Charles Horatio Matchett (May 15, 1843 – October 24, 1919) was an American socialist politician. He is best remembered as the first candidate of the
Socialist Labor Party of America for
Vice President of the United States
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...
in the
election of 1892 and as the party's candidate for president in the
election of 1896.
Biography
Early years
Machett was born May 15, 1843, hailing originally from the Brighton-Allston area of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. He was the descendant of New Englanders dating their presence in America to the 1630s.
At the age of 16, Matchett went to sea and circumnavigated
Cape Horn
Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...
aboard a
windjammer
A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...
. He worked at various times in his earlier years as a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
sailor, a clerk, carpenter, and beer bottler.
In the middle 1880s, Matchett moved to
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, where he worked as an
electrician
An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...
.
[Morris Hillquit, ''History of Socialism in the United States.'' New York: Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1903; pg. 283.]
Political career
Matchett served as a charter member of the Brooklyn
Nationalist Club
Nationalist Clubs were an organized network of socialist political groups which emerged at the end of the 1880s in the United States of America in an effort to make real the ideas advanced by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel ''Looking Backwa ...
and was active in the campaign to elect
Henry George
Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...
as
Mayor of New York
The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...
.
In 1890, Matchett was the organizer of American Branch No. 1 of Section New York of the
Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP). Matchett was influential in bringing many of the New York Nationalists into the ranks of the party.
In 1892, Machett ran on a ticket headed by
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
camera manufacturer
Simon Wing
Simon Wing (1826 –1910) was a daguerreotypist and camera inventor and socialist politician. He is best remembered as the first candidate of the Socialist Labor Party of America for President of the United States, running for that office in 1892 ...
as the vice presidential nominee of the SLP. It was the first time that the party ran a national ticket. Wing and Machett appeared on the ballot in six states and received a total of 21,512 votes.
Of this total, New York City alone provided 6,100 votes. The platform of the party in 1892 committed to abolishing the offices of president and vice president as soon as they came to power. According to one historian of the election, most of the SLP ticket's support in 1892 came not from labor, but from the "
Bellamyites", middle-class intellectuals and reformers.
In the
New York election of 1894, Matchett ran for
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
on the Socialist Labor Party ticket.
In 1896, Matchett headed the Socialist Labor Party ticket as its candidate for President of the United States. About one half of the 36,359 votes received by Matchett and his running mate
Matthew Maguire of New Jersey, came from New York state. When Matchett ran in 1896 he was the foreman for the telephone company in New York making $18 per week. The SLP's platform in 1896 called for government assumption of all means of production and distribution.
["Bolting From Bryan", ''San Francisco Call'', September 6, 1896, pg. 10.]
Matchett left the Socialist Labor Party during the organization's bitter 1899 split and joined the organization headed by
Henry Slobodin
Henry L. Slobodin was an American attorney, socialist activist and frequent candidate for public office from New York.
Slobodin was active in the Socialist Labor Party of America before leaving in 1899 alongside other socialist activists like M ...
and
Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit (August 1, 1869 – October 8, 1933) was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side. Together with Eugene V. Debs and Congressman Victor L. Berger, Hil ...
which merged with the Chicago-based
Social Democratic Party of America in the summer of 1901 to form the
Socialist Party of America (SPA).
In
1903
Events January
* January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India.
* January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having bee ...
, Matchett ran for the
New York Court of Appeals on the ticket of the SPA, receiving 33,339 votes. He was also a candidate for
New York State Assembly and
New York City Council at various times.
Matchett was a pioneer in the United States of the international language
Esperanto and a delegate to the first
Universal Congress of Esperantists in 1905.
There he was elected as an officer of the congress, representing the United States.
The same year, the Boston Esperanto Club was founded in Matchett's home town, the first in the US.
["C. H. Matchett, Socialist Candidate in 1896, Dead,"]
''New York Tribune,'' October 26, 1919.
Death and legacy
Charles Matchett died October 24, 1919, in
Allston, Massachusetts, after a long illness.
[ He was 76 years old at the time of his death.
]
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matchett, Charles
Candidates in the 1896 United States presidential election
1892 United States vice-presidential candidates
1843 births
1919 deaths
Socialist Labor Party of America presidential nominees
Socialist Labor Party of America vice presidential nominees
Politicians from New York City
American Esperantists
Socialist Party of America politicians from New York (state)
Politicians from Boston
Socialist Labor Party of America politicians from New York (state)