Public-domain ebook
The Life of Albert Gallatin
by Henry Adams
Language: en1,038 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Biographies·History - American
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #45654.
About this book
The work is a scholarly biography of Albert Gallatin, the long‑serving U.S. Treasury Secretary and diplomat, compiled by Henry Adams in 1879. It opens with a detailed preface that explains the author’s reliance on Gallatin’s own papers, the State Department archives, and a host of private correspondents such as the Nicholson manuscripts, Miss Sarah Randolph, and the historian George Bancroft. The introductory passage emphasizes the rarity of source material for this “period of American history as yet unwritten,” and then presents a systematic table of contents that divides Gallatin’s life into five chronological books, from his youth in 1761 through his final years in 1849. The narrative begins with an extensive genealogy of the Gallatin family, tracing their roots from a 13th‑century French receipt through the Genevan republic, and situating Albert’s heritage within the broader political and military milieu of Europe.
Adams writes in a formal, nineteenth‑century style, marked by exhaustive footnotes, elaborate sentences, and a tone of reverent documentation rather than dramatization. The voice is that of a meticulous historian, intent on preserving primary documents and contextualizing Gallatin’s career within both American and European affairs. Readers who appreciate detailed archival research, the interplay of personal letters with public policy, and a measured, academic prose will find this biography rewarding; it especially appeals to scholars of early U.S. government, students of diplomatic history, and anyone interested in the transatlantic networks that shaped the young republic.
Who appears in The Life of Albert Gallatin
- Albert GallatinElderly white male, bald head, spectacles, dignified 1820s attire, powdered wig absent, solemn expression
- Mr. EvartsMiddle‑aged white gentleman, full beard, dark coat with frock‑style lapels, cravat, confident posture
- Joseph H.Young white male, powdered wig, formal early‑19th‑century suit, crisp shirt, attentive gaze
The opening · free to read
Of
ALBERT GALLATIN.
BY HENRY ADAMS.
Copyright, 1879, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
PREFACE.
A large part of the following biography relates to a period of American history as yet unwritten, and is intended to supply historians with material which, except in such a form, would be little likely to see the light. The principal private source from which the author has drawn his information is of course the rich collection of papers which Albert Gallatin left behind him in the hands of his only now surviving son and literary executor, under whose direction these volumes are published. By the liberality and courtesy of Mr. Evarts, Secretary of State, and the active assistance of the admirable organization of the State Department, much material in the government archives at Washington has been made accessible, without which the story must have been little more than a fragment. The interesting series of letters addressed to Joseph H. Nicholson are drawn from the Nicholson MSS., which Judge Alexander B. Hagner kindly placed in the author's hands at a moment when he had abandoned the hope of tracing them. For other valuable papers and information he is indebted to Miss Sarah N. Randolph, of Edgehill, the representative of Mr. Jefferson, the Nicholases, and the Randolphs. The persevering inquiries of Mr. William Wirt Henry, of Richmond, have resulted in filling some serious gaps in the narrative, and the antiquarian research of Mr. James Veech, of Pittsburg, has been freely put at the author's service. Finally, he has to recognize the unfailing generosity with which his numerous and troublesome demands have been met by one whose path it is his utmost hope in some slight degree to have smoothed,--his friendly adviser, George Bancroft.
WASHINGTON, May, 1879.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
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