Thomas Edward Watson (September 5, 1856 – September 26, 1922) was an American politician, attorney, newspaper editor, and writer from
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the
Populist Party, articulating an
agrarian political viewpoint while attacking business, bankers, railroads, Democratic President
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...
, and the
Democratic Party. He was the nominee for vice president with Democrat
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...
in
1896
Events
January
* January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end as Jameson surrenders to the Boers.
* January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
* January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports Wilhelm Röntgen's dis ...
on the Populist ticket.
Elected to the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
in 1890, Watson pushed through legislation mandating
Rural Free Delivery
Rural Free Delivery (RFD), since 1906 officially rural delivery, is a program of the United States Post Office Department to deliver mail directly to rural destinations. The program began in the late 19th century. Before that, people living in ru ...
, called the "biggest and most expensive endeavor" ever instituted by the
U.S. Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
. Politically, he was a leader on the left in the 1890s, calling on poor whites and poor blacks to unite against the elites. After 1900, he shifted to
nativist attacks on blacks and Catholics, and after 1914 on Jews. He was elected to the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
two years before his death, dying in office.
Biography
Early career
Thomas E. Watson was born September 5, 1856, in
Thomson Thomson may refer to:
Names
* Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin
* Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson
Businesses and organizations
* SGS-Thomson M ...
, the county seat of
McDuffie County, Georgia
McDuffie County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,632. The county seat is Thomson. The county was created on October 18, 1870 and named after the South Carolina governor and senator ...
. He was of entirely
English descent. After attending
Mercer University
Mercer University is a Private university, private Research university, research university in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the s ...
(he did not graduate; family finances forced withdrawal after two years), he became a school teacher. At
Mercer University
Mercer University is a Private university, private Research university, research university in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the s ...
, Watson was part of the Georgia Psi chapter of
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on March 9, 1856.Baird, William Raimond, ed. (1905).Baird's Manual of American College Fratern ...
fraternity. Watson later studied law and was admitted to the Georgia
bar in 1875. He joined the
Democratic Party and in 1882 was elected to the
Georgia Legislature.
As a state legislator, Watson struggled unsuccessfully to curb the abuses of the powerful railroad corporations. A bill subjecting railroads to county property taxes was voted down after U.S. Senator
Joseph E. Brown offered to provide the legislators with round-trip train fares to the
Louisville Exposition of 1883. In disgust, Watson resigned his seat and returned to the practice of law before his term expired. He was a
presidential elector
In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...
for the Democratic ticket of
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...
and
Allen G. Thurman in the
1888 election.
U.S. Representative
Watson began to support the
Farmers' Alliance
The Farmers' Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement among American farmers that developed and flourished ca. 1875. The movement included several parallel but independent political organizations — the National Farmers' Alliance an ...
platform and was elected to the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
as an Alliance Democrat in 1890. He served in the House from 1891 until March 1893. In
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
, Watson was the only
Southern Alliance Democrat to abandon the Democratic caucus, instead attending the first
People's Party congressional caucus. At that meeting, he was nominated for
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...
by the eight
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
Populist Representatives. Watson was instrumental in the founding of the Georgia Populist Party in early 1892.
The People's Party advocated the public ownership of the railroads, steamship lines, and telephone and telegraph systems. It also supported the free and unlimited coinage of silver, the abolition of national banks, a system of graduated income tax and the direct election of
United States senators. As a Populist, Watson tried to unite the agrarians across class lines, overcoming racial divides. He also supported the right of black men to vote. The failures of the Populists' attempt to make political progress through
fusion tickets with the Democrats in 1896 and 1898 deeply affected Watson.
Rural Free Delivery
Watson, though a member of a minority faction in Congress, was nonetheless effective in passing landmark legislation. The most significant was a law to require the Post Office to deliver mail to remote farm families.
Rural Free Delivery
Rural Free Delivery (RFD), since 1906 officially rural delivery, is a program of the United States Post Office Department to deliver mail directly to rural destinations. The program began in the late 19th century. Before that, people living in ru ...
(RFD), legislation that Watson pushed through Congress in 1893, eliminated the need for individuals living in more remote homesteads to pick up mail, sometimes at distant post offices, or to pay private carriers for delivery. The legislation was opposed by private carriers, and by many small-town merchants who worried the service would reduce farm families' weekly visits to town to obtain goods and merchandise, or that mail order merchants selling through
catalogs, such as
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...
might present significant competition.
RFD became an official service in 1896.
That year, 82 rural routes were put into operation. A massive undertaking, nationwide RFD service took several years to implement, and remains the "biggest and most expensive endeavor" ever instituted by the U.S. Postal Service.
Political defeat, law, and publishing
Watson campaigned for re-election but was defeated, leaving office in March 1893. In this period, regular Democrats worked to reduce the voting power of blacks and poor whites to prevent such coalitions as the Populists, or alliances with Republicans. Democrats controlled the state legislature: they passed laws to
disfranchise blacks and were successful in pushing them off the voter rolls by such requirements as cumulative poll taxes (1877), literacy tests, and residency requirements. In 1908, Georgia also instituted
white primaries, another way of excluding blacks in what had become a one-party state, where in 1900 African Americans made up 46.7% of the population.
[Historical Census Browser, 1900 Federal Census, University of Virginia](_blank)
, accessed 15 Mar 2008
After being defeated, Watson returned to work as a lawyer in
Thomson, Georgia. He also served as editor and business manager of the ''People's Party Paper'', published in Atlanta.
The masthead of Watson's newspaper in 1894 declared that it "is now and will ever be a fearless advocate of the
Jeffersonian Theory of Popular Government, and will oppose to the bitter end the
Hamiltonian
Hamiltonian may refer to:
* Hamiltonian mechanics, a function that represents the total energy of a system
* Hamiltonian (quantum mechanics), an operator corresponding to the total energy of that system
** Dyall Hamiltonian, a modified Hamiltonian ...
Doctrines of Class Rule, Moneyed Aristocracy, National Banks, High Tariffs, Standing Armies and formidable Navies — all of which go together as a system of oppressing the people."
Vice presidential candidacy
In the
1896 presidential election the leaders of the Populist Party entered into talks with
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...
, the proposed Democratic Party candidate. They were led to believe that Watson would become Bryan's running mate. After the 1896 Populist convention nominated Bryan, the latter announced that
Arthur Sewall
Arthur Sewall (November 25, 1835 – September 5, 1900) was an American shipbuilder from Maine, best known as the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1896, running mate to William Jennings Bryan. From 1888 to 1896, he s ...
, a more conservative banker from Maine, would be his
vice presidential choice on the Democratic ticket.
This created a split in the Populist Party. Some refused to support Bryan, whereas others, such as
Mary Lease, reluctantly campaigned for him. Watson's name remained on the ballot as Bryan's vice presidential nominee on the Populist Party ticket, while Sewall was listed as Bryan's Democratic Party vice presidential nominee. Watson received 217,000 votes for vice president, less than a quarter of the number of votes received by the
1892
In Samoa, this was the only leap year spanned to 367 days as July 4 repeated. This means that the International Date Line was drawn from the east of the country to go west.
Events
January
* January 1 – Ellis Island begins processing imm ...
Populist ticket. However, Watson received more votes than any national Populist candidate from this time on.
Bryan's defeat damaged the Populist Party. While Populists held some offices in Western states for several years, the party ceased to be a factor in Georgia politics.
Shifting racial views
Watson had long supported black enfranchisement in Georgia and throughout the South, as a basic tenet of his populist philosophy.
He condemned
lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of i ...
and tried to protect black voters from lynch mobs. However, after 1900 his interpretation of populism shifted. He no longer viewed the populist movement as being racially inclusive. By 1908, Watson identified as a
white supremacist
White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
and ran as such during his presidential bid. He used his highly influential magazine and newspaper to launch vehement diatribes against blacks.
Presidential candidacies
Watson was nominated as the Populist Party's candidate in
1904
Events
January
* January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''.
* January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
* ...
and received 117,183 votes. This was double the Populists' showing in 1900, but less than one-eighth of the party's support from just 12 years earlier. The Populist Party's fortunes declined in the
1908
This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time.
Events
January
* January ...
presidential campaign, and Watson as the party's standard bearer, with judge
Samuel W. Williams as his running mate, attracted just 29,100 votes. While Watson never received more than 1% of the nationwide vote, he had respectable showings in selected Western and Southern states. In the 1904 and 1908 campaigns, Watson received 18% and 12% respectively in his home state of Georgia. After the 1908 campaign, the Populist Party was dissolved.
Watson denounced
socialism
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
, which had drawn many converts from the ashes of Populism. Retaining his rural Populist and nativist ideology, and responding to the view that eastern urban America was dominated by Catholics, Watson also became a vigorous
anti-Catholic
Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...
crusader.
Later years
Through his publication
''Watson's Magazine''and ''The Jeffersonian'', Watson continued to have great influence on public opinion, especially in his native Georgia.
In 1913 Watson played a prominent role through his newspaper in inflaming public opinion in the case of
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884August 17, 1915) was an American lynching victim convicted in 1913 of the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, an employee in a factory in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was the superintendent. Frank's trial, convicti ...
, a
Jewish American
American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% id ...
factory manager who was accused of the murder of
Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old factory worker.
[Albert S. Lindemann. "The Jew Accused" New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991, p.260-264]
Antisemitic views
When Frank was arrested in 1913, his wealthy family asked Watson to take on his legal defense, offering a substantial fee.
Watson, who opposed the death penalty, "enjoyed a formidable reputation" as a defense attorney in capital cases. But he declined the offer. Historian
Albert Lindemann wrote that "Frank's friends and family would not have approached Watson to defend Frank if Watson had been known to be anti-Semitic."
At that point in Watson's life, "he had repeatedly expressed friendly words for Jews in his various publications, and Jewish merchants, even if hostile to
atson's Populist political views had regularly bought advertising space in those publications".
Watson's taste for sensationalism was fully expressed in his publications' coverage of Frank's trial. Yet it "rarely and only in inconsequential ways touched upon Jews".
After Frank's conviction, and for the next year, during the appeals process, Watson "scrupulously refrained from comment about the case".
Then in March 1914, an editorial in the ''
Atlanta Journal
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
'' demanded a new trial for Frank. The ''Journal'' was widely regarded as the organ of Watson's bitter political rival U.S. Senator
Hoke Smith, who was up for re-election. Watson's hatred of Smith was "a blinding obsession".
[Woodward, C. Vann. ''Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel'' (1938) pp 358, 450] He thought that the ''Journal'' editorial showed that Smith was receiving "Jewish money" to champion Frank's cause, so Watson determined to disgrace Smith. For many years he had attacked the Catholic Church; now he began a campaign against rich Jews and Northerners who were, in his view, trying to free a murderer. In this effort he pulled out all the stops, spewing "graphically vicious remarks about Jews".
Lindemann suggests two reasons for Watson's attacks: the feud with Senator Smith, and Watson's long-held Populist views about the power of the rich and their ability to escape penalty for things which brought harsh punishment for the poor. In keeping with this view, Watson wrote "Frank belongs to the Jewish aristocracy, and it was determined by the rich Jews that no aristocrat of their race should die for the death of a working-class Gentile."
In response to the condemnation of Georgia in the national press after Frank was lynched, Watson responded in ''The Jeffersonian'' intimating that "another Ku Klux Klan may be organized to restore home rule." However, Watson's biographer found no evidence that Watson had any connection to the
second KKK that was later formed.
World War I
With the outbreak of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in 1914, Watson was sympathetic to the insurgent
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...
, and he opposed American entry into the war. By opposing the war, Watson made himself vulnerable to his political opponents, most of whom supported the war. Watson mustered political resistance with headlines asking, "Do You Want Your Son Killed in Europe in A Quarrel You Have Nothing to Do With?". As a result of his Socialist association, his continued criticism of the war after the American entry in 1917, and his class-based arguments against the
Selective Service Act of 1917
The Selective Service Act of 1917 or Selective Draft Act () authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription. It was envisioned in December 1916 and brought to Presiden ...
, the U.S. Post Office refused to deliver his publications, bringing them to an end.
Election to U.S. Senate and death
In 1918, Watson made a late bid for Congress but lost to
Carl Vinson
Carl Vinson (November 18, 1883 – June 1, 1981) was an American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for over 50 years and was influential in the 20th century expansion of the U.S. Navy. He was a member of the Democrati ...
, who had been a strong supporter of American involvement in World War I. Watson rejoined the Democratic Party, and in 1920 was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating his bitter rival
Hoke Smith.
Watson died of a
cerebral hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...
in 1922 at age 66.
Rebecca L. Felton was appointed to succeed him and served (for 24 hours) as the first female U.S. Senator.
Legacy
Named for Watson is the "Thomas E. Watson Highway", a portion of
U.S. Route 23 in
Habersham County, Georgia
Habersham County is a County (United States), county in the Northeast Georgia, Northeast region of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 46,031. The county seat is C ...
.
Watson was honored with a bronze
statue
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...
on the lawn of the
Georgia State Capitol
The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As t ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
over the legend "A champion of right who never faltered in the cause." In October 2013, Governor
Nathan Deal
John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American politician and former lawyer who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, he previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Deal served ...
signed an order for the relocation of the statue to Park Plaza, which is across the street from the Capitol. He said that the relocation was part of a renovation.
On November 29, 2013, Watson's statue was removed from the steps of the state Capitol, and relocated across the street at Park Plaza.
[Kristina Torres,]
Tom Watson's statue removed from Georgia's Capitol steps
. ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', November 29, 2013.
Watson is portrayed in the 1997 Broadway musical ''
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...
'', which follows the events of Leo Frank's arrest, trial and death. The musical portrays Watson as a primary force behind the antisemitic outcry against Frank and the inspiration for his eventual kidnapping and murder.
Footnotes
Works
*
''The Story of France Vol. I''''The Story of France Vol. II''
By Thomas E. Watson (1899)
''The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson''
By Thomas E. Watson (1900)
*
*
* ''The Life and Speeches of Thos. E. Watson'' (1908)
''Socialists and Socialism''
By Thomas Edward Watson (1910)
*
''The Life and Times of Andrew Jackson''
By Thomas E. Watson (1912)
''Political and Economic Handbook''
By Thomas Edward Watson (1916)
Further reading
*
*Cashin, E.L. ''Thomas E. Watson and the Catholic Laymen's Association of Georgia''. PhD dissertation. Fordham University; 1962.
*Crowe, Charles. "Tom Watson, Populists, and Blacks Reconsidered". The Journal of Negro History 55, no. 2 (1970): 99–116. .
*Durden, Robert F. "The 'Cow-Bird' Grounded: The Populist Nomination of Bryan and Tom Watson in 1896". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 50, no. 3 (1963): 397–423. .
*Franzoni, Janet Brenner. "Troubled Tirader: A Psychobiographical Study of Tom Watson". The Georgia Historical Quarterly 57, no. 4 (1973): 493–510. .
*Hicks, Alfred E. "Tom Watson and the Arthur Glover Case in Georgia Politics". The Georgia Historical Quarterly 53, no. 3 (1969): 265–86. .
*
Albert S. Lindemann. "The Jew Accused" New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991
* Fred D. Ragan, "Obscenity or Politics? Tom Watson, Anti-Catholicism, and the Department of Justice", ''Georgia Historical Quarterly'', vol. 70, no. 1 (Spring 1986), pp. 17–46. .
*Fingerhut, Eugene R. "Tom Watson, Blacks, and Southern Reform". The Georgia Historical Quarterly 60, no. 4 (1976): 324–43. .
*Nelson, Richard. "The Cultural Contradictions of Populism: Tom Watson's Tragic Vision of Power, Politics, and History". The Georgia Historical Quarterly 72, no. 1 (1988): 1–29. .
*Reed, Ralph. "'Fighting the Devil with Fire': Carl Vinson's Victory over Tom Watson in the 1918 Tenth District Democratic Primary". The Georgia Historical Quarterly 67, no. 4 (1983): 451–79. .
*Schmier, Louis E. "'No Jew Can Murder': Memories of Tom Watson and the Lichtenstein Murder Case of 1901". The Georgia Historical Quarterly 70, no. 3 (1986): 433–55. .
*Smith, Zachary. "Tom Watson and Resistance to Federal War Policies in Georgia during World War I". The Journal of Southern History 78, no. 2 (2012): 293–326. .
*
C. Vann Woodward''Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel''.New York: Macmillan, 1938. —Reissued 1973.
*
*Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. "Tom Watson Revisited". The Journal of Southern History 68, no. 1 (2002): 3–30. .
See also
*
External links
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library Emory University
Thomas E. Watson collection, 1906-1923
*
The Thomas E. Watson Papers Digital Collectionfrom the
Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Inventory of the Thomas E. Watson Papers, 1863-1996in the
Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
*
Tom Watson Biography at Vassar*
''Watson's Magazine'' full issues at
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
Thomas E. Watson, late a representative from Georgia, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives frontispiece 1924
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Thomas E.
1856 births
1922 deaths
19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
1888 United States presidential electors
1896 United States vice-presidential candidates
American people of English descent
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