Chauncey Langdon Knapp (February 26, 1809 – May 31, 1898) was an American newspaperman and politician who served two terms as a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

from 1855 to 1859.

Biography

Chauncey Langdon Knapp was born in

Berlin, Vermont Berlin ( ) is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States, founded in 1763. The population was 2,849 at the 2020 census. Being the town between Barre and Montpelier, the two largest cities in the region, much of the commercial busines ...

, February 26, 1809. He was trained as a printer, and became a newspaperman in Montpelier. For a number of years, he was co-proprietor and editor of the ''State Journal'', Vermont's main Anti-Masonic Party newspaper. Interested in politics, he served as

Secretary of State of Vermont The secretary of state of Vermont is one of five cabinet-level constitutional officers in the U.S. state of Vermont which are elected every two years. The secretary of state is fourth (behind the lieutenant governor, speaker of the House of Repres ...

from 1836 to 1843.

Career

In 1843, he visited

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

, and met poet John Greenleaf Whittier, at the time editor of Lowell's ''Middlesex Standard'' (the voice of the Anti-slavery Movement and the Liberty Party). Whittier invited Knapp to stay in Lowell, take over as editor, and continue the fight against slavery and for social reform in Lowell. Knapp accepted and he eventually moved from editor of the ''Middlesex Standard'' to editor of the ''Lowell Citizen and News''. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Liberty Party candidate in 1846 and as a member of the

Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery int ...

in 1848. Knapp was appointed Clerk of the

Massachusetts State Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

in 1851.

Congress

In 1854, Knapp ran as an anti-slavery candidate and was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. He was identified with the American Party (the only major party with an anti-slavery plank) while serving in the Thirty-fourth Congress. When the Republican Party was formed with an anti-slavery plank, Knapp joined it. He was again overwhelmingly elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1859). During the heated slavery debates in Congress, Senator

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...

of Massachusetts was severely beaten by Congressman

Preston Brooks Preston Smith Brooks (August 5, 1819 – January 27, 1857) was an American politician and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina, serving from 1853 until his resignation in July 1856 and again from August 1856 until his ...

of South Carolina on May 22, 1856. In response, Congressmen Knapp delivered his first address on the floor of the House, a speech in which he said his constituents viewed the attack as an "audacious blow hurled at the great right of free opinion. . .the primal element and safeguard of constitutional liberty."''Appendix to the Congressional Globe'', 34th Congress, 1st sess., Washington: John C. Rives, 1856, p. 910, July 12, 1856

Later career

In 1859, Knapp left Congress and became editor of the ''Lowell Daily Citizen'' from 1859-1882.

Death and burial

He died in Lowell on May 31, 1898, and is buried in the Lowell Cemetery. Knapp Avenue leading from Rogers Street into the Lowell Cemetery is named for him.

References

External links

*
Chauncey Langdon Knapp
a
''The Political Graveyard''
*Vermont Historical Society
Vermonters in Congress
1921, pages 120-121 {{DEFAULTSORT:Knapp, Chauncey Langdon 1809 births 1898 deaths 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) People from Berlin, Vermont Politicians from Lowell, Massachusetts Anti-Masonic Party politicians from Vermont Secretaries of State of Vermont Massachusetts Free Soilers Massachusetts Libertyites Know-Nothing members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts 19th-century American politicians