1.
Harrison Gray Otis (publisher)
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Harrison Gray Otis was the president and general manager of the Times-Mirror Company, publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Otis was born near Marietta, Ohio, on February 10,1837 and his father was from Vermont and his mother, a native of Nova Scotia, Canada, came to Ohio from Boston, Massachusetts, with her family. The young Otis received schooling until he was fourteen, when he became an apprentice at the Noble County Courier in Ohio. He was a Kentucky delegate to the Republican National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he left his job as a compositor in the office of the Louisville Journal to volunteer as a private for the Union army, Otis fought in the 23rd Ohio Infantry. He was promoted through the ranks and was made an officer and he was wounded twice in battle, was twice breveted for gallant and meritorious conduct and was promoted seven times. After the war, Otis was Official Reporter of the Ohio House of Representatives, then moved to Washington, D. C. where he was a government official, correspondent and he left that position in 1881 to return to Santa Barbara. Beginning August 1,1882, he was to have the conduct of the Daily Times and Weekly Mirror. Later the company was named Times-Mirror, and on April 6,1886, it was reorganized, with Albert McFarland and W. A. Spalding as owners and Otis as president and that was Otiss official title at the time of his death in 1917. The Times story about his demise noted that the Times-Mirror Company was publishers of the Los Angeles Daily Times, the article called Otis the principal owner of the newspaper but never referred to him as publisher. Eleven years earlier, however the Associated Press had called him publisher of the Los Angeles Times, when the Spanish–American War broke out in 1898, Otis asked President William McKinley for an appointment as Assistant Secretary of War. But Secretary of War Russell A. Alger did not want the conservative Otis serving under him, Otis thereupon again volunteered for the Army and was appointed brigadier general of volunteers. He did not see any action against the Spanish, but commanded the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Otis was known for his conservative political views, which were reflected in the paper. His home was one of three buildings that were targeted in the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing, during his time as publisher of the Times Otis is known for coining the phrase You are either with me, or against me. His support for his city was instrumental in the growth of the city. He was a member of a group of investors who bought land in the San Fernando Valley based on knowledge that the Los Angeles Aqueduct would soon irrigate it. He died on July 30,1917 at the home of his son-in-law, list of Los Angeles Times publishers PBS biography Otis biography in the Bancroft Library Harrison Gray Otis Album of California Scenes, around 1890–1910, in the Bancroft Library
2.
United States Senate
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The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. S. From 1789 until 1913, Senators were appointed by the legislatures of the states represented, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The Senate chamber is located in the wing of the Capitol, in Washington. It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House, in the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise, there was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a Peoples House directly elected by the people, the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally, the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate, the name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the comment about the Senate, In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people. An agrarian law would take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation, landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority, the senate, therefore, ought to be this body, and to answer these purposes, the people ought to have permanency and stability. The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that states consent, the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two senators, but they are officials of the D. C. city government. The United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming and this means some citizens are effectively two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures
3.
Massachusetts
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It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named for the Massachusett tribe, which inhabited the area. The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston, over 80% of Massachusetts population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution, during the 20th century, Massachusetts economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance. Plymouth was the site of the first colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, in 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of Americas most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, in 1786, Shays Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention. In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic World, in the late 18th century, Boston became known as the Cradle of Liberty for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution. The entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts has played a commercial and cultural role in the history of the United States. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, in the late 19th century, the sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. Many prominent American political dynasties have hailed from the state, including the Adams, both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge, have been ranked among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world. Massachusetts public school students place among the top nations in the world in academic performance, the official name of the state is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While this designation is part of the official name, it has no practical implications. Massachusetts has the position and powers within the United States as other states. Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett. While cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses, and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems. Between 1617 and 1619, smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans, the first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, arrived via the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people. This was the second successful permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, the event known as the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World which lasted for three days
4.
Joseph Bradley Varnum
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Joseph Bradley Varnum was a U. S. politician of the Democratic-Republican Party from Massachusetts. Joseph Bradley Varnum was born in Dracut, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, January 29,1750 or 1751, at the age of eighteen, he was commissioned captain by the committee of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and in 1787 colonel by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was made general in 1802, and in 1805 major general of the state militia. He also served as a Justice of the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas and as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Court of General Sessions. In 1794, Varnum was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, during his last four years in the House, he served as its Speaker. Varnum was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1811 to fill the vacancy in the term, Varnum died in Dracut, and his body is interred in Varnum Cemetery. His brother was James Mitchell Varnum, on March 3,1805, Varnum submitted a Massachusetts Proposition to amend the Constitution and Abolish the Slave Trade. This proposition was tabled until 1807, when under Varnums leadership the amendment moved through Congress, president Thomas Jefferson signed it into law on March 3,1807. Magazine of American History 20, 405–14, biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Attribution, This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Varnum
5.
James Lloyd (Massachusetts politician)
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James Lloyd was a merchant, businessman and Federalist party politician from Massachusetts during the early years of the United States. He twice served as United States Senator, notably succeeding John Quincy Adams after the latter lost the party due to his support of the Embargo Act of 1807. James Lloyd was born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to James Lloyd, a medical doctor, Lloyd was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard College, where he received a BA in 1787 and an MA in 1790. He got a job as a merchant clerk, in which capacity he traveled to Russia in 1792, Lloyd became a successful merchant, and was a close business associate of Francis Cabot Lowell. With Lowell, he was a major stakeholder the construction of Bostons India Wharf and Central Wharf and he served as the first president of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the first major textile mill in the nation. In 1800 Lloyd was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, in 1808, he won election to the United States Senate. Adams resigned his seat early, and Lloyd was appointed to fill the remainder of his term and he served until his resignation on May 1,1813, due to poor health. On June 17,1812, he voted against declaring war on Britain, on February 28,1812, Lloyd gave a speech in the Senate of the United States on the Bill Concerning the Naval Establishment. Upon the resignation of Senator Harrison Gray Otis in 1822, he was elected and reelected, serving until his resignation on May 23,1826. He was one of the last Federalist Party members to serve in the Senate, Lloyd died in New York City and is buried in Kings Chapel Burying Ground in Boston. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1811, James Lloyd, Lambs Biographical Dictionary United States Congress. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, political Graveyard This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http, //bioguide. congress. gov
6.
United States House of Representatives
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The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the Senate, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the House are established by Article One of the United States Constitution, since its inception in 1789, all representatives are elected popularly. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435, the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences. The House meets in the wing of the United States Capitol. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a body in which each state was equally represented. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates, the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention. The House is referred to as the house, with the Senate being the upper house. Both houses approval is necessary for the passage of legislation, the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, the Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4,1789. The House began work on April 1,1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, during the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives, However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, the war culminated in the Souths defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, the years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Unions victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877, the ensuing era, the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw an increase in the power of the Speaker of the House
7.
Massachusetts's 8th congressional district
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Massachusettss 8th congressional district is located in eastern Massachusetts, including part of Boston. It is represented by Democrat Stephen Lynch, for one congressional term it served as the home district of the District of Maine. The district boundaries are changed as of the elections of 2012 due to redistricting after the 2010 census, with the old 8th district largely being shifted to the new 7th. In Bristol County, Precincts 1 and 2 in Raynham, in Norfolk County, Avon, Braintree, Canton, Cohasset, Dedham, Holbrook, Milton, Precincts 2-4, and 6-9, Norwood, Quincy, Randolph, Stoughton, Walpole, Westwood and Weymouth. In Plymouth County, Abington, Bridgewater, Brockton, East Bridgewater, Hingham, Hull, Scituate, West Bridgewater, and Whitman. All the towns in Norfolk County, Abington, North Bridgewater, Hingham, and Hull, in the County of Plymouth, and Brighton, Holliston, Natick, Newton, and Sherburne, in the County of Middlesex. Westford, and Weston, in the county of Middlesex, and the towns of Berlin, Bolton, Harvard, Lunenburg, Northborough, Southborough,1893, Arlington, Boston, Cambridge, Medford, Somerville, Winchester. Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, Medford, Somerville, Winchester, Middlesex County, Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, Lexington, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, Wakefield, Watertown, Winchester. Everett, Lynnfield, Malden, Medford, Melrose, N. Reading, Reading, Saugus, Somerville, Stoneham, Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Watertown. Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Waltham, Belmont, Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Somerville, Watertown. In Middlesex County, Cambridge, and Somerville, the Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts
8.
Fisher Ames
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Fisher Ames was a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts. He was an important leader of the Federalist Party in the House, Ames was born in Dedham, Massachusetts. His father, a physician, died when Fisher was but six years old, at the age of six he began the study of Latin, and at the age of twelve, he was sent to Harvard College, graduating in 1774 when he began work as a teacher. While teaching school Ames also studied law and he was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Dedham in 1781. His father, Dr. Nathaniel Ames, was the author of the Ames Almanack, in 1788, he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He became a member of the Massachusetts convention that ratified the United States Constitution that same year, Ames was elected to the First United States Congress, having beaten Samuel Adams for the post. He also served in the Second and Third Congresses and as a Federalist to the Fourth Congress and he served in Congress from March 4,1789 to March 3,1797. During the First Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Elections and he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1793. In 1796, he was not a candidate for renomination but resumed the practice of law in Dedham and he stayed in politics and was a member of the Governors Council from 1798 to 1800. In his new role, Ames offered one of the great orations on the death of President Washington and he also published a number of essays, critical of Jeffersons followers. He was a member of the Federalist Party, specifically its Essex Junto, in 1805, Ames was chosen president of Harvard University. He declined to serve because of failing health, four years later, in 1808, he died in Dedham on July 4. He was interred in the Old First Parish Cemetery after a funeral in Boston. Despite his limited number of years in service, Fisher Ames ranks as one of the more influential figures of his era. Ames led Federalist ranks in the House of Representatives and his acceptance of the Bill of Rights garnered support in Massachusetts for the new Constitution. His greatest fame however may have come as an orator, for which one historian has dubbed him the most eloquent of the Federalists, Ames offered one of the first great speeches in American Congressional history when he spoke in favor of the Jay Treaty. Despite his Federalist sympathies, Ames would dissent from his party when he felt it was not in the countrys best interest, for example, in 1789 Ames argued against the appointment of Thomas Willing as the President of Hamiltons newly created Bank of the United States. Hamiltons Federalists, although they too agreed with a Republic, advocated a federal government with similar powers to the British example
9.
William Eustis
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William Eustis was an early American physician, politician, and statesman from Massachusetts. Trained in medicine, he served as a surgeon during the American Revolutionary War. He resumed medical practice after the war, but soon entered politics, after several terms in the state legislature, Eustis won election to the United States Congress in 1800, serving as a moderate Democratic-Republican. He briefly returned to politics after losing reelection in 1804. Due in part to his inexperience at managing the army and a lack of preparedness, Madison then appointed Eustis Minister to the Netherlands, a post he held from 1814 until 1818. After another period in Congress, he was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1822, a popular successor to long-serving John Brooks, Eustis died in office in 1825. His Boston mansion, built in the 1750s by royal governor William Shirley, is known as the Shirley-Eustis House and is a National Historic Landmark, William Eustis was born on June 10,1753 in Cambridge, to Benjamin Eustis, a prominent Boston doctor, and Elizabeth Eustis. He was the surviving son of twelve children. He was educated at the Boston Latin School before he entered Harvard College, while at Harvard he belonged to an undergraduate militia unit called the Martimercurian Band. After graduation he studied medicine under Dr. Joseph Warren, a well-known Patriot political leader, when the Battles of Lexington and Concord sparked the American Revolutionary War in April 1775, Warren and Eustis both worked in the field, tending the injured revolutionaries. Warren secured for Eustis a commission as surgeon to the rebel artillery. Eustis helped care for the wounded at the June 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill and he served with the Continental Army in the New York and New Jersey campaign, refusing a lieutenant colonels commission offered by artillery chief Henry Knox. During his Continental Army service, Eustis met and established a friendship with New Jersey native Aaron Burr. In 1777 Eustis was placed in command of a hospital established at the former residence of Loyalist Beverley Robinson north of New York City. After the war Eustis returned to practice in Boston. Eustis became vice president of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1786, a post he held until 1810, Eustis was elected to the Massachusetts General Court from 1788 to 1794, which he left because he was sick of the political gamesmanship in the body. He was thereafter chosen to serve on the Governors Council for two years, in 1800 he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Eustis publicly denied being the author of the letters, but was silent on his role in the affair, Eustis was a moderate Democratic-Republican who did not seek the significant reforms more radical Republicans wanted
10.
Josiah Quincy III
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Josiah Quincy III was a U. S. educator and political figure. He was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives, Mayor of Boston, the historic Quincy Market in downtown Boston is named in his honor. Quincy, the son of Josiah Quincy II and Abigail Phillips, was born in Boston, on part of Washington Street that was then known as Marlborough Street. His father had traveled to England in 1774, partly for his health, Josiah Quincy II died off the coast of Gloucester on April 26,1775. His son, young Josiah, was not yet three years old and he entered Phillips Academy, Andover, when it opened in 1778, and graduated from Harvard in 1790. After his graduation from Harvard he studied law for three years under the tutorship of William Tudor, Quincy was admitted to the bar in 1793, but was never a prominent advocate. In 1797 Quincy married Eliza Susan Morton of New York, younger sister of Jacob Morton and they had seven children, Eliza Susan Quincy, Josiah Quincy, Jr. Abigail Phillips Quincy, Maria Sophia Quincy, Margaret Morton Quincy, Edmund Quincy, and Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy. In 1798 Quincy was appointed Boston Town Orator by the Board of Selectmen and he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1803. From 1805 to 1813, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives where he was one of the small Federalist minority. He attempted to secure the exemption of fishing vessels from the Embargo Act, urged the strengthening of the United States Navy and this was probably the first assertion of the right of secession on the floor of Congress. Quincy left Congress because he saw that the Federalist opposition was useless, in 1812, Quincy was a founding member of the American Antiquarian Society. After leaving Congress, Quincy was a member of the Massachusetts Senate until 1820, in 1821–22 he was a member and speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Quincy resigned from the legislature to become judge of the court of Boston. On April 8,1822 Quincy was a candidate for Mayor in Bostons first election under a city charter, after the first ballot the votes of this first election were split between Quincy and Harrison Gray Otis. Because neither had a majority of the electorate neither was elected, after the first vote resulted in neither man receiving a majority of the votes they both withdrew their candidacies and John Phillips was elected Bostons first mayor. In 1823 Quincy was elected as the mayor of Boston. During his terms as mayor Quincy Market was built, the fire and police departments were reorganized, from 1829 to 1845, he was President of Harvard University, of which he had been an overseer since 1810, when the board was reorganized. He has been called the great organizer of the university, during his term Dane Hall was dedicated, Gore Hall was built, and the Astronomical Observatory was equipped
