Henry Clay Dean (27 October 1822 – 6 February 1887) was a Methodist Episcopal preacher, lawyer, orator and author who was a critic of the American Civil War and the Lincoln Administration.
Early life and education
Dean was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, October 27, 1822. Named for the senator from Kentucky, Henry Clay, Dean was born just two years after Clay guided the Missouri Compromise into law. He was one of three sons of Caleb Dean, a stonemason. He was a graduate of Madison College in Pennsylvania and taught for a time in the area and studied law.
Dean married Christiana Margaret Haigler on Jan. 19, 1847 and together they had six children: John Willey Dean, Charles Caleb Dean, Henry Clay Dean Jr., Mary Jermima Dean, George James Dean, Christiana Margaret Dean and Virginia Rebecca "Vinnie" Dean.
Career
In 1845 he joined the Methodist Episcopal Conference of Virginia and began to preach in the mountain region of that state where he remained for four years. In 1850 he removed to Iowa, locating to Pittsburg in Van Buren County, where he preached through the Keosauqua circuit, joining the Fairfield Conference. Through the influence of George Wallace Jones, one of Iowa's early United States Senators, Dean was chosen chaplain of the United States Senate on December 4, 1855.
Dean was one of the trustees of the Iowa Wesleyan College at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Dean was admitted to the bar but did not practice law until after the Civil War. He was a public speaker of rare eloquence and was frequently invited to deliver lectures, among which was a ‘Reply to Ingersoll,' ‘The Constitution,' ‘Declaration of Independence' and many other topics.
Later life
With the conclusion of the war, Dean became a spokesman for Democrats in opposition to Radical Republicanism. In 1867 he began to advocate "soft money" inflation and payment of the national debt through the continued printing of paper money. In doing so, he became a founder of the United States Greenback Party among western Democrats. Dean vociferously promoted Greenbackism, decried the National Bank system, and denounced bondholders. He also again offered stinging criticism of Lincoln's wartime actions. He brought his views together in Crimes of the Civil War and Curse of the Funding System (1869).
Dean also practiced law after the war and became known for accepting the cases of poor clients.
In 1871 Dean moved to a farm in Putnam County, Missouri, which he named ‘Rebel Cove'. He gathered a great library which was later destroyed by fire.