thumb|Duff Green
Duff Green (August 15, 1791June 10, 1875) was an American teacher, military leader, Democratic Party politician, journalist, author, diplomat and industrialist.
Early life and education
Green, the son of William and Lucy Ann (Marshall) Green, was born August 15, 1791, in Woodford County, Kentucky. He was a school teacher in his native state of Kentucky and served with his commander, General William Henry Harrison, in the Kentucky militia in the War of 1812 and commanded the Missouri Brigade in the Indian Campaign, earning the rank brigadier general. Thereafter, he was known by many as General Duff Green. He then settled in Missouri, where he worked as a schoolmaster and practiced law. He was a member of the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1820, and was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1820 and to the Missouri State Senate in 1822, serving one term in each house. Becoming interested in journalism, he purchased and for two years edited the newspaper St Louis Enquirer.
Career
In 1826, in Washington, DC, Green bought and later edited, the newspaper The United States Telegraph, which became the principal organ of Andrew Jackson's backers, helping him defeat John Quincy Adams in the presidential election of 1828. Upon Jackson's election to the presidency, the Telegraph became the principal organ of the administration, receiving printing patronage estimated at $50,000 a year. Green became one of the côterie of unofficial advisers of Jackson, known as the "Kitchen Cabinet", on which Jackson depended after the Petticoat affair.
During the quarrel between Jackson and Vice President John C. Calhoun, Green advocated Calhoun and, through the Telegraph, attacked the Jackson administration. Green, however, continued to edit The United States Telegraph in the Calhoun interest until 1835 and endorsed Calhoun's opinions during the Nullification Crisis. During his second term, Jackson replaced Calhoun with Martin Van Buren as vice president.
From 1835 to 1838, Green edited The Reformation, a radically partisan publication, devoted to free trade, states' rights, and the idea of "Manifest Destiny".
In 1841 to 1843, he was in Europe on behalf of the administration of President John Tyler and is said to have been instrumental in causing the appointment of Alexander Baring, Lord Ashburton, to negotiate in Washington on the boundary dispute between Maine and Canada. Calling Green a friend, Lincoln greeted him amicably with a smile at first, but Green did not reciprocate in kind, refusing to shake Lincoln's hand when it was offered.
Pardon by Andrew Johnson
After the war, Green was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson for his advocacy of the Confederacy, and paid a $20,000 fine.
Later life and death
Green was one of the founding members of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency, incorporated November 1, 1859 in Pennsylvania. At the time, he gained 42,000 shares but paid with a bad check the 5% payment on only 5,000 shares. On March 26, 1864, Thomas C. Durant, the vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad Company purchased the corporation as a front construction company, whereby the directors and principal stock holders of the Union Pacific retained all construction profits. They then used the funds to purchase Union Pacific stock at par value and resell it on the open market for even greater profits. Durant changed the company name to the Crédit Mobilier of America. The scandal involving the sale of discounted Credit Mobilier stock to Congressional members voting for payment of exorbitant transcontinental railroad construction costs occurred during the Johnson administration but was revealed during the Grant administration.
Green died in Dalton, Georgia, a city that he had helped to build.
Works
- Facts and Suggestions, Biographical, Historical, Financial and Political: addressed to the people of the United States. C. S. Westcott & Co.'s Union Printing Office, 1866
- Facts and Suggestions Relative to Finance & Currency, addressed to the President of the Confederate States. J. T. Paterson & Co., 1864
- How to Pay off the National Debt: regulate the value of money, and maintain stability in the values of property and labor. Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, 1872
References
Sources
- Thomas Hart Benton, Thirty Years View: A History of the Working of The American Government For Thirty Years from 1820 to 1850 (two volumes, New York, 1854–56)
- W. Stephen Belko, The Invincible Duff Green: Whig of the West (University of Missouri Press, 2006).