Quietly Shaping History brochure

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Quietly Shaping History brochure

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John Bigelow, Renaissance Man:
John Bigelow (Nov. 25, 1817-Dec. 19, 1911) was an American author, diplomat, lawyer, and distinguished man of letters. His work in politics and diplomacy involved him in many significant historical events, such as discouraging France from building ships for the Confederacy during the Civil War, assisting with the construction of the Panama Canal, and helping to expose the political corruption of Tammany Hall’s William “Boss” Tweed in New York City. His collection contains correspondence from an extensive list of political, literary, and social leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Found in Union College’s Schaffer Library, Bigelow’s correspondence (about 24,000 letters), his library (approximately 6,000 books ranging from the 16th-20th centuries), and professional papers offer a wide array of materials from the Reconstruction Era, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era. Despite his remarkable contributions and impact on 19th century world history, Bigelow remains relatively unknown in popular historical narratives. Quietly Shaping History: John Bigelow's Influence on 19th Century Politics brings Bigelow's story to light and offers new insights on his pivotal role in American history.

Union College, Class of 1835:
Bigelow enrolled at Union College as a junior in 1834. At Union, he was elected a member of Sigma Phi and invited to join the Philomathean literary society. He graduated in July 1835 and kept in touch with the college community as an alumnus, donating money and speaking at various college events. After his death in 1911, friends and admirers such as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Union Presidents Eliphalet Nott Potter, and Union President Charles Alexander Richmond proposed a campus memorial named John Bigelow Memorial Hall and established a professorship in his name. The memorial was never built, but the professorship continues to this day in the department of history.

Literary Contributions:
After graduating from Union in 1835, Bigelow studied law in New York City and was admitted to the bar in 1838. His legal background would shape his approach to political reforms and influence his broader contributions to society. It was during this time that he first met poet Fitz-Green Halleck, politician Samuel J. Tilden, and poet and journalist William Cullen Bryant, with whom Bigelow would become co-owner and co-editor of the New York Evening Post. Bigelow’s career evolved from practicing law to writing and editing for the next 10 years as he briefly edited the New York Times in 1869 and wrote articles for The Plebeian, the New York Review, and the Democratic Review. As a researcher, Bigelow’s first trip to Europe in 1858 allowed him to further entrench himself in literary circles, meeting William Thackeray, William Hargreaves, Charles Dickens, and Anthony Trollope, among others. As a writer, Bigelow authored nearly 100 publications, focusing primarily on historical, biographical, sociological, and economic subject matters. Some of his noteworthy publications are works about the lives of Benjamin Franklin, John Charles Fremont, Samuel J. Tilden, and William Cullen Bryant; the relationship between France and the United States during the Civil War; and Swedenborgian mysticism. His early voyages to Haiti and Jamaica in the 1850s inspired two books that would challenge racial stereotypes about these countries.

Political Engagement & Reform:
Bigelow made political connections with the politicians of his day through his careers in journalism and law and was resolute in supporting social reform. He was known as the “First Citizen of New York'' for his contributions to the state, and his writings and lobbying influenced significant legislation and public work throughout New York. Bigelow was appointed an inspector of Sing Sing Prison in 1845, elected New York Secretary of State in 1876, worked to expose political corruption in New York City's Tammany Hall in 1871, was named a delegate to the New York Constitutional Convention in 1893, and bolstered Samuel J. Tilden’s 1876 Presidential candidacy. Bigelow’s staunch anti-slavery sentiments led him to leave the Democrat Party to help form the Republican Party in 1854, becoming a key behind-the-scenes leader in affairs both domestic and abroad. Bigelow fought against injustice his entire life, acting as an advocate of women’s suffrage, battling unethical management and prisoner abuse in New York State prisons, ending corruption in the “Canal Ring” as the chairman of the Erie Canal Investigating Commission, and lobbying for environmental cleanup in the Hudson River.

Diplomatic Achievements:
Supported by President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state and fellow Union College alumnus William H. Seward, Bigelow was appointed U.S. consul-general at Paris and charges d’affaires during the Civil War. In these positions, he influenced French support for the Union, successfully preventing France from building ships to support the Confederacy. At the conclusion of the war, Bigelow remained in Paris as the U.S. minister to France to dissuade Napoleon III from annexing Mexico. While not in a formally appointed position, Bigelow relocated his family to Germany for several years in the early 1870s and lent his ear to members of Prussian high society. He spent most of his time offering advice to American minister George Bancroft; Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of a unified Germany; and Georg von Bunsen, a Liberal leader in the Reichstag as it became embroiled in the Franco-Prussian War. In 1888, Bigelow was appointed the U.S. commissioner to the 1888 Brussels International Exhibition.

His Inner Circle:
Bigelow surrounded himself with notable authors, artists, thinkers, diplomats, and politicians of his time. These leaders often came to him for professional and personal advice as he was thought of as someone with great character who believed in freedom for all and supported creativity and innovation. Both John and his wife, Jane Tunis Poultney Bigelow, had close relationships with myriad people from various social circles of the U.S. and abroad. In her diaries, Jane writes about spending time with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace, visiting with the Prussian royal family in Germany, spending time with Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins in London, observing the election of President Abraham Lincoln, attending a ball at the Palais Royal, and traveling around the U.S. and Europe in the late 19th century.

Philanthropy & Cultural Involvement:
After Samuel J. Tilden’s death in 1886, Bigelow was elected president of the Board of Trustees for the Tilden Trust. In this role, he worked to make Tilden’s dream to create a public library in New York City a reality. Bigelow founded the New York Public Library and served as its first president, with help from fellow trustees Andrew H. Green and George W. Smith. In addition, Bigelow was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, president of the Century Association, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was named an honorary corresponding member of the New York Historical Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Maryland Society. Bigelow traveled to Panama in 1886 as a representative of the New York Chamber of Commerce to offer advice on the construction of the Panama Canal, receiving thanks from President Theodore Roosevelt for his counsel.