E-text prepared by Darleen Dove, Julia Neufeld, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 39012-h.htm or 39012-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/39012/pg39012-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39012/39012-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://www.archive.org/details/famousamericanst00bolt2 Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN by SARAH K. BOLTON Author of "Poor Boys Who Became Famous," "Girls Who Became Famous," "Famous American Authors," "Stories from Life," "From Heart and Nature," etc. "A nation has no possessions so valuable as its great men, living or dead."--HON. JOHN BIGELOW. New York Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. No. 13 Astor Place Copyright, 1888, By Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Electrotyped By C. J. Peters and Son, Boston. Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. To THOMAS Y. CROWELL. RESPECTED AS A PUBLISHER AND ESTEEMED AS A FRIEND. PREFACE. "With the great, one's thoughts and manners easily become great; ... what this country longs for is personalities, grand persons, to counteract its materialities," says Emerson. Such lives as are sketched in this book are a constant inspiration, both to young and old. They teach Garfield's oft-repeated maxim, that "the genius of success is still the genius of labor." They teach patriotism--a deeper love for and devotion to America. They teach that life, with some definite and noble purpose, is worth living. I have written of Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest and best statesmen, in "Poor Boys Who Became Famous," which will explain its omission from this volume. S. K. B. CONTENTS. PAGE GEORGE WASHINGTON 1 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 38 THOMAS JEFFERSON 67 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 99 ANDREW JACKSON 133 DANIEL WEBSTER 177 HENRY CLAY 230 CHARLES SUMNER 268 ULYSSES S. GRANT 307 JAMES A. GARFIELD 361 [Illustration: G. Washington signature] GEORGE WASHINGTON. The "purest figure in history," wrote William E. Gladstone of George Washington. When Frederick the Great sent his portrait to Washington, he sent with it these remarkable words: "From the oldest general in Europe to the greatest general in the world."