Peter Cooper

For other people named Peter Cooper, see Peter Cooper (disambiguation).

Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper
Born	(1791-02-12)February 12, 1791 New York, New York, U.S.
Died	April 4, 1883(1883-04-04) (aged 92)
Occupation(s)	Industrialist, Inventor, Philanthropist
Spouse	Sarah Cooper

Peter Cooper (February 12, 1791 – April 4, 1883) was an American industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and candidate for President of the United States.

Biography

Peter Cooper was born in New York City to a Dutch-American family. He had little formal schooling, and he worked in the family trade of hatmaking. He then worked as a coachmaker's apprentice, cabinet maker, and grocer. Then he was involved in the manufacturing and selling of cloth-shearing machines. He designed and built the first locomotive in the United States, the Tom Thumb. A home in which he resided is maintained at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration in Nassau County, New York. In 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Politics

An 1879 Puck cartoon shows Cooper spanking his poor son Mayor Edward Cooper.

In 1840, he became an alderman in New York City. As a prosperous businessman, he conceived of the idea of having a free institute in New York, similar to the École Polytechnique (Polytechnical School) in Paris. He erected a building and endowed art schools for preparing young men and women of the working classes for business. In 1858, he presented the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art to the City of New York.

Engraving of Peter Cooper

In 1845, he patented the first powdered gelatin dessert (US Patent 4084), which later became better known by the brand name Jell-O. In 1854, Cooper was one of five men who met at the house of Cyrus West Field and formed the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company. He was among those supervising the laying of the first Transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858.

Prior to the Civil War, Cooper was active in the anti-slavery movement and promoted the application of Christian concepts to solve social injustice. He was a strong supporter of the Union cause during the American Civil War and an advocate of the government issue of paper money.

Influenced by the writings of Lydia Maria Child, Cooper became involved in the Indian reform movement, organizing the privately funded United States Indian Commission. This organization, whose members included William E. Dodge and Henry Ward Beecher, was dedicated to the protection and elevation of Native Americans in the United States and the elimination of warfare in the western territories. Cooper's efforts led to the formation of the Board of Indian Commissioners, which oversaw Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy. Between 1870 and 1875, Cooper sponsored Indian delegations to Washington D.C., New York City, and other Eastern cities. These delegations met with Indian rights advocates and addressed the public on United States Indian policy. Speakers included: Red Cloud, Little Raven and Alfred B. Meacham and a delegation of Modoc and Klamath Indians.

Cooper was an ardent critic of the gold standard and the debt-based monetary system of bank currency. Throughout the depression from 1873-78, he said that usury was the foremost political problem of the day. He strongly advocated a credit-based, Government-issued currency of United States Notes. He outlined his ideas in his 1883 book Ideas for a Science of Good Government

Presidential candidacy

Peter Cooper Monument in front of the Cooper Union

Cooper was encouraged to run in the 1876 presidential election for the Greenback Party without any hope of being elected. His running mate was Samuel Fenton Cary. The campaign cost more than $25,000.

The election was won by Rutherford Birchard Hayes of the Republican Party. Cooper was surpassed by another unsuccessful candidate: Samuel Jones Tilden of the Democratic Party.

Death

Peter Cooper died on April 4, 1883. He died at the age of 92. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Sources

• "Cooper, Peter". Mechanical Engineering Biographies Throughout Time. ASME. Retrieved 2008-05-01.

External links

• Comprehensive Biography by Nathan C. Walker
• Facts About Peter Cooper and The Cooper Union
• Brief biography
• Find-A-Grave profile for Peter Cooper
• Ideas for a Science of Good Government Addresses, Letters and Articles by Peter Cooper
• Extensive Information about Peter Cooper
• Images of Peter Cooper's Autobiography
• Peter Cooper's Dictated Autobiography
• The death of slavery by Peter Cooper at archive.org