Henry Clay Dean
Encyclopedia
Henry Clay Dean was a Methodist Episcopal preacher, lawyer, orator and author who was a critic of the American Civil War
and the Lincoln Administration
.
, October 27, 1822. Named for the Senator from Kentucky, Henry Clay
, Dean was born just two years after Clay guided the Missouri Compromise
into law. He was one of three sons of Caleb Dean, a stonemason. He was a graduate of Madison College in Pennsylvania. He taught for a time in the area and studied law.
Dean married Christiana Margaret Haigler Jan. 19, 1847 and together has six children, John Willey Dean, Charles Caleb Dean, Henry Clay Dean Jr., Mary Jermima Dean, George James Dean, Christiana Margaret Dean, Virginia Rebecca "Vinnie" Dean.
, one of Iowa's early United States Senators, Dean was chosen chaplain of the United States Senate
on Dec. 4,1855.
Dean was one of the trustees of the Iowa Wesleyan College
at Mount Pleasant, Iowa
. Dean was admitted to the bar but did not practice law until after the Civil War. He was a public speaker of rare eloquence and was frequently invited to deliver lectures, among which was a ‘Reply to Ingersoll,' ‘The Constitution,' ‘Declaration of Independence' and many other topics.
written by proslavery Kansans and supported the popular sovereignty view of Stephen Douglas. He did not support the continuation of slavery in the nation, but he believed that slaves should be freed through government purchase over time.
When the Civil War began, Dean opposed secession but also voiced opposition to the war. In turn, he became known as one of the Democratic Party's outspoken Copperheads and he made speeches denouncing the war and the actions of President Lincoln. His views made him many enemies who viewed him as a traitor; a mob in Keokuk even threatened to hang him.
In his article "The Bloodmarket of the Rich", Dean argued the entire war was conceived by an international conspiracy of bankers and "stock-gamblers
".
Dean was arrested for disloyal utterances and confined in prison for two weeks by order of Government officials. Upon his release he wrote and published a book with the title, ‘Crimes of the Civil War.' It was a bitter rebuttal against President Lincoln and the administration in the work of subduing the Rebellion.
among western Democrats. Dean vociferously promoted Greenbackism, decried the National Bank system, and denounced bondholders. He also again offered stinging criticism of Lincoln's wartime actions. He brought his views together in Crimes of the Civil War and Curse of the Funding System (1869).
Dean also practiced law after the war and became known for accepting the cases of poor clients.
In 1871 Dean moved to a farm in Putnam County, Missouri, which he named ‘Rebel Cove'. He gathered a great library which was later destroyed by fire.
Here is what Mark Twain had to say on the subject of Henry Clay Dean:
"He began life poor and without education. But he educated himself - on the curbstones of Keokuk. He would sit down on a curbstone with his book, careless or unconscious of the clatter of commerce and the tramp of the passing crowds, and bury himself in his studies by the hour, never changing his position except to draw in his knees now and then to let a dray pass unobstructed; and when his book was finished, its contents, however abstruse, had been burned into his memory, and were his permanent possession. In this way he acquired a vast hoard of all sorts of learning, and had it pigeonholed in his head where he could put his intellectual hand on it whenever it was wanted.
His clothes differed in no respect from a "wharf-rat's," except that they were raggeder, more ill-assorted and inharmonious (and therefore more extravagantly picturesque), and several layers dirtier. Nobody could infer the master-mind in the top of that edifice from the edifice itself.
He was an orator - by nature in the first place, and later by the training of experience and practice. When he was out on a canvass, his name was a lodestone which drew the farmers to his stump from fifty miles around. His theme was always politics. He used no notes, for a volcano does not need notes."
- Life on the Mississippi
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and the Lincoln Administration
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War
This article details Abraham Lincoln's actions during the American Civil War. Lincoln, despite being little prepared for it by prior military experience, was first and foremost a war president. The nation was at peace for less than six weeks of his presidency and his was the only presidency that...
.
Early life and education
Dean was born in Fayette County, PennsylvaniaFayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the2010 census, the population was 136,606. The county is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, October 27, 1822. Named for the Senator from Kentucky, Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, Dean was born just two years after Clay guided the Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30'...
into law. He was one of three sons of Caleb Dean, a stonemason. He was a graduate of Madison College in Pennsylvania. He taught for a time in the area and studied law.
Dean married Christiana Margaret Haigler Jan. 19, 1847 and together has six children, John Willey Dean, Charles Caleb Dean, Henry Clay Dean Jr., Mary Jermima Dean, George James Dean, Christiana Margaret Dean, Virginia Rebecca "Vinnie" Dean.
Career
In 1845 he joined the Methodist Episcopal Conference of Virginia and began to preach in the mountain region of that state where he remained for four years. In 1850 he removed to Iowa, locating to Pittsburg in Van Buren County, where he preached through the Keosauqua circuit, joining the Fairfield Conference. Through the influence of General George W. JonesGeorge W. Jones
George Wallace Jones , a frontiersman, entrepreneur, attorney, and judge, was among the first two United States Senators to represent the state of Iowa after it was admitted to the Union in 1846...
, one of Iowa's early United States Senators, Dean was chosen chaplain of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on Dec. 4,1855.
Dean was one of the trustees of the Iowa Wesleyan College
Iowa Wesleyan College
Iowa Wesleyan College is a private four-year liberal arts college of the United Methodist Church located Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.Iowa Wesleyan is recognized as a pioneer in higher education in America. Founded in 1842, it ranks as the oldest coeducational college located west of the Mississippi River...
at Mount Pleasant, Iowa
Mount Pleasant, Iowa
Mount Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Iowa, in the United States. The population was 8,668 in the 2010 census, a decline from 8,751 in the 2000 census. It was founded in 1835 by pioneer Presley Saunders.- History :...
. Dean was admitted to the bar but did not practice law until after the Civil War. He was a public speaker of rare eloquence and was frequently invited to deliver lectures, among which was a ‘Reply to Ingersoll,' ‘The Constitution,' ‘Declaration of Independence' and many other topics.
United States Civil War
Dean carried his Methodist values into the period leading up to the Civil War. He opposed the extension of slavery. He opposed the Lecompton ConstitutionLecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas . The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H. Lane and other free-state advocates...
written by proslavery Kansans and supported the popular sovereignty view of Stephen Douglas. He did not support the continuation of slavery in the nation, but he believed that slaves should be freed through government purchase over time.
When the Civil War began, Dean opposed secession but also voiced opposition to the war. In turn, he became known as one of the Democratic Party's outspoken Copperheads and he made speeches denouncing the war and the actions of President Lincoln. His views made him many enemies who viewed him as a traitor; a mob in Keokuk even threatened to hang him.
In his article "The Bloodmarket of the Rich", Dean argued the entire war was conceived by an international conspiracy of bankers and "stock-gamblers
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
".
Dean was arrested for disloyal utterances and confined in prison for two weeks by order of Government officials. Upon his release he wrote and published a book with the title, ‘Crimes of the Civil War.' It was a bitter rebuttal against President Lincoln and the administration in the work of subduing the Rebellion.
Later life
With the conclusion of the war, Dean became a spokesman for Democrats in opposition to Radical Republicanism. In 1867 he began to advocate "soft money" inflation and payment of the national debt through the continued printing of paper money. In doing so, he became a founder of the United States Greenback PartyUnited States Greenback Party
The Greenback Party was an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology that was active between 1874 and 1884. Its name referred to paper money, or "greenbacks," that had been issued during the American Civil War and afterward...
among western Democrats. Dean vociferously promoted Greenbackism, decried the National Bank system, and denounced bondholders. He also again offered stinging criticism of Lincoln's wartime actions. He brought his views together in Crimes of the Civil War and Curse of the Funding System (1869).
Dean also practiced law after the war and became known for accepting the cases of poor clients.
In 1871 Dean moved to a farm in Putnam County, Missouri, which he named ‘Rebel Cove'. He gathered a great library which was later destroyed by fire.
Death and legacy
.Here is what Mark Twain had to say on the subject of Henry Clay Dean:
"He began life poor and without education. But he educated himself - on the curbstones of Keokuk. He would sit down on a curbstone with his book, careless or unconscious of the clatter of commerce and the tramp of the passing crowds, and bury himself in his studies by the hour, never changing his position except to draw in his knees now and then to let a dray pass unobstructed; and when his book was finished, its contents, however abstruse, had been burned into his memory, and were his permanent possession. In this way he acquired a vast hoard of all sorts of learning, and had it pigeonholed in his head where he could put his intellectual hand on it whenever it was wanted.
His clothes differed in no respect from a "wharf-rat's," except that they were raggeder, more ill-assorted and inharmonious (and therefore more extravagantly picturesque), and several layers dirtier. Nobody could infer the master-mind in the top of that edifice from the edifice itself.
He was an orator - by nature in the first place, and later by the training of experience and practice. When he was out on a canvass, his name was a lodestone which drew the farmers to his stump from fifty miles around. His theme was always politics. He used no notes, for a volcano does not need notes."
- Life on the Mississippi
Life on the Mississippi
Life on the Mississippi is a memoir by Mark Twain, of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi many years after the War....