Amos Kendall

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Amos Kendall

8th United States Postmaster General
In office May 1, 1835 – May, 1840
Preceded by	William T. Barry
Succeeded by	John M. Niles

Born	August 16, 1789 Dunstable, Massachusetts, USA
Died	November 12, 1869 Washington, D.C., USA
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Politician

Amos Kendall (August 16, 1789 – November 12, 1869) was an American politician who served as U.S. Postmaster General under Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Many historians regard Kendall as the intellectual force behind Andrew Jackson’s presidential administration, and an influential figure in the transformation of America from an agrarian republic to a capitalist democracy. In 1857, Kendall's philanthropy founded the institution that would become Gallaudet College (now Gallaudet University) for the deaf.

Kendall completed his secondary studies at Lawrence Academy at Groton, class of 1807, and his collegiate studies at Dartmouth College. Prior to becoming Postmaster General, Kendall was editor of both the Argus of Western America, the organ of Kentucky progressivism, and the Washington Globe, the organ for the Jackson Administration. He also worked closly with Francis P. Blair. He tutored the children of Henry Clay, who was an arch political enemy of Jackson, and was nursed back to health after a grave illness by Clay's wife, Lucretia.

Prior to his death in 1869, Kendall had been the last surviving member of the Jackson and Van Buren Cabinets.

[edit] Works

"Life of Andrew Jackson, Private, Military, and Civil" (New York, 1843, uncompleted)
"Full Exposure of Dr. Charles T. Jackson's Pretensions to the Invention of the American Electro-magnetic Telegraph," which was republished with prefatory remarks by Professor Morse (Paris, 1867).
Posthumous autobiography, edited by William Stickney (Boston, 1872)(Download book: http://www.gallyprotest.org/autobiography_of_amos_kendall.pdf)