Hewitt, Abram Stevens
Hewitt, Abram Stevens
(hyo͞o`ĭt), 1822–1903, American industrialist and political leader, b. Haverstraw, N.Y. He became a lawyer, and friendship with a son and marriage to a daughter of Peter CooperCooper, Peter,1791–1883, American inventor, industrialist, and philanthropist, b. New York City. After achieving success in the glue business, Cooper, with two partners, erected (1829) the Canton Iron Works in Baltimore.
..... Click the link for more information. shaped his career. Together he and Edward Cooper became (1847) iron manufacturers with Peter Cooper's backing. Hewitt promoted advanced methods of iron making and steel making and was interested in railroad development and mining. He built up one of the great fortunes of his day.
Elected as a Democratic Representative to Congress in 1874, he served continuously, except for one term, until 1886. As chairman of the Democratic National Committee he directed Samuel J. TildenTilden, Samuel Jones,
1814–86, American political figure, Democratic presidential candidate in 1876, b. New Lebanon, N.Y. Admitted to the bar in 1841, Tilden was an eminently successful lawyer, with many railroad companies as clients.
..... Click the link for more information. 's presidential campaign in 1876. During Rutherford B. HayesHayes, Rutherford Birchard,
1822–93, 19th President of the United States (1877–81), b. Delaware, Ohio, grad. Kenyon College, 1843, and Harvard law school, 1845. He became a moderately successful lawyer in Cincinnati and was made (1858) city solicitor.
..... Click the link for more information. 's administration he led a Democratic House majority in securing the repeal of a number of radical ReconstructionReconstruction,
1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by the invading Union forces was enormous, and the old social and economic
..... Click the link for more information. measures. In 1886 he was elected mayor of New York City on a Tammany ticket, defeating Henry GeorgeGeorge, Henry,
1839–97, American economist, founder of the single tax movement, b. Philadelphia. Of a poor family, his formal education was cut short at 14, and in 1857 he emigrated to California; there he worked at various occupations before turning to newspaper writing
..... Click the link for more information. and Theodore RooseveltRoosevelt, Theodore,
1858–1919, 26th President of the United States (1901–9), b. New York City. Early Life and Political Posts
Of a prosperous and distinguished family, Theodore Roosevelt was educated by private tutors and traveled widely.
..... Click the link for more information. . As a reform mayor, he did not suit Tammany and was not renominated. He became a trustee of Columbia Univ. and was for many years connected with Cooper Union. Selections of his writings, edited by Allan Nevins, appeared in 1937.
Bibliography
See study by A. Nevins (1935, repr. 1967).