Ely Moore

Ely Moore (July 4 1798–January 27 1860) was a Jacksonian Congressman from New York.

In 1833 Moore performed one of his last speeches. It was a stunning defense of Workers, Unions, and the Free Labor System. His stunning oration was in reply to an insulting speech by Waddy Thompson of South Carolina that called northern laborers "thieves who would raise wages through insurrection or by the equally rerible process of the ballot-box." Moore's speech containted stirring aggrivation at the unjust moneyed aristocracy, Nicholas Biddle (second US Bank), and the lack of equality of the wage earning worker. During his most heated rhetoric he collapsed onto the podium. Moore headed and established the General Trades Union of New York. The GTU was the first Union containing multiple trades. In 1834 Ely Moore became President of the National Trade Union. The NTU spanned from Boston to St. Louis. The NTU helped to establish the 10 hour work day in many states. New York, his home state, had already established the 10 hour work day.

His first interest in national politics was to endorse Richard Mentor Johnson, on March 13, 1833, for Vice President. because he opposed the Sabbatarian Movement (contrary to the freedom of religion), and supported replacing imprisonment for debt with a bankruptcy law. [William Emmons. "Authentic biography of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky.", pp.61"ff".]

He was a Tammany candidate for Congress in 1834 and 1836; in the latter year, he was also supported by the Locofocos, like C. C. Cambreleng, the other Tammany candidate to be successful. He was defeated in 1838: his district, which returned four Congressmen, went largely Whig, but Martin Van Buren appointed him Collector of the Port of New York, and he supported Van Buren for re-election in 1840. He was one of the radical leaders to support the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island in 1842.

He was one of the radicals who criticized the early abolitionists in the interest of labor, seeing a Whig plot to introduce the Negro as cheap competition in the labor market, and keep wages low.

References

*Sean Wilentz. "The Rise of American Democracy". W.W. Norton. New York and London. 2005.
*Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., "The Age of Jackson", Little Brown, 1945.