Amos Kendall

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Amos Kendall


image_width=200px
order=8th
title=United States Postmaster General
term_start=May 1, 1835
term_end=May, 1840
predecessor=William T. Barry
successor=John M. Niles
birth_date=birth date|1789|8|16|mf=y
birth_place=Dunstable, Massachusetts, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1869|11|12|1789|8|16
death_place=Washington, D.C., U.S.
party=Democrat
spouse=
profession=Politician
religion=

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 school in Washington, D.C. that later expanded and became 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 closely with Francis P. Blair. He tutored the children of Henry Clay, who was a political enemy of Jackson, and was nursed back to health after a grave illness by Clay's wife, Lucretia.

At the time of his death in 1869, Kendall was the last surviving member of the Jackson and Van Buren Cabinets.

Kendall County, Illinois and Kendall, New York are named in Kendall's honor.

References

* "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 Samuel F. B. Morse (Paris, 1867).
* [http://www.saveourdeafschools.org/autobiography_of_amos_kendall.pdf Posthumous autobiography] , edited by William Stickney (Boston, 1872)
* [http://saveourdeafschools.org/amos_kendall_address_1864.pdf Kendall, Amos. Address at Inauguration of Gallaudet University, 1864.]
* [http://saveourdeafschools.org/amos_kendall_address_1869.pdf Kendall, Amos. Address at First Commencement of Gallaudet University, 1869.]

External links

* [http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/kdes/150/images/amoskendall_lancefischer.pdf Amos Kendall, Founder of Kendall School]
*Find A Grave|id=2447