Thomas Swann
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2010) |
Thomas Swann | |
---|---|
Mayor of Baltimore | |
In office November 10, 1856 – November 12, 1860[1] | |
Preceded by | Samuel Hinks |
Succeeded by | George William Brown |
Personal details | |
Born | February 3, 1809 The George Washington University |
Profession | Politician |
Signature | |
Thomas Swann (February 3, 1809 – July 24, 1883) was an American lawyer and
Early life and career
Swann was born in
The Swann brothers attended Columbian College (now George Washington University) in Washington, D.C., then the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. Thomas Jr. studied Ancient and modern languages and mathematics, but was also disciplined for disorderly conduct in 1825 and questioned in a gambling scandal the following year, which may have led him to enroll in a class in moral philosophy from prominent Virginia lawyer George Tucker.[5][6] He also studied law under his father's guidance.[7]
Career
A Democrat, in 1833 and possibly through his father's connections, Swann secured an appointment from President Andrew Jackson as secretary of the United States Commission to Naples (Kingdom of the Two Sicilies - later Italy).[8] Also admitted to the Virginia bar, he began following his father's career path by winning election to the Alexandria City council in 1833.[9]
In 1834, Swann married an heiress and moved to
Swann returned to Alexandria after his father's death in 1840, but also continued as a railroad lawyer. Between 1837 and 1843 he was the assistant to Louis McLane, a veteran politician who served as the railroad's president.[13] In 1844 Swann became Alexandria' tobacco inspector,[14] an important responsibility in that port city which also had railroad ties both to Richmond, and (via a separate station) to Baltimore. In 1846-1847, Swann was the B7O's lobbyist in Richmond, for the franchise the railroad had secured in 1827 was expiring, and its extension through western Virginia was opposed by the powerful political interests of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company. Swann secured the extension on March 6, 1847, the railroad began building to Wheeling, and by October 1848, Swann's large stockholdings in and services to the B&O led to his election as a director, and when McLane retired, he succeeded him as the railroad's president.[15] bY 1850, Swann raised funds in Europe to enable the B&O's extension to the Ohio River, continuing in that position until resigning in 1853.[16] He was chosen as president of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad.[17]
Mayor of Baltimore
1856 election
Swann was first elected
Many believed that once slavery was abolished in Maryland, African Americans would begin a mass emigration to a new state. As white soldiers returned from Southern battlefields, they came home to find that not only were their slaves gone, but soil exhaustion was causing tobacco crops in southern Maryland to fail. With a growing number of disaffected white men, Swann embarked on a campaign of "Redemption" and "restoring to Maryland a white man's government".[19]
Additionally, Swann enacted a law that encouraged white fisherman to harass black fisherman when he signed into law the state's first ever "Oyster Code": "And be it acted, that all owners and masters of canoes, boats, or vessels licensed under this article, being White Men, are hereby constituted officers of this state for the purpose of arresting and taking before any judge or Justice of the Peace, any persons who may be engaged in violating any provisions of this article. Furthermore, all such owners and masters are hereby vested with the power to summon posse comitatus to aid in such arrest."[20][21][22]
Although Maryland was still a "slave state" at the time, the Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to it, because it was a non-Confederate state, having officially remained in the Union; President Lincoln feared that ending slavery there at the height of the Civil War would cause Maryland to leave the Union. Hence, ending slavery there required a state-level referendum. When slavery there was abolished with the adoption of the third Maryland Constitution of 1864, Lincoln's fears were not realized; the war finished without Maryland ever defecting to the Confederacy, although many men from southern Maryland counties and the "Eastern Shore" did fight on the side of the Confederacy.
During the mid-1850s, public order in Baltimore City had often been threatened by the election of candidates of the "
1857 election
In 1857, fearing similar violence at the upcoming elections, Governor
1858 election
He was re-elected in 1858, again with widespread violence prevalent, and won by over 19,000 votes due to a large amount of voter intimidation.
There were a great deal of
Violence was greatly prevalent during Swann's term as mayor, especially during election campaigns. Then Maryland Governor
Governor of Maryland
In 1860, Swann left the American Party, which dissolved, and joined the merged war-time
In 1867, the
Swann supported internal improvements to state infrastructure, especially after the war, and he is credited with greatly improving the facilities at the
U.S. Congressional career and final years
In 1868, Swann was elected to Congress from Maryland's 3rd congressional district, gaining re-election and serving until 1873. With redistricting changes, he was elected in 1873 from Maryland's 4th congressional district, serving three terms until 1879. In the United States Congress, Swann was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses).
Personal life
Swann married twice. In 1843, his first wife, the former Elizabeth Gilmer Sherlock (1814-1876), bore a daughter, Elizabeth Gilmer Swann, who was their only child to reach adulthood. In 1878, the widower married Josephine Ward Thomson, daughter of Representative ("Congressman") Aaron Ward and widow of U.S. Senator John Renshaw Thomson, but they had no children.
Death and legacy
Swann died on his estate, "
Swann Park, off of South Hanover Street (
In Virginia, both his childhood home, now called the "Swann-Daingerfield House"
It is assumed that Swann Street in Northwest Washington DC was originally named after Thomas Swann. However, in 2022, the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission approved a resolution declaring that Swann Street is named after William Dorsey Swann, one of the first known LGBT activists.[30]
References
- ^ a b "Thomas Swann (1809-1883)". Biographical Series. Archives of Maryland.
- ^ Frank F. White, Jr., The Governors of Maryland 1777-1970 (Annapolis: The Hall of Records Commission), 165-170. available at https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001400/001464/html/1464extbio.html
- ^ White, Frank F. Jr. The Governors of Maryland 1777-1970. Annapolis: The Hall of Records Commission. pp. 165–170.
- ^ Nancy Anne Miller, Thomas Swann: Political Acrobat and Entrepreneur (unpublished Master's Thesis in History, Virginia Polytecnic University 1969) p.1 states her mother was Jane Selden, with which conclusion genealogist Wesley Pippinger disagreed
- ^ Miller pp. 9-11
- ^ University of Virginia (1880). A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the University of Virginia. Fourth Session, 1827-1828. Charlottesville, VA: Chronicle Steam Book Printing House. p. 9.
- ^ N.A. Miller pp. 13-15
- ^ N.A. Miller p. 14
- ^ T. Michael Miller, Alexandria (Virginia) City Officialdom 1749-1992 (Heritage Books 1992) p. 20
- ^ N.A. Miller p. 15
- ^ N.A. Miller pp. 16-18
- ^ N.A. Miller pp. 18-19
- ^ N.A. Miller pp. 22-23
- ^ Miller p. 24
- ^ N.A. mILLER PP. 23-25
- ^ "First American Railroad". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore. March 2, 1896. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Stover 1987, pp. 63, 78.
- ^ a b "| Nau Center for Civil War History, U.Va".
- ^ "Democratic Conservative Mass Meeting: Immense Gathering in Monument Square--The Ward Processions--A Brilliant Display--Organization of the Meeting--Remarks of Ex-Governor Pratt-Resolutions--Speeches of Governor Swann, Hon. Daniel Clark, Hon. Mr. Nelson and Other's". The Sun (1837-1988). September 11, 1867.
- ^ "The New Oyster License Law--the State Oyster Police Force". The Sun (1837-1989). April 10, 1868.
- ^ "Archives of Maryland, Volume 0384, Page 0178 - Supplement to the Maryland Code, Containing the Acts of the General Assembly, Passed at the Sessions of 1861, 1861-62, 1864, 1865, 1866, and 1867."
- ^ "Archives of Maryland, Volume 0384, Page 0175 - Supplement to the Maryland Code, Containing the Acts of the General Assembly, Passed at the Sessions of 1861, 1861-62, 1864, 1865, 1866, and 1867."
- ^ Andrews 1929, p. 475.
- ^ a b Andrews 1929, p. 476.
- ^ a b c Andrews 1929, p. 477.
- ^ a b c Andrews 1929, p. 478.
- ^ Tuck, Stephen (August 2007). "Democratization and the Disfranchisement of African Americans in the US South during the Late 19th Century" (PDF). Democratization. Vol. 14, no. 4. pp. 580–602.
- ^ "Correspondence, 1782, 1800-1802, 1819-1846, 1872-1873, 1885-1909, and undated | Archival Collections".
- ^ "Out of the Attic: The Swann-Daingerfield mansion on Prince Street". 7 February 2012.
- ^ "Swann Street Has a New Name". Washingtonian.com. August 30, 2022. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- Andrews, Matthew Page (1929). History of Maryland. New York City: Doubleday Doran & Co.
- White, Frank F. Jr. The Governors of Maryland 1777-1970. Annapolis: The Hall of Records Commission. pp. 165–170.
- Coyle, Wilbur F. (1919). The Mayors of Baltimore. The Baltimore Municipal Journal. pp. 93–98.
- United States Congress. "Thomas Swann (id: S001092)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Stover, John F. (1987). History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Purdue University Press. ISBN 0-911198-81-4– via Google Books.
- Tuska, Benjamin (July 1925). "Know-Nothingism in Baltimore 1854-1860". The Catholic Historical Review. Vol. 11, no. 2. pp. 217–251. JSTOR 25012185.
External links
Further reading
- Baker, Jean H. (1977). Ambivalent Americans: The Know-Nothing Party in Maryland. Describes Swann's career in the American Party in the 1850s.
- Melton, Tracy Matthew (2005). Hanging Henry Gambrill: The Violent Career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies from 1854 to 1860. Details the relationship between American Party politicians and the rowdy clubs affiliated with them in Baltimore during Swann's tenure as mayor. It includes a great deal of information on Swann and his accomplishments in office.