Amos Kendall

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Amos Kendall

Amos Kendall (born August 16, 1789 in Dunstable , Middlesex County , Massachusetts , †  November 12, 1869 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician who belonged to the cabinets of Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren as Minister of Post .

After attending Lawrence Academy , a secondary school in Groton , until 1807, Amos Kendall studied at Dartmouth College . Then he went into the newspaper business: He was editor-in-chief of the Argus of Western America , the organ of progressive politicians in Kentucky , and the Washington Globe , which represented the policy of the Jackson administration. He worked closely with the journalist Francis Preston Blair .

Although he was a member of Andrew Jackson's Democratic Party , Kendall also had ties with Henry Clay , Whig party leader and Jackson's political enemy. He taught Clay's children and, when he was critically ill, was nursed to health by his wife Lucretia.

In addition to the post of Postmaster General , which he took over in 1835 as the successor to William T. Barry , Amos Kendall is regarded by historians as the intellectual leader of the Jackson government. Particular influence is attributed to him with regard to the transformation of the United States from an agriculturally dominated republic to a market economy- oriented state.

In 1840, Kendall left the government. As a philanthropist, he emerged again in 1857 when he founded a school in Washington that later became Gallaudet University for deaf and hard of hearing students.

When Amos Kendall died in 1869, he was the last surviving member of the cabinets of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Kendall County in Illinois and the city of Kendall in New York State are named after him .

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