Amos Kendall

Amos Kendall
8th United States Postmaster General
In office May 1, 1835 – May, 1840
President	Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren
Preceded by	William T. Barry
Succeeded by	John Milton Niles
Personal details
Born	August 16, 1789(1789-08-16) Dunstable, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	November 12, 1869(1869-11-12) (aged 80) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Mary Woolfolk (d. 1823), Jane Kyle
Alma mater	Dartmouth College
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 opened a school for deaf children, which 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 worked closely with Van Buren, Francis P. Blair, and other members of Jackson's official and kitchen cabinets. John Quincy Adams, a bitter foe of both Jackson and Van Buren, confided to his diary in December 1840 that he believed both men had been "for twelve years the tool of Amos Kendall, the ruling mind of their dominion." Kendall 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.^{[citation needed]} In 1862, Kendall helped found Calvary Baptist Church.

Kendell was the first press secretary of the U.S. federal government.

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.

Bibliography

• "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).
• Scott Cutlip (1995) Public Relations History: from the 17th to the 20th Century, Chapters 5,6, and 7, pages 68 to 120, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers ISBN 0-8058-1465-5 . Kendall research assembled by General L. Gordon Hill, U.S. Army, edited and published by Cutlip.
• William Stickney (1872) Autobiography of Amos Kendall
• Kendall, Amos. Address at Inauguration of Gallaudet University, 1864.
• Kendall, Amos. Address at First Commencement of Gallaudet University, 1869.

External links

• Amos Kendall, Founder of Kendall School
• Amos Kendall at Find a Grave

Political offices
Preceded by William T. Barry	United States Postmaster General Served under: Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren 1835 – 1840	Succeeded by John M. Niles