Eli Thayer | |
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| Member of theU.S.HouseofRepresentatives fromMassachusetts's9th district | |
| In office March 4, 1857 –March 3, 1861 | |
| Preceded by | Alexander De Witt |
| Succeeded by | Goldsmith Bailey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 11, 1819 Mendon,Massachusetts |
| Died | April 15, 1899(1899-04-15) (aged 79) Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Political party | Republican |
| Children | John A. Thayer, Clara Thayer (Mrs. Charles H. Perry M.D.), Ida M. Thayer.[1] |
| Alma mater | Worcester Academy, 1840; Brown University, 1845 |
Eli Thayer (June 11, 1819 – April 15, 1899) was aneducator,reformer,legislator andfounder of theNew England Emigrant Aid Company. He was instrumental in the politics ofKansas during the period known asBleeding Kansas. WhenCongress passed theKansas–Nebraska Act in 1854, the question of whether Kansas would become aslave-state or free state was left to the voters of Kansas.[2]pro-slavery supporters,abolitionists andfree-staters all rushed to settle in theKansas Territory.[3] All were trying to gain power so as to determine the status of slavery in Kansas.[3] Thayer is best known for his work in the New England Emigrant Aid Company. Their purpose was to rush as manyFree-Staters as possible to settle in Kansas.[4] He was a member of theUnited States House of Representatives from 1857 to 1861. After serving in Congress Thayer became abusinessman.[5] Thayer died inWorcester, Massachusetts on April 15, 1899.[5]
Thayer was born inMendon, Massachusetts on June 11, 1819.[6] He attended the localpublic school, thenBellingham High School. He attended the Academy of Amherst and in 1840 graduated from Worcester Academy.[6] In 1845 hegraduated fromBrown University assalutatorian.[6] Thayer returned to hiscollege preparatory school, Worcester Academy, to teach.[6]
He was soonpromoted toheadmaster.[6] From 1847 through 1849, Thayer was theprincipal of the academy.[6] In 1849 he left Worcester Academy to found awomen's college, Oread College (nowOread Institute).[6]
Thayer had been admitted to the MassachusettsBar Association, but never practicedlaw.[5] He was analderman in Worcester from 1852 to 1853.[5] He was elected to theMassachusetts House of Representatives in 1853 and 1854. While there he devised and obtained acharter for the New England Emigrant Aid Company. The purpose of the company was to finance people fromNew England tosettle in Kansas. Under thepopular sovereigntydoctrine they could vote it free of slavery if and when it became astate.[7] Thayer received apercentage of all the money collected by the company.[7]
Thayer was elected as aRepublican to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served two terms (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861).[5] He was anunsuccessfulcandidate for election to Congress in 1872.[5]
Thayer and his New England Emigrant Aid Company played a keyrole in theborder war on theKansas-Missouriborder that became known as Bleeding Kansas. The term wascoined byHorace Greeley of theNew York Tribune.[8] It described theviolence happening in the Kansas territory during the mid to late 1850s.[8]
TheMissouri Compromise of 1820 was an agreement that slavery to be banned from theLouisiana Territory north of the parallel 36 degrees 30' north (also known as the Missouri Compromise Line), except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. It admittedMissouri as a slave state to please the South and it also admittedMaine as a free state to please theNorth. When the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854, it reversed the Missouri Compromise and caused a wave ofresentment in the North.[4] Northerners believed it would causeMissourians to cross the border into the Kansas Territory and take all the good land leaving nothing for northern settlers.[4] Northerners were pessimistic about the slavery issue. ThePresident, hisCabinet, both Houses of Congress and theSupreme Court of the United States were all pro-slavery.[4] It was considered almost certain that slavery would dominate the United States.[4]
Thayer promoted the idea of “business antislavery”.[9] The idea behind Thayer's Emigrant Aid Company was to level the playing field with the southern pro-slavery advocates. The company was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts for the purpose of "assisting emigrants to settle in the West."[10] Thayer's idea worked to both settle New Englanders in Kansas to prevent slavery and to remove the surplus of New Englanders and Immigrants.[10] The plan was for settlers to start new businesses that wouldprofit the company.[10] The towns ofLawrence,Topeka,Manhattan andOsawatomie, Kansas were all settled by or with help from the Emigrant Aid Company.[11] Thayer realized there was more money available in the North than in theSouth. By forming the Company he felt settlers would be well rewarded with the "comforts of civilization".[10] The company would be well rewarded with a good dividend on theirinvestments. It was awin-win situation. He thought once Kansas was free, their attentions could be turned south andcolonize it in a similar manner. By investing in the Company it would be the "snort of thesteam engine instead of the crack of the blacksnake (whip)".[10] Thayer's slogan became "Saw-mills and Liberty!" and was widely proclaimed in the New Englandpress.[10] Between 1854 and 1856, Thayer's Company sent about 2,000 emigrants to Kansas Territory.[9] By May 1857 many members of the Company felt it had reached its goals in Kansas.[9] Thayer began other projects. He helped found the free labor colony ofCeredo, Virginia (nowWest Virginia).[9] But afterJohn Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry many investors and potential settlers were scared away.[9] The outbreak of theCivil War ended the project.[9]
In the North, Thayer was credited with helping to make Kansas a slave-free state.[2] He was also called avillain by others for having caused the bloodshed and violence that followed sending immigrants to Kansas. In the South, the company was often called "Eli Thayer & Co.," and a price was placed on Thayer's head in more than one place.[2] In Missouri and the South, Thayer was charged with the "crime" of making Kansas a free state.[2] In 1887, Thayer wrote a bookA History of the Kansas Crusade: Its Friends and Its Foes where he claimed a good deal of the credit for Kansas becoming free of slavery.[2]