produce ideologically or topically coherent news stories that
dominated the public sphere. Still, it is clear in this analysis that these
outlets did not just produce pieces that targeted their individual audi-
ences; they also aimed their reports at one another. They echoed one an-
other; launched rhetorical attacks at one another; responded to the same
themes, ideas, and claims about the Tea Party; and contributed new in-
sights, angles, and information with each new piece or segment. Each
news outlet contributed to the Tea Party story, shaped its importance, and
perpetuated its circulation. They were not just an echo chamber—they
were a feedback loop, each creating the Tea Party brand through storytelling,

[ x ] Headphone Culture: A Preface

circulation, and promotion. While media conversations with the a­ udience
and one another are not new, the immediacy of today’s communication
and the widespread access to video and Internet equipment produces a
feedback loop that is much more rapid, fluid, and interactive.
In this landscape, this book tracks the ways that news reporters cause
scenes; participate and organize political events; and use race, gender, and
class to draw attention to their coverage with sensational, hyperbolic, and
even inaccurate information. The use of marketing tactics and narratives
helped the Tea Party advance as a political brand and national story.
Pundits create debates, manufacture controversy, and rush to distribute
messages before there is enough time to analyze, validate, and contextual-
ize them. Columnists recast the same story in conflicting ways that fit it
into prevailing cultural and political stereotypes and norms. Reporters
call for protests, promote personal political causes, and emphasize emo-
tional and personal connections to the stories they cover. Perhaps most
important, news organizations and professionals are swayed and manipu-
lated by their own attempts to raise the volume in the contemporary
media environment, and are frequently misled and goaded by other media
groups shouting more loudly and quickly. In an age where everyone has
the opportunity to tune out, tune in, and speak back, Tea Party news
­coverage ultimately shows how, in raising the volume, the distinctions be-
tween citizens, journalists, activists, and consumers are made increas-
ingly tenuous, inadequate, and obsolete. In the process, the potential for
democracy and social change is left unrealized.

Headphone Culture: A Preface  [ xi ]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As a kid moving between a city home in a Black neighborhood and a sub-

urban Christian school in a predominantly white town, I grew up fascinated
about how stories and ideas about the world help make such a starkly
divided society seem like a natural state of affairs. Journalists tell these
stories that both create and challenge these unequal worlds we make.
Politicians, at their best, try to change them. So I start with thanking
them for their work and those always willing to make it better.
This project was started while I was a student at the Annenberg School
for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. There Michael Delli
Carpini, Elihu Katz, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, and other brilliant scholars
gave me consistent support, insight, and advice as the project developed.
Kathleen encouraged me to intern at the White House, where the idea for
this book first occurred. Special thanks go to John Jackson Jr. for his
guidance then and now. His patience, generosity, and thoughtfulness will
continue to guide my work and me for many years to come. During my
time at Penn, I have also been nurtured and learned from the wealth of
expertise brought by visiting scholars and professors outside of my depart-
ment: Deborah Thomas, Radhika Parameswaran, Mark Anthony Neal,
Melissa Harris Perry, and Don Mitchell have all extended themselves
beyond the confines of a single course.
The staff at the Annenberg School for Communication are incredible.
They prepared homemade dinners, offered to read chapters, and hoarded
newspaper articles for me. These include Dr. Debra Williams, Kyle Cassidy,
Waldo Aguirre, Sharon Black, Emily Plowman, Lizz Cooper, Donna
Edwards, Yogi Sukwa, Deb Porter, Rose Halligan, Joe Diorio, and so many
more. Mrs. Beverly Henry, especially, made it her mission to support rising
scholars of color and we are all in her debt.
As for my colleagues, my mentors, my friends, my partners in crime:
there are too many to count. At Annenberg: Aymar Jean Christian, Cabral
Bigman, Jasmine Salters, Jasmine Cobb, Dan Berger, C. Riley Snorton, Mary
Bock, Adrienne Shaw, Robin Stevens, and Jeff Gottfried have advised me,
taught me, laughed with me, and shared with me. Cabral read early drafts
of the work and Aymar helped me think through key ideas. Thank you. My
historian comrades and sister-friends, Maryan Soliman and Richara
Heyward, brought me brilliance, joy, and adventure. I met colleagues who
helped give light, camaraderie, and knowledge along the way: Al Martin,
Dayna Chatman, Sarah Jackson, Kristen Warner, Andre Brock, Andre
Carrington, Catherine Steele, Racquel Gates, Kishonna Gray-Denson,
Sarah Florini, Brandy Monk-Payton, and Madison Moore. Fredrika
Thelandersson gave needed editorial assistance at the end. Thanks, too,
to members of a certain clandestine feminist enclave who helped me with
navigating politics, work, personal life, and everything in between.
At Rutgers, I have been blessed with an abundance of excellent col-
leagues who have given help in many different ways: Bernadette Gailliard,
Rebecca Reynolds, Todd Wolfson, Jack Bratich, Brittney Cooper, Melissa
Aroncyzk, Lauren Feldman, David Greenberg, Chenjerai Kumanyika, Susan
Keith, Deepa Kumar, Regina Marchi, Amy Jordan, John Pavlik, and Jeff Lane.
Administrators Harty Mokros, Karen Novick, and Jorge Schement have
helped with the hurdles. Senior colleagues provided mentorship and advice
that shaped (and reshaped) this book: thanks go to Ralina Joseph, Sarah
Banet-Weiser, Amy Jordan, Jonathan Gray, Lisa Henderson, Robin Means
Coleman, Roopali Mukherjee, Herman Gray, and Susan Douglas. Special
thanks to Bambi Haggins and Allison Dorsey for all your support, advice, and
example. Pablo Boczkowski did me the great favor of introducing me to my
editor at Oxford University Press, Angela Chnapko. From beginning to end,
Angela was a joy to work with in this process—she believed in the project and
was always helpful and available. I am in your debt. Additionally, Cathy
Hannabach and Sarah Grey helped edit and prepare early drafts. Cathy, espe-
cially, helped me with seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Friends and mentors from my days in news, politics, and journalism no
doubt shaped my ideas about media and society that have landed in this
book: Lewis Erskine, David Brancaccio, Karine Jean-Pierre, Candace White,
Reniqua Allen, Marty Spanninger, Ty West, Maria Hinojosa, Sarah Burns,
Ken Burns, David McMahon, and many more. Heather Booth, I especially
appreciate your love and support.
My grandmother Lorraine Baumgardner Costley was an artist who did
not have much schooling, but her genius knew no bounds. My brilliant mom,
Donna White, finished college with me in her arms. I am grateful that she
helped carry me across this finish line, too. My sister Khaleah White battled
illness throughout the time this book was written, but still took time to shop,
cook, and check on me. My youngest two siblings, Khaneisha and Khalil

[ xiv ] Acknowledgments
White, reminded me to never take myself too seriously throughout
the process.
And the rest of the village that holds me up—Cassandra Campbell,
Clarice Peterson, Mama Donna Costley, Guy Costley, Deborah Johnson,
Katrina Morison, Andria Matthews, Brandis Belt, Rachel Thomas, Deborah
Johnson, Lashann Baumgardner, Steven Baumgardner, Coven Baumgardner,
Ashley Freeman, the Reeves family, and endless lists of uncles, aunties,
cousins, and colleagues with whom I bonded and received love and sup-
port along the way—you’ve not only kept me going, you’ve helped me real-
ize this goal. I had a baby in the year before this book was completed.
Women in my community brought food and checked on me as I fervently
wrote—thanks to Jessie Pepper, Allyson Murphy, Devyani Guha, Lana
Curzon, Rhea Mokund-Beck, Susan Bergin, and others. Seth, too, mailed
me a cake. At the very end, friends stepped in to read chapters when I just
couldn’t read anymore—Alexia Bucciarelli, Justin Crosby, Leslie Varghese,
Chen Reis, and Tamika Songster. Thank you.
My grandfather David Costley and my uncle Reginald Burl passed away
before this was completed. I am so grateful I had them here to see me start
this journey, and so sad they are gone.
My baby boy, Akin, celebrated his first birthday a mere week before this
book was finished. He gave me a reason to take breaks, enjoy the sunshine,
and smile. My husband, partner, and best friend, Anthony Olarerin,
helped make this all possible. He gave me clean laundry, delicious meals,
big hugs, unending encouragement, assistance, and a constant faith in my
ability to finish. I needed space and time to write, think, and heal—you
made sure I had it. I love you.

Acknowledgments [ xv ]
The Branding of Right-Wing Activism
CH A P TER 1

Welcome to the Party

O n a February morning only a few weeks after President Barack

Obama’s historic inauguration, a business reporter from the finan-
cial cable news network CNBC went on what several major newspapers
referred to as a “rant.” Clutching his news microphone on the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange trading floor, Rick Santelli railed against federal
stimulus spending in the midst of a debilitating economic recession:

How about this, president and new administration . . . have people vote on the
Internet . . . to see if we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages or . . . reward
people who want to carry the water instead of just drink the water!
We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All of you capitalists
who want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m going to start organizing!

Back in the studio, an anchor expressed surprise at the traders loudly

cheering Santelli on in the background and joked, “This is like mob rule
here, I’m getting scared!” In response, Santelli motioned to the all-white
and all-male group of financial traders around him and responded, “This
is America! President Obama, are you listening?”1
In a single move, a journalist on the job claimed the mantle of “revo-
lutionary leader” and became known as the catalyst of the Tea Party
movement. The news of Santelli’s remarks spread quickly. The next day,
The New York Times reported on his call for a Tea Party in Chicago.2 A Wall
Street Journal guest columnist wrote that Santelli’s “rant heard ‘round
the world” had given the Tea Party its “moniker” and motivated others to
start organizing their own Tea Party rallies.3 The New York Times, USA
Today, and The Wall Street Journal referenced Santelli’s tirade as the im-
petus for the nationwide Tea Parties and tax protests that occurred on
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Mayor Havemeyer made his reckless charges. Smarting under a
sense of humiliation after the Gardner-Charlick fiasco, the Mayor
allowed bad temper to get the mastery of his judgment, and the
explosion of wrath against Mr. Kelly followed. The animus of the
attack was perfectly apparent on its face, and the good sense of the
people was not imposed upon by the revengeful ebullitions of the
angry old gentleman. Mr. Kelly promptly instituted a suit for
damages, but on the very day the trial began, by a remarkable
coincidence Mayor Havemeyer, stricken by apoplexy, fell dead in his
office. The passionate events of the moment were forgotten, and a
sense of sorrow pervaded the community. Mr. Havemeyer’s long and
honorable career was remembered, and the unfortunate passage in
his last days was generally, and justly imputed to the misguided
counsels of his friends.
The Tammany Democrats were completely victorious at the
election of 1873. Those able lawyers, Charles Donohue and Abram
R. Lawrence, were elected to the Supreme Court. The late William
Walsh and the late Wm. C. Connor, both excellent men, were elected
County Clerk and Sheriff. Again, in 1874, victory perched on the
standards of Mr. Kelly. This time its dimensions were larger. In
addition to a Mayor (Mr. Wickham), and other city officers, a
Governor (Mr. Tilden), and other State officers, were chosen by
overwhelming Democratic majorities.
Mr. Kelly had been the first man to suggest Mr. Tilden’s nomination
for Governor. His splendid services in the war on the Ring pointed
him out as the fit candidate of his party. Tired out, after his long
labors, Mr. Tilden, in 1874, went to Europe to enjoy the first holiday
he had allowed himself for years. But such was his confidence in the
judgment of Mr. Kelly, that a cable message from that friend was
sufficient to cause him to cancel his engagements in Europe, give up
his tour, and take passage in the first steamer for New York. The
Canal Ring was in motion against Tilden’s nomination, and Kelly,
who had found this out, thought there was no time for delay. Tilden at
first expressed disinclination for the office, but the Tammany Chief
had set his heart on his nomination, and the author of these pages
has heard Mr. Tilden say that Mr. Kelly’s persistency finally controlled
his decision, and won his acquiescence. One of the leading
delegates to the Convention of 1874 was Mr. William Purcell, editor
of the Rochester Union. “To John Kelly,” said Purcell editorially,
shortly after the election, “more than any other man does Governor
Tilden owe his nomination and his majority at the election. Governor
Tilden was personally present at the nominating convention, in close
counsel with Mr. Kelly, than whom he lauded no man higher for his
personal honesty, his political integrity, and his purity of purpose.”
Mr. Tilden was a constant visitor at Mr. Kelly’s house during this
period, and no two men could have evinced more respect and
friendship for each other. The last time Mr. Tilden attended a meeting
in Tammany Hall was at the election of Sachems on the third
Monday of April, 1874. The late Matthew T. Brennan and others ran
an opposition or anti-Kelly ticket, and so anxious was Mr. Tilden for
the defeat of this movement that he came down to the Wigwam, and
took an active part in favor of the regular ticket. He sat with Mr. Kelly,
and when the result was announced warmly congratulated him upon
the victory.
In the latter part of January, 1875, a few weeks after Mr. Tilden’s
inauguration as Governor, the author spent a morning at his
residence in Gramercy Park, and there met ex-Governor Seymour
and Mr. Kelly, in company with Governor Tilden. The conversation of
these three distinguished men, in the abandon of social intercourse
around the hearthstone of Gramercy Park, was very agreeable and
entertaining. The author was an attentive listener and observer, and
afterwards, on the same day, wrote out in his diary his impressions
of these three celebrated New Yorkers. Although ten years have
elapsed since those impressions were written, they are here
reproduced in the exact words in which they were then put down in
the diary, without the alteration of a single sentence:
[Conversed with Messieurs Seymour, Tilden and Kelly at 15
Gramercy Park to-day. Big fellows all of them, but entirely distinct
types. Let me see if I can depict them.
Horatio Seymour is a man well advanced in life, tall, well-shaped,
though rather spare in build, with a beaming open countenance, a
bright speaking eye, expressive mouth and a large nose. The marks
and lines of the face and forehead are deep and strong. His
language is quite Saxon in its selection and character, words of one
or two syllables prevailing. His expression of thought was clear
enough to be taken down by a stenographer as prepared utterances.
His range of subjects is large, and his treatment of each ready and
versatile. It is conversation all the time, not platform or stump-
speaking. The fault with him seems to be one which any person of
such eminent parts might be liable to—it is an occasional tendency
to diffusion, a Narcissus-like disposition to dwell on the shadow
mirrored in the wave; not vanity, but an introspective play of thought.
His mental bent is speculative, which perhaps accounts for his
sometimes presenting a thought under a great variety of aspects. He
throws out an opinion, and follows it up by a profusion of suggestive
considerations. Instead, however, of pausing after the stroke was
dealt, he would now and again keep on elaborating his points until
the conversation began to expand into a disquisition. The key
remained conversational still, while the range was widening. But let
an interruption occur, and the ex-Governor knew how to conclude
with a hasty stroke or two. His descriptive power is good, but not so
good as his reach and closeness of observation into general
principles, and his capacity to grasp and develop causes and effects.
He is more of a philosopher than a delineator, and has humor too,
which draws the laugh at will.
Governor Tilden is a spare, close-cut man, of rather a nautical
appearance. You might mistake him in a crowd for a weather-beaten
old tar retired from the deck of a man-of-war, to enjoy a little needed
repose. His movements and quiet speech suggest the idea to a
stranger of a cold, formal, negative man, reticent, receptive, and not
easily to be enlisted in ordinary matters. Five minutes conversation
with him will suffice to upset such an opinion. First you will most
probably be struck with his eyes, which have an indefinable
expression. It would be spectral, if it were not now melancholy, and
again indicative of a womanly tenderness. There is a peculiar play in
them which expresses a great deal. His voice is low, and one might
suppose, till he begins to converse, that he is a better listener than
talker. The forehead is gnarled and concentrated, and on
phrenological principles would not indicate a marked presence of the
intellectual faculties, considered by itself; but if you draw an
imaginary line from the tip of the ears across the head, it is evident
that the brain power from the brows to this line is proportionately
very large, and phrenologically very strong. His nose is a decided
aquiline, the mouth full but compressed, and the chin prominent, and
indicative of a marked preponderance of the vital forces. His
conversation is more nervous than Seymour’s, but not so copious.
He seems better pleased with the suggestion than elaboration of
ideas. He can, however, when you don’t want to talk but to listen,
throw an analytical strength into his expressions which sustains his
reputation for sagacity and vigor. Governor Tilden is classical in
diction. The right word is used all the time, although not a shadow of
art is perceptible in the language. He seems bent on convincing you
by what he has to say, and not by his manner of saying it. His
method of reasoning is logical and exhaustive, and yet it is analytical
and not synthetical. He leaves his listener to draw conclusions. He is
less given to generalization than to subtle methods of mastering
subjects. He has a quiet way of talking, and of saying trenchant,
sententious things. Governor Tilden strikes me as a man who would
be very slow to gain popularity by dash of manners or exterior
conduct, but as having grit in him, and a genius for accomplishing
what he undertakes. He is already named in several quarters as a
prominent Democratic candidate for the next Presidency.
John Kelly, leader of Tammany Hall, remains to be described. He
is a very different man from Seymour or Tilden. An English traveler
once heard Daniel Webster on the stump in an interior New England
town. As he gazed at “Black Dan” with his massy brows playing with
ponderous thought, and his great arm and big body swaying back
and forth in obedience to the ideas he was expressing, the first
impression of the Englishman was: “Why this man Webster, with his
herculean frame and sledge-hammer fist, would have proved the
most formidable gladiator that ever entered the arena—if Providence
had not given him a still bigger head than body. He is a magnificent
creature considered as an animal, but a still more magnificent man.”
Kelly answers this description. The New York Herald once compared
him to General Grant on account of his quiet manners and reticence.
He stands two or three inches under six feet, weighs about two
hundred and thirty or forty pounds, is active and firm in step and
movement, and from his leonine aspect must be the envy of those
who delight in the manly art of self-defence. His forehead is massive
and broad, with a wealth of phrenological development; over his
physiognomy are the lines of decision and benevolence of character.
The under jaw is large and firmly set, imparting to his face an air of
command and resolution. In conversation he is modest and direct,
and seldom speaks of himself. That he is a man of action is at once
revealed to the observer. He has humor and a keen appreciation of
the amusing side of human nature. His manners are quiet and frank,
but underneath there is discernible a cool and commanding spirit. A
mingled air of bonhommie and sternness proclaims to all that he
knows how to command obedience as well as respect, and if once
fairly aroused no man can confront an enemy with sterner mien, or
more annihilation in his glance. Those who have seen him in stormy
public place, where such qualities alone avail, have often witnessed
this quiet man’s transformation into the fiery ruler of his fellows.[64]]
The extraordinary victories of the Tammany Democracy for several
years after Mr. Kelly became its leader, at length aroused jealousies
and rivalries, and it began to look as though the successful leader
had enemies in Printing-house Square. Perhaps the editors thought
they should have been consulted more frequently in regard to
nominations and other matters, and perhaps Mr. Kelly made a
mistake in not oftener seeking their advice. At all events, an
animated newspaper fire was opened upon him in 1875. He was
called a boss, a dictator; “one man power” was furiously denounced;
and so savage was this onslaught, that if the editors had not
modified their expressions after election, and even begun again to
speak handsomely of him, one might have imagined that John Kelly
was a veritable Ogre, a lineal successor to Tweed, instead of the
destroyer of Tweedism. But it was all only a custom of the country at
elections, and not an expression of the editorial conscience. No man
occupying a high place ever escapes these fusillades; John Kelly
formed no exception to the invariable rule. At the election of that year
the Tammany ticket was badly defeated. Replying to these
denunciations against the Tammany Chief, Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, then
Chairman of the General Committee of the Tammany Democracy,
made a speech, October 30, 1875, in the course of which he said:
“The assertion that John Kelly is a dictator is an insult to Tammany
and its members. All organizations must have leaders, and no one
but John Kelly could have done the work that he has performed. The
city of New York owes to that calumniated man honors that statues
could not adequately pay. There is no desire in John Kelly’s breast
so strong as to be relieved from his present onerous position but if
some one of respectability was not found to do such labors, the city
of New York would be soon as uninhabitable as a den of wild
beasts.”[65]
One of the shrewdest political observers who has figured during
recent years in New York politics, was the late Hugh J. Hastings,
editor of the Commercial Advertiser. As a Republican he was
opposed to Democrats, but he had the blunt candor to speak of John
Kelly in the following manner:
“On the ruins of Tweed rose Kelly, of Tammany Hall, and Tilden,
Hewitt, and Cooper joined his Court, and were numbered among his
legions. Under Kelly the condition of society has improved in the city,
and we might add the municipal government,—all know there was
great room for improvement. Kelly has ruled the fierce Democracy in
such a manner that life and property are comparatively safe. It is a
fearful responsibility to hold this wild element in check. Beasts of
burden may easily be managed by a new master. But will the wild
ass submit to the bonds? Will the unicorn serve and abide his crib?
Will the leviathan hold out his nostrils to the hook? The mythological
conqueror of the East, whose enchantments reduced wild beasts to
the tameness of domestic cattle, and who harnessed lions and tigers
to his chariot, is but an imperfect type of the man who can control the
wild, whiskey-drinking and fierce spirits that make up the worst
elements of this great city. It requires a great man to stand between
the City Treasury and this most dangerous mass. It demands
courage, activity, energy, wisdom, or vices so splendid and alluring
as to resemble virtues. Again we say, dethrone Kelly, and where is
the man to succeed him?”[66]
The spirit of faction, the curse of New York politics from the
beginning of the century, was again distracting the Democratic party.
New York and Albany are natural political antagonists, as were
Carthage and Rome of old.
The Constitutional Conventions of 1821 and 1846, by enlarging
the elective features of government, had greatly relieved New York,
and greatly diminished the power of the Albany Regency, but the
love of power is inbred in man, and special legislation at the State
capital still holds the giant metropolis in political leading strings.
During Mr. Tilden’s administration as Governor, he and his old friend
Mr. Kelly became involved in unfortunate differences as leaders of
rival wings of the Democratic party of the State. It were useless here
to recapitulate the story of this disastrous breach between two
statesmen who had done so much when acting together to purify the
public service; each occupying the place he held at the wish, and by
the powerful assistance of the other; Kelly in Tammany at Tilden’s
urgent request, and Tilden called back from Europe by a cable
dispatch from Kelly to run for Governor of New York. It were worse
than useless to revive the bitter memories of the strife. Let them be
buried in oblivion. A few weeks before the St. Louis Convention in
1876, Mr. Tilden called upon Mr. Kelly, and talked over old times.
Before leaving, the Governor humorously remarked:
“Now John, you are my sponsor, or political godfather. You found
me not inclined to take any office two years ago, and you insisted
that I should take the nomination for Governor. No matter what
differences may have arisen since, remember John, you are my
sponsor.” Mr. Kelly smiled, but was non-committal. But that visit, and
graceful reminiscence of a happier day in their political lives did its
work well. Let the brilliant Philadelphia editor, Alexander McClure, tell
the sequel. In a letter to his paper from St. Louis, announcing Mr.
Tilden’s nomination for the Presidency, Mr. McClure said:
“The work of the Convention was then done, but it was electrified
by the appearance on the main aisle of the full-moon, Irish face of
John Kelly, the Anti-Tilden Tammany Sachem. Those who hissed
and howled at him yesterday, now greeted him with thunders of
approval, and called him to the platform. When he appeared there a
whisper could have been heard in any part of the hall, and when he
gave in his adhesion to Tilden and Hendricks, and pledged his best
efforts for their election, he was crowned and welcomed as the
returning prodigal of the household.”[67]
Right nobly did John Kelly keep that pledge. Rutherford B. Hayes
came in from the rural districts of New York 30,000 ahead of Samuel
J. Tilden. When he reached the Harlem River he found that
Tammany Hall had given Mr. Tilden 54,000 majority in the city of
New York, and had wrested the Empire State from the Republicans.
President-elect Tilden sent a message of congratulation on that
memorable election night to John Kelly, and his warmest salutations
to the invincible tribe of Saint Tammany, as “the right wing of the
Democratic Army.”
By changing dates and names, it will be found that Mr. Kelly’s
services in the Cleveland campaign of 1884 were an exact repetition
of his services in 1876. He gave the same loyal support to Grover
Cleveland that he had given to Samuel J. Tilden. He held his forces
in hand magnificently, and if the high honor may be attributed to any
one man of carrying New York through the most desperate conflict
ever waged within her borders, safely out of the very jaws of defeat,
to the Democratic column, that honor belongs to Honest John Kelly.
To save Grover Cleveland, Kelly sacrificed every man on his local
ticket, every dear friend who bore the Tammany standards on that
eventful day, which decided the destinies of the United States for the
next four years.
When John Kelly was appointed Comptroller of the City of New
York by Mayor Wickham, in 1876, the debt of the municipality which
had been uniformly accumulating under his predecessors until it
reached over a hundred million of dollars, was first arrested in its
upward course, and brought into a line of rapid reduction. In four
brief years he had reduced the debt $12,000,000, thus justifying the
encomiums of the press at the time of his accession to the office.
The New York Herald of December 8, 1876, the day after his
appointment, said editorially:
“Mr. Kelly will make a very good Comptroller. He has firmness,
honesty and business capacity. He is the right man in the right place,
and a great improvement on Mr. Green. He will guard the treasury
just as jealously as the present Comptroller, without being
impracticable, litigious and obstructive. The people of New York will
be satisfied with Mr. Kelly.”
The New York World of the same date, after dwelling editorially
upon his great ability, said:
“Mr. Kelly’s honesty and integrity are unquestioned, even by his
bitterest political opponents. He is a native of New York city.
Beginning life as a mechanic, by his energy and industry he very
soon made himself a manufacturer and a merchant. He sat for one
term in the Board of Aldermen, and was twice elected to Congress.
At Washington he handled questions of national importance with
ability and decorum, and by the force of his native good sense soon
took rank above many men who had more experience than he in the
national councils. He is best known to New Yorkers of the present
day as the leader of the Tammany organization, as the man who
took hold of that ancient society after it had been deservedly
defeated, disgraced and overthrown under the management of
members of the old Ring. He reorganized it, filled it with new life, and
weeded out the men who helped to bring reproach upon it. The
property-holders and taxpayers of this city are to be congratulated
that the administration of their financial affairs has fallen into such
worthy hands, and will be entrusted to a man of Mr. Kelly’s
perspicacious brain and known probity.”
The New York Evening Express, of the same date, referred to Mr.
Kelly’s eminent fitness for the office, and to his services in the
election of Mr. Tilden to the Presidency, and said, editorially:
“Speaking in a political sense only, Mr. Kelly has well earned this
office, and even a higher one, for to him more than any other man is
the credit due for the immense Democratic majority in this city, which
gave the state to Governor Tilden.”
 The New York Sun, of the same date, said editorially:
“Mr. Kelly is an honest and capable man, willing to do a great deal
of hard work, well fitted to look after the important and varied
business of his office, and the financial interests of the city. He is the
most popular man of the party that governs this city, and stands well
with the community at large. He will make a good Comptroller. When
the nomination of Governor Tilden was made in St. Louis Mr. Kelly
promised to do all in his power to insure the success of the people’s
choice. During the campaign Mr. Kelly’s labors were arduous and
continuous. He gave time and strength and money, and even
deferred his marriage until the fight should be over. That Mr. Kelly
might have secured the Mayoralty or any other local office for
himself, had he so desired, is no secret. That he was urged against
his will to take the Comptrollership is asserted by his friends as a
fact.”
An interesting event in Mr. Kelly’s life is incidentally alluded to by
Mr. Dana in the preceding article from the Sun. This was his second
marriage, which took place on the 21st of November, 1876. His wife
is an accomplished lady in every sense of the word, the good
helpmeet, such as the Scripture describes. The following, account of
the wedding, is taken from the New York World:
“As announced in The World of yesterday, promptly at the hour of
8 in the morning, the ceremonies began that were to end in the
marriage of Mr. John Kelly to Miss Teresa Mullen, a niece of Cardinal
McCloskey. About 7.30 the very few who were to participate in the
event assembled at Cardinal McCloskey’s house in Madison avenue,
where, in the private chapel of His Eminence, the marriage was to
take place. This alone was a compliment of the highest order in
Church etiquette, doubtless owing to the relationship of the bride to
His Eminence. The little company invited to witness the ceremony
was gathered together in the parlor of the mansion. The party
consisted, besides Mr. Kelly, of Mr. Francis D. Cleary, brother-in-law
of the bride; Mr. Edward L. Donnelly, Colonel George W. Wingate,
and Mr. Kelly’s nephew, Hugh Kelly. Above stairs was assembled the
bride with her two sisters, Mrs. Francis D. Cleary and Miss Mullen. At
the hour appointed the Rev. Father Farley made his appearance at
the parlor door, and announced that all was ready. The gentlemen at
once arose and proceeded to the chapel on the third floor, Mr. Kelly
and Father Farley being last. On the way to the chapel Mr. Kelly was
joined by the bride, and, arm in arm, the couple slowly passed up to
the double Prie-Dieu, before the altar under the escort of Father
Farley. Meantime all had taken their respective positions in the
beautiful little chapel, in the order peculiar to Catholic Church
etiquette. All knelt in silent prayer for some few moments, when the
venerable Cardinal made his appearance, preceded by the Rev.
Father Farley, Very Rev. Vicar-General Quinn, and one handsome
little boy dressed like a miniature Cardinal, who acted as candle-
bearer to His Eminence.
“The Cardinal in his scarlet robes then took his place before the
altar, with the Vicar-General to his right, and Father Farley and the
acolyte to his left. Immediately behind His Eminence knelt the future
husband and wife, side by side. After a moment’s silent prayer the
Cardinal began the services. Laying off the mozetta, the Vicar-
General and Father Farley enrobed His Eminence. The amice, alb,
cincture, pectoral cross, stole, cope and mitre having been placed
upon his head and shoulders, the Cardinal turned to perform the
marriage ceremony. The vestments worn were white and gold. The
ring was blessed, and the Cardinal said: ‘John Kelly, do you take this
woman to be your lawful wife?’
‘I do.’
‘Do you promise to love and cherish her until death?’
‘I do.’ And so likewise vowed Teresa Mullen to love and honor
John Kelly until death.
“A few more prayers, and His Eminence turned from the kneeling
couple, leaving them man and wife. The crozier, mitre and cope were
laid aside; and His Eminence, putting on the chasuble, commenced
the nuptial Mass, pro sponsis. The gospel of the Mass is the recital
of the marriage of Canaan, when Christ changed the water into wine.
The Mass progressed slowly to the communion, when the newly-
married received the Sacrament. Just after the Pater Noster, the two
kneeling on the step of the altar, His Eminence read from the missal,
with mitre on head, the long prayer imploring from God harmony and
peace in the domestic relations of the newly-married, and praying
that if God should bless them with children, they might be brought up
in the fear of the Lord. This over, the Mass soon ended. After the
Mass the little congregation and the clergy withdrew, leaving the
Cardinal, and Mr. and Mrs. Kelly together. A few kind words of
encouragement, and advice, and congratulations were administered
by the Cardinal; and, while he remained to say a few prayers, Mr.
and Mrs. Kelly joined their friends, and received their well wishes.”

In concluding this volume the author regrets that he has not found
room for more of Mr. Kelly’s speeches. They are all full of good
sense, and occasionally they display a high order of eloquence. The
present plan did not admit of their introduction. One, however, must
be included, as it illustrates the witty side of his character, and was
spoken of by those who heard it as a very happy after-dinner
speech. It was made before the Lotos Club, January 11, 1879, at the
dinner given to Mayor Cooper, soon after that gentleman had
entered upon his duties as Mayor of the city of New York.
The following is the report in the Herald of January 12, 1879:
“The seating capacity of the large dining room of the Lotos Club
was taxed to the utmost last evening. Mayor Cooper, and the retiring
Mayor, Smith Ely, Jr., being the guests of the club. About ninety
members and guests found seats at the tables, and nearly as many
more, who were present during the delivery of the speeches, had to
content themselves with standing room. Mr. Whitelaw Reid,
president of the club, presided at the middle table, and at the heads
of the upper and lower tables, respectively, sat the vice-presidents,
Noah Brooks and Dr. Charles J. Pardee. Among the persons present
as members or guests were Postmaster James, Chauncey M.
Depew, Augustus Schell, John Kelly, Judge Noah Davis, Robert B.
Roosevelt, Peter Cooper, Charles H. Chapin, Paul Du Chaillu, Dr.
Isaac I. Hayes, Colonel Thomas W. Knox, George Osgood,
Frederick B. Noyes, Moses Mitchell, Drs. Hammond, Arnold and
Callen, and General Barnum.

COMPTROLLER KELLY’S SPEECH.

Mr. Kelly was very cordially greeted when, in answer to a pressing
call for ‘a few words,’ he rose to speak.
“Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Lotos Club:— I have read
frequently in the papers of the Lotos Club, but never before had even
the honor to know where it met after it left Irving Place, and when
asking to-night where the Lotos Club was, I was informed that it was
directly opposite the Union Club. I do not know what progress the
Lotos Club has made in life since its organization, but certainly you
are at a point in this city—on Fifth avenue—where they say the
aristocracy live. If this is a specimen of the aristocracy I am entirely
content to mix with them at all times. (Applause and laughter). As the
president of the Club has said, you have a mixture here of all kinds,
and that political discussions are never brought among you. I will say
that that is a very friendly state of society when you can come
together and talk of everything but politics. I have always noticed in
life, particularly in public affairs, that the first topic broached was
politics, and it usually commenced by abusing somebody.
(Laughter). Now that has been my misfortune. I got along very well in
my early political life. I had very little said against me, but I found
after a few years that I was about as bad a fellow in the estimation of
some people as could be found in this community, or any other.
(Laughter). But it don’t worry me a bit. (Laughter). I have got to that
state of mind that I feel if a man is conscious that he is trying to do
his best, as well as he can understand it, he need care very little
what may be said about him. (Applause). A man’s conscience should
at all times be his master. (Applause). Now, I do not think that politics
should be brought into discussion here. Mayor Cooper has a very
important duty to perform. Probably he can hardly realize yet the
amount of labor he must go through, and no man can tell until he
gets into the Mayor’s office. I suppose our friend Ely here, when he
first entered on his duties, considered it a light place, but he was not
there long before he saw that the labor was immense. I do not mean
to say that the intellectual labor is immense, but the responsibility
connected with the office. I am exceedingly anxious, so far as I am
concerned, that Mayor Cooper’s administration may be successful.
(Loud applause.) Mayor Cooper is not the representative of a party;
he leaves the party behind him. And he undoubtedly will be
successful, because I sincerely believe that he has the full interest of
the people at heart, and that he will do his best to serve them.
(Applause.) I have said so since his election, and I said so before his
election. People have various opinions about parties. Our friend Reid
here sometimes scolds, but probably if he knew the truth he would
not say such things about public officers as he does. (Laughter.) I do
not mean to say that he will allow himself to be prejudiced or biased,
but he will get a notion in his head, and say, ‘That fellow is not doing
right, and I will take him to task for it,’ and so he goes at it.
(Laughter.) Mayor Cooper now has the support of the press of this
city, but he will probably find that before the end of his term the press
will begin to find fault with him. Then Mayor Cooper will say, ‘I have
not done anything in particular that I know of that they should abuse
me. Damn the fellow; I will go and see him.’ (Great laughter.) I do not
mean to say that Mr. Cooper will do that either, because he is a very
sensible man, but I know that our friend Ely did it repeatedly. (Great
laughter.) I have often gone into his office after he came in in the
morning. He had read the papers at home, and was full of them.
Down he comes to the office, slaps his hat on his head, and off he
goes to the Times. The Times man tells him, ‘Well, we will look into
this thing.’ (Laughter.) He has not got a satisfactory answer from the
Times, and off he starts for our friend of the Tribune. Then Mr. Reid
says, ‘Well, Mr. Ely, I don’t know; there are various opinions about
this matter. I cannot give you a positive answer about it. I will look
into the thing, and let you know.’ (Laughter.) So, Ely goes the rounds.
Back he comes disconsolate. He says, ‘I have seen all these fellows
of the press, and they are all alike, they are abusing me for nothing.
They can’t do that. I have been in the leather business, and I refer
them to that trade. Go and ask Schultz; go and ask any fellow down
in the Swamp whether I ever took anything that didn’t belong to me.’
(Laughter.) Then he becomes a philosopher and says, ‘What is the
use of talking? They are only one man. Each controls his paper, and
has individual opinions. The ‘boys’ are with me. (Loud laughter.) I will
throw myself on the ‘boys.’ (Renewed laughter.) ‘They can say what
they please about me.’ After a few days pass down he comes to the
office again, and says, ‘The Times is raising the devil this morning,’
and so the thing goes on. (Laughter.) Now, gentlemen, I will say this.
You have a very large city. Some people in public office must be
censured. It is necessary, probably, sometimes that they should be,
for it often has a beneficial effect. There is a large number of people
who will say that there has been no reform in the city government,
and will never take the trouble to find out whether there is or not.
During the time Mayor Ely has been in office great progress has
been made; but I venture to say that, while the debt of the city has
been reduced $6,300,000 inside of two years, by the end of the term
of the present Mayor, if things should continue in the same way, as
there is no reason why they should not, you will find that the debt will
have been reduced from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. (Applause.) That
will be an accomplishment of $10,000,000 inside of four years.
(Applause.) Yes; I venture to say that if I remain in office—whatever
has occurred, let that pass; I do not refer to it—but if he and I work
together in the interests of the city, the debt in the next two years will
be reduced $8,000,000. (Applause.) I wish Mayor Cooper all the
success in public life that any friend of his can wish him, and I assure
him and his friends that so far as the official business of this city is
concerned, there will be no disagreement between us on matters
which are really in the interest of the people. (Long continued
applause.)
Speeches were made during the evening by Dr. Isaac I. Hayes,
Chauncey M. Depew, Robert B. Roosevelt and Judge Noah Davis.”

As this volume goes to press Mr. Kelly, who has been indisposed
recently, is again recovering his health. His severe labors in the
recent Presidential campaign brought on an attack of his old trouble
of insomnia. He is now steadily improving, and rides horseback for
one or two hours every day. Referring to his sickness, the New York
Times of December 12, 1884, contained the following remarks:
“The substantial shoes of Mr. John Kelly stand unoccupied in Mr.
Kelly’s Sixty-ninth street mansion, and their owner is taking all the
ease which ill-health and restlessness will admit of. Those shoes are
the object of a great deal of attention. In all the 50,000 voters in the
Tammany Hall organization, there is not one fit to succeed him as
the head of the party.”

The Times might have added that there is no one in Tammany Hall
who desires to succeed Mr. Kelly, and that he has held the
leadership of that ancient organization nearly five times as long as
any other leader in the whole history of Tammany. But there are
other men of no mean ability in the ranks of that organization. They
are all the friends, and not the rivals, of the subject of this memoir.
The chief events of John Kelly’s past life are, at least in outline,
now before the reader. The task which the author set out to perform
is discharged, to tell the truth about a distinguished citizen, and to let
him speak for himself, both in his public and private career, during
the past forty years.

Mrs. Kelly, and two bright little children, a daughter and son, have
brought the sunlight back again to John Kelly’s home, where, after
this imperfect sketch of his remarkable career, we leave him a happy
man, and an honored citizen.

THE END.
 FOOTNOTES:
[53] New York World, Oct. 18, 1875.
[54] New York Herald, November 19, 1868.
[55] Life of S. J. Tilden, by T. P. Cook, p. 101.
[56] New York Herald, November 20, 1868.
[57] New York Herald, November 22, 1868.
[58] Life of S. J. Tilden, by T. P. Cook, p. 121.
[59] A Description of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, p. 37.
[60] Extract from a recent letter of Bishop Ireland to the author.
[61] Niles’s Register, Vol. 16, p. 28.
[62] Niles’s Register, Vol. 17, pp. 387-8.
[63] Life of S. J. Tilden, by T. P. Cook, p. 129.
[64] Extract from Author’s Diary for 1875.
[65] New York Herald, October 31, 1875.
[66] New York Commercial Advertiser, November 20, 1878.
[67] Philadelphia Times, June 30, 1876.
 Transcriber’s Notes
pg v Changed: gratify this curioisity
to: gratify this curiosity
pg 44 Changed: attemps to stifle the voice
to: attempts to stifle the voice
pg 49 Changed: upon a confinding people
to: upon a confiding people
pg 57 Changed: in the colums of at least
to: in the columns of at least
pg 59 Changed: the oppresssd were wiped away
to: the oppressed were wiped away
pg 62 Changed: the waterfall murmering
to: the waterfall murmuring
pg 124 Changed: the teritorial legislation known
to: the territorial legislation known
pg 171 Changed: been working in a conmon
to: been working in a common
pg 180 Changed: render this movemont effective
to: render this movement effective
pg 190 Changed: month of March, 1550
to: month of March, 1850
pg 190 Changed: United States will never entruss
to: United States will never entrust
pg 221 Changed: figured so conpicuously under
to: figured so conspicuously under
pg 258 Changed: respective politcal parties
to: respective political parties
pg 263 Changed: the world doats on
to: the world dotes on
The accents on resumè and nèe, and the open single quotation mark
before ‘What is the use ... on page 307, were printed that way.
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