Sketch Of The Life Of James G Birney

Author : William Birney
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781331284093
Total Pages : 42 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (84 download)

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Download or read book Sketch of the Life of James G. Birney (Classic Reprint) written by William Birney and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-07-12 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Sketch of the Life of James G. Birney There be became a leading merchant, a manufacturer, and the president of the local bank. He was intelligent and well-informed, especially in politics and history; but he was chiefly remarkable for force of character. He was a personal friend of Henry Clay and his steady supporter. He built an Episcopal church, and was punctual in attendance on Sunday mornings. He paid a large part of the rector's salary and brought him home, after sermon, to dine; but, if occasion served, he handled his theological notions without gloves. He owned about thirty slaves and lived in good Kentucky style. His wife died when the subject of our sketch was three years of age. James G. Birney was born at Danville, February 4, 1792. From early youth he was educated with a view to a career as a lawyer and statesman. After thorough preparation by private tutors and at Transylvania University, he was sent, in 1806, to the college at Princeton, New Jersey. That State was then passing through the experiences of gradual emancipation under a law passed in 1804. Slavery must have been frequently a topic of debate among the students, and the young Kentuckian must have become familiar with the idea of emancipation. There were Abolition societies then not only in New Jersey but in the neighboring States, and a biennial convention of them met in Philadelphia. The most illustrious men of the nation were members. Distinguished statesmen, in eluding Franklin, Jefferson, Jay and Hamilton had been or were then members. Congress, too, was maturing the laws against the slave trade, which were passed in 1807. For the first time in his life he was brought under the steady pressure of religious influence, and he saw the church represented by learned and able men. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.