Kendall, Amos

Description

Autograph ID: 4774
Condition: Very good, folds, wrinkling, “10” in another hand at top
Description: (1789-1869) US Postmaster General 1835-40 under Andrew Jackson & Martin Van Buren. Warmly supported Jackson in 1824, and at the beginning of his term in 1829, Jackson appointed Kendall 4th Auditor of the Treasury (accountant responsible for the Navy Department), serving 1829-35. He acquired great influence with the administration, and became one of the readiest and most powerful political writers in Washington. He aided in shaping the Jackson’s anti-Bank policy, appointed special Treasury agent to negotiate with state banks. In 1857, Kendall’s philanthropy founded the school in Washington that became Gallaudet University for the deaf. Prior to becoming Postmaster General, Kendall was editor of both the “Argus of Western America”, organ of Kentucky progressivism, and the “Washington Globe”, the organ for the Jackson Administration. He worked closely with Van Buren, Francis P. Blair, and other members of Jackson’s official and in official “kitchen” cabinets. From 1845, he was business agent for Samuel F.B. Morse, and organized several telegraph companies.

7 ¼ x 7 ¼ ALS while Postmaster General, Washington, April 9 1838, sending his autograph to a Saratoga Springs, New York collector.
Type: Letter