Alexander James and George Mifflin Dallas papers, 1794-1865

Author:Dallas family

Summary:The papers of a prominent late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Philadelphia family that participated in local, state, and national politics; including correspondence and manuscripts. The correspondence of Alexander James Dallas, 1788-1816, documents his interest in the National Bank; his participation in Republican politics; and his duties as aide-de-camp to the Paymaster General of the Pennsylvania Militia, the Secretary of the Treasury, and as Acting Secretary of War (1815). There are a number of letters from Philadelphia merchant Stephen Girard regarding the National Bank. The correspondence of George Mifflin Dallas, 1821-1863, documents his political affairs; including his position as U.S. Attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania and Foreign Minister to Russia (1837-1839) and England (1856-1861), as well as issues surrounding the Mexican War. The papers include correspondence with his wife, Sophia Chew Dallas, and his daughter Sophia Philips Dallas. The collection also includes twenty-eight poems and prose pieces written by George Dallas between 1815 and 1839. The collection also contains assorted official documents marking milestones in the Dallas family political careers and assorted autographed correspondence of prominent American political figures. The prominent correspondents include William Alexander, Clemont Biddle, Abraham Bishop, John Brown, Grover Cleveland, James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, Benjamin Franklin, James A. Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas McKean, James Monroe, Benjamin Moran, James K. Polk, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Seward, Joel B. Sutherland, Martin Van Buren, and Daniel Webster