John P. Kennedy
Encyclopedia
John Pendleton Kennedy was an American novelist and Whig politician who served as United States Secretary of the Navy
from July 26, 1852 to March 4, 1853, during the administration of President Millard Fillmore
, and as a U.S. Representative
from the Maryland's 4th congressional district
. He was the brother of U.S. Senator
Anthony Kennedy
.
in 1809. He graduated from Baltimore College
in 1812 and fought in the Battles of Bladensburg
and North Point
in the War of 1812
. Although admitted to the bar in 1816, he was much more interested in literature and politics than law
.
to Thomas Willis White, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger
.
While abroad Kennedy became a friend of William Makepeace Thackeray
and wrote or outlined the fourth chapter of the second volume of The Virginians
, a fact which accounts for the great accuracy of its scenic descriptions. Of his works Horse-Shoe Robinson is the best and ranks high in antebellum fiction. Washington Irving
read an advance copy of it and reported he was "so tickled with some parts of it" that he read it aloud to his friends. Kennedy sometimes wrote under the pen name Mark Littleton, especially in his political satires.
. He was appointed Secretary of the Legation in Chile
on January 27, 1823, but did not proceed to his post and resigned on June 23 of the same year. He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates
in 1820 and in 1838, he succeeded Isaac McKim
in the U.S. House of Representatives
, but was defeated in his bid for reelection in November of that year. He was re-elected to Congress in 1840 and 1842; but, because of his strong opposition to the annexation of Texas, he was defeated in 1844. His influence in Congress was largely responsible for the appropriation of $
30,000 to test Samuel Morse's telegraph.
President Millard Fillmore
appointed Kennedy to the post of Secretary of the Navy in July 1852. During Kennedy's tenure in office, the Navy organized four important naval expeditions including that which sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry to Japan and Lieutenant William Lewis Herndon
and Lieutenant Lardner Gibbon to explore the Amazon
.
Kennedy retired from public life in March 1853 when President Fillmore left office, but he retained an active interest in politics and his name was mentioned as one of the vice-presidential prospects on the Republican ticket in 1860 (meaning that Abraham Lincoln
might have been paired with a man named "John Kennedy"). At the end of the American Civil War
— during which he forcefully supported the Union — he advocated amnesty for the South. He died at Newport, Rhode Island
on August 18, 1870, and is buried in Greenmount Cemetery
in Baltimore, Maryland. The USS John P. Kennedy
and USS Kennedy (DD-306)
were named for him.
In his will, Kennedy wrote the following:
§ Under the name Mark Littleton.
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
from July 26, 1852 to March 4, 1853, during the administration of President Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the office of president...
, and as a U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from the Maryland's 4th congressional district
Maryland's 4th congressional district
Maryland's 4th congressional district comprises portions of Prince George's and Montgomery County. The seat is currently represented by Donna Edwards, a Democrat, who has represented the district since 2008....
. He was the brother of U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Anthony Kennedy
Anthony Kennedy (Maryland)
Anthony Kennedy was a United States Senator from Maryland, serving from 1857 to 1863. He was the brother of United States Secretary of the Navy John P. Kennedy....
.
Biography
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 25, 1795, the son of merchant John Kennedy and Nancy Pendleton. Poor investments resulted in his father declaring bankruptcyBankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in 1809. He graduated from Baltimore College
Baltimore College
Baltimore College was a college in the city of Baltimore, Maryland founded in 1804. It was a private non-sectarian institution, although the president of its board of directors when it was formed also happened to be the Roman Catholic bishop of Baltimore....
in 1812 and fought in the Battles of Bladensburg
Battle of Bladensburg
The Battle of Bladensburg took place during the War of 1812. The defeat of the American forces there allowed the British to capture and burn the public buildings of Washington, D.C...
and North Point
Battle of North Point
The Battle of North Point was fought on September 12, 1814, between General John Stricker's Maryland Militia and a British force led by Major General Robert Ross. Although tactically a British victory, the battle delayed the British advance against Baltimore, buying valuable time for the defense of...
in the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. Although admitted to the bar in 1816, he was much more interested in literature and politics than law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
.
Literary life
Kennedy's first literary attempt was a fortnightly periodical called the Red Book, publishing anonymously with his roommate Peter Hoffman Cruse from 1819–1820. Kennedy published Swallow Barn, or A Sojourn in the Old Dominion in 1832, which would become his best-known work. Horse-Shoe Robinson was published in 1835 to win a permanent place of respect in the history of American fiction. Also in 1835, he helped introduce Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
to Thomas Willis White, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger
Southern Literary Messenger
The Southern Literary Messenger was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from 1834 until June 1864. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation and included poetry, fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and historical notes...
.
While abroad Kennedy became a friend of William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
and wrote or outlined the fourth chapter of the second volume of The Virginians
The Virginians
The Virginians: A Tale of the Last Century is a historical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray which forms a sequel to his Henry Esmond and is also loosely linked to Pendennis. It tells the story of Henry Esmond's twin grandsons, George and Henry Warrington...
, a fact which accounts for the great accuracy of its scenic descriptions. Of his works Horse-Shoe Robinson is the best and ranks high in antebellum fiction. Washington Irving
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
read an advance copy of it and reported he was "so tickled with some parts of it" that he read it aloud to his friends. Kennedy sometimes wrote under the pen name Mark Littleton, especially in his political satires.
Political life
Kennedy was an active WhigWhig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
. He was appointed Secretary of the Legation in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
on January 27, 1823, but did not proceed to his post and resigned on June 23 of the same year. He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates
Maryland House of Delegates
The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland, and is composed of 141 Delegates elected from 47 districts. The House chamber is located in the state capitol building on State Circle in Annapolis...
in 1820 and in 1838, he succeeded Isaac McKim
Isaac McKim
Isaac McKim was a U.S. Representative from Maryland, nephew of Alexander McKim.Born in Baltimore, Maryland, McKim attended the public schools, and later engaged in mercantile pursuits. He served in the War of 1812 as aide-de-camp to General Samuel Smith...
in the U.S. House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, but was defeated in his bid for reelection in November of that year. He was re-elected to Congress in 1840 and 1842; but, because of his strong opposition to the annexation of Texas, he was defeated in 1844. His influence in Congress was largely responsible for the appropriation of $
Dollar
The dollar is the name of the official currency of many countries, including Australia, Belize, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.-Etymology:...
30,000 to test Samuel Morse's telegraph.
President Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the office of president...
appointed Kennedy to the post of Secretary of the Navy in July 1852. During Kennedy's tenure in office, the Navy organized four important naval expeditions including that which sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry to Japan and Lieutenant William Lewis Herndon
William Lewis Herndon
Commander William Lewis Herndon was one of the United States Navy's outstanding explorers and seamen. He chose to go down with his ship while other lives were still aboard and while in command of the steamer Central Americas 44th trip, which sank in a three day and night hurricane off Cape...
and Lieutenant Lardner Gibbon to explore the Amazon
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
.
Retirement and death
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
might have been paired with a man named "John Kennedy"). At the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
— during which he forcefully supported the Union — he advocated amnesty for the South. He died at Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
on August 18, 1870, and is buried in Greenmount Cemetery
Greenmount Cemetery
Green Mount Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established on March 15, 1838, and dedicated on July 13, 1839, it is noted for the large number of historical figures interred in its grounds as well as a large number of prominent Baltimore-area families...
in Baltimore, Maryland. The USS John P. Kennedy
USS John P. Kennedy (1853)
USS John P. Kennedy, the former wooden sailing ship Sea Nymph, was a supply ship of the US Navy. She was purchased at New York City in 1853 to participate in an expedition to the North Pacific Ocean to explore for commercial and naval purposes waters in the area of the Bering Straits and the China...
and USS Kennedy (DD-306)
USS Kennedy (DD-306)
The first USS Kennedy was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for the 21st Secretary of the Navy and US Representative from Maryland, John P. Kennedy.-History:...
were named for him.
In his will, Kennedy wrote the following:
It is my wish that the manuscript volumes containing my journals, my note or common-place books, and the several volumes of my own letters in press copy, as also all my other letters, such as may possess any interest or value (which I desire to be bound in volumes) that are now in lose sheets, shall be returned to my executors, who are requested to have the same packed away in a strong walnut box, closed and locked, and then delivered to the Peabody Institute, to be preserved by them unopened until the year 1900, when the same shall become the property of the Institute, to be kept among its books and records.http://www.nndb.com/people/332/000048188/
Writings
- The Red Book (1818–19, two volumes)
- Swallow Barn (1832) §
- Horse-Shoe Robinson (1835)
- Rob of the Bowl (1838) §
- Annals of Quodlibet (1840)
- Memoirs of the Life of William WirtWilliam Wirt (Attorney General)William Wirt was an American author and statesman who is credited with turning the position of United States Attorney General into one of influence.-History:...
(1849, two volumes) - The Border States (1861)
- Mr. Ambrose's Letters on the RebellionAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
(1865) - Collected Works of John Pendleton Kennedy (1870–72, ten volumes)
- At Home and Abroad: A Series of Essays: With a Journal in Europe in 1867-68 (1872, essays)
§ Under the name Mark Littleton.
Further reading
- Collected works of Henry Theodore TuckermanHenry Theodore TuckermanHenry Theodore Tuckerman was an American writer, essayist and critic.-Biography:Tuckerman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a sympathetic and delicate critic, with a graceful style. He wrote extensively both in prose and verse. He travelled much in Italy, which influenced his choice of...
, tenth volume, (New York, 1870–72) - Tuckerman, Henry TheodoreHenry Theodore TuckermanHenry Theodore Tuckerman was an American writer, essayist and critic.-Biography:Tuckerman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a sympathetic and delicate critic, with a graceful style. He wrote extensively both in prose and verse. He travelled much in Italy, which influenced his choice of...
, The Life of John Pendleton Kennedy, (1871) - Gwathmey, Edward, John Pendleton Kennedy, (1931)
- Bohner, Charles H., John Pendleton Kennedy, Gentleman from Baltimore, (1961)
- Ridgely, J.V., John Pendleton Kennedy, (1966)
External links
- Biography at the Naval Historical Center
- John Kennedy biography at NNBD
- John Kennedy at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- Swallow Barn, vol. 1
- Swallow Barn, vol. 2
- Horse-Shoe Robinson