American politician (1799?1875)
Amasa Walker
(May 4, 1799 ? October 29, 1875) was an American economist and
United States Representative
. He was the father of
Francis Amasa Walker
.
Biography
[
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]
He moved with his parents to
North Brookfield, Massachusetts
, and attended the district school. In 1814 he entered commercial life, and in 1820 formed a partnership with Allen Newell in North Brookfield, but three years later withdrew to become the agent of the Methuen Manufacturing Company. In 1825 he formed the firm of Carleton and Walker, of Boston, with Charles G. Carleton, but in 1827 he went into business independently.
He was the unsuccessful
Democratic Party
nominee for
mayor of Boston
in the
1837 Boston mayoral election
.
[1]
[2]
He was a delegate to the 1836
Democratic National Convention
. In 1839, he became president of the Boston Temperance Society, the first total abstinence association in that city, and in 1839 he advocated a continuous railway between Boston and the
Mississippi River
. In 1840 he retired from commercial life and went into academia.
[3]
In 1842?1848, he lectured on
political economy
at
Oberlin College
.
[4]
In 1853?1860, he was an examiner on political economy at
Harvard
, and in 1859?1869 lecturer on political economy at
Amherst College
. The degree of
LL.D.
was conferred on him by Amherst in 1867.
He was a frequent contributor to periodical literature, especially on financial subjects. His principal work,
Science of Wealth, a Manual of Political Economy
, was published in 1866. Other works were
Nature and Uses of Money and Mixed Currency
(Boston, 1857) and, with William B. Calhoun and Charles L. Flint,
Transactions of the Agricultural Societies of Massachusetts
(7 vols., 1848?1854). In 1857, he began the publication of a series of articles on political economy in
Hunt's Merchant's Magazine
.
He was active in the anti-slavery movement, and in 1848 he was one of the founders of the
Free Soil Party
. Walker served in the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
in 1849 and 1860, in the
Massachusetts State Senate
in 1850, as
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
1851?1853, and in the
United States House of Representatives
1862?1863, where he was elected as a
Republican
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Goldsmith Bailey
.
In 1853, he was chosen as a member of the convention for revising the state constitution, becoming the chairman of the committee on suffrage. In 1860, he was chosen as a member of the
electoral college
of Massachusetts and cast his ballot for
Abraham Lincoln
.
[
citation needed
]
Walker was a delegate to the first
International Peace Congress
in London of 1843, and he served at the Paris Congress in 1849.
[4]
Books
[
edit
]
- The Science of Wealth: A Manual of Political Economy. Embracing the Laws of Trade, Currency, and Finance
, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown & Co. (1866).
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Boston City Elections"
. Fall River Monitor. Boston Patriot. December 16, 1837
. Retrieved
April 18,
2023
– via Newspapers.com.
- ^
A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822-1908, Roxbury, 1846-1867, Charlestown, 1847-1873 and of the Selectmen of Boston, 1634-1822: Also of Various Other Town and Municipal Officers
. City of Boston Printing Department. 1909. p. 50
. Retrieved
April 7,
2023
.
- ^
"Walker, Amasa | Encyclopedia.com"
.
www.encyclopedia.com
. Retrieved
February 19,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Walker, Francis Amasa s.v."
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 270.
- United States Congress.
"Amasa Walker (id: W000045)"
.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
.
- Gilman, D. C.
; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905).
"Walker, Amasa"
.
New International Encyclopedia
(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Wilson, J. G.
;
Fiske, J.
, eds. (1900).
"Walker, Amasa"
.
Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography
. New York: D. Appleton.
External links
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