American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

George Bancroft (October 3, 1800-January 17, 1891) was a historian, diplomat and educator. He served as Secretary of Navy under President Polk, 1845-46, directing the establishment of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, as well as the Naval Observatory at Washington, D.C. He served as U.S. Minister to Great Britain, 1846-49; and later Germany. In 1834, he published the first volume of his ten-volume History of the United States, (1834-1876). This was the first comprehensive history of America written from its beginnings to the ratification of the Constitution. For more than 50 years it was the best-known and most widely...

William Holmes McGuffey (September 23, 1800-May 4, 1873) was an American educator. He was the president of Ohio University, professor at the University of Virginia and the department chairman at the Miami University of Ohio. He was responsible for forming the first teachers' association in that part of the nation. Considered the "Schoolmaster of the Nation," McGuffey published the first edition of his McGuffey's Reader in 1836. This book was the mainstay in public education in America till 1920. As of 1963, 125 million copies had been sold, making it one of the most widely used and influential textbooks of...

John Brown (May 9, 1800-December 2, 1859) was an abolitionist, reformer and northern martyr. In his efforts to free the slaves, he opened his barn in Pennsylvania as a station on the Underground Railroad, and even lived in a black community for a time. He also took extreme steps, most notably the killing of settlers who believed individuals had the choice of enslaving a human life, and the seizing of the government arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He was captured, sentenced, and on December 2, 1859, he was hanged. Labeled insane by some, he was called Saint John the Just...

Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800-March 8, 1874) was the 13th President of the United States, 1850-53; Vice-President under Zachary Taylor, 1848-50, assuming the Presidency upon Taylor's death; sent Commodore Perry to Japan, opening the trade routes to the Far East; signed the Compromise Act of 1850; admitted California, which had just begun the Gold Rush, into the Union as a free state; when the Library of Congress caught fire, 1851, President Fillmore and his Cabinet formed a bucket brigade to extinguish the flames; president of the Buffalo Historical Society, 1862; married Caroline Carmichael McIntosh, 1858, after death of first wife;...

Library of Congress (1800) was set up primarily to assist Congressmen in preparing laws, although it is open to all scholars. Burned by the British during the War of 1812, it was subsequently rebuilt. In 1897, it was relocated into its present building, and, in 1938, an annex was added. Numerous quotations from Scripture can be found within the walls of the Library of Congress. President Eliot of Harvard selected the following verse to be inscribed on the walls: <He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly...