Gulian C. Verplanck
Gulian Crommelin Verplanck (August 6, 1786 – March 18, 1870) was a New York politician and sometime man of letters.
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Biography [edit]
Verplanck was born in Wall Street in New York City, the son of Congressman Daniel C. Verplanck. He graduated B.A. from Columbia College in 1801, then studied law with Josiah Ogden Hoffman and was admitted to the bar in 1807. On October 2, 1811, he married Mary Eliza Fenno, a daughter of John Fenno and the sister of J. O. Hoffman's second wife. The couple had two sons, but while traveling abroad, Mary Verplanck died in 1817 in Paris and was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Verplanck was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1820-21, 1822 and 1823. He was a professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York City from 1821 to 1824, and one of the governors of the New York Hospital from 1823 to 1865. In 1826, he was elected a regent of the University of the State of New York, and in 1858 became its Vice Chancellor, remaining in office until his death.
He was elected as Jacksonian to the 19th, 20th, and as a Democrat to the 21st and 22nd United States Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1833. He was Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means (22nd Congress). In 1833, when President Andrew Jackson began his quest to suppress the Second Bank of the United States, Verplanck left the Democrats.
In April 1834, at the first popular election for Mayor of New York City, Verplanck was the candidate of the emerging Whig Party but was narrowly defeated (sources range from 181 to 213 votes) by Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence.[1] Afterwards Verplanck kept his own counsel in politics and supported William Henry Harrison (Whig), James K. Polk (Dem.), Zachary Taylor (Whig) and James Buchanan (Dem.) for President, remaining a Democrat thereafter.
Verplanck was a member of the New York State Senate (1st D.) from 1838 to 1841, sitting in the 61st, 62nd, 63rd and 64th New York State Legislatures. He was President of the Board of Commissioners of Immigration from 1846 until his death. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1867-68.
In his literary life, Verplanck was a contributor to the North American Review, perhaps best known for his denunciation of Knickerbocker's History of New York (by Washington Irving) and his verse satires against Dewitt Clinton generally known as The Bucktail Bards. His writing has put him as a member of the so-called "Knickerbocker group", a group which also included Irving, William Cullen Bryant, James Kirke Paulding, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Joseph Rodman Drake, Robert Charles Sands, Lydia Maria Child, and Nathaniel Parker Willis.[2]
Verplanck was one of the founding members of the Century Club and was its President at the time of his death..
Verplanck died at his residence in 14th Street in New York City on March 18, 1870, and was buried at the Trinity Churchyard in Fishkill, New York.
See also [edit]
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| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Peter Sharpe, John J. Morgan, Churchill C. Cambreleng |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 3rd congressional district 1825–1833 with Churchill C. Cambreleng 1825-33, Jeromus Johnson 1825-29 and Campbell P. White 1829-33 |
Succeeded by Dudley Selden, Campbell P. White, Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence, Churchill C. Cambreleng |
| New York State Senate | ||
| Preceded by Charles L. Livingston |
New York State Senate First District (Class 3) 1838–1841 |
Succeeded by Isaac L. Varian |
References [edit]
- Robert W. July, The Essential New Yorker: Gulian Crommelin Verplanck, Duke University Press, 1951.
- Gulian C. Verplanck at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 71f, 93, 131ff, 147, 197ff, 313, 338 ; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
- OBITUARY; Hon. Gulian C. Verplanck in NYT on March 19, 1870
- GULIAN C. VERPLANCK.; His Life, Character and Writings in NYT on May 18, 1870
Notes [edit]
- ^ A Political History of the State of New York by DeAlva Stanwood Alexander (Vol. 1, pages 334ff)
- ^ Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 30. ISBN 0-86576-008-X
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