James Kirke Paulding (August 22, 1778 – April 6, 1860) was an American writer and, for a time, the

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

. Paulding's early writings were satirical and violently anti-British, as shown in ''The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan'' (1812). He wrote numerous long poems and serious histories. Among his novels are ''Konigsmarke, the Long Finne'' (1823) and ''The Dutchman's Fireside'' (1831). He is best known for creating the inimitable Nimrod Wildfire, the “half horse, half alligator” in The Lion of the West (1831), and as collaborator with William Irving and

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories " Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Lege ...

in ''

Salmagundi Salmagundi (or salmagundy or sallid magundi) is a cold dish or salad made from different ingredients which may include meat, seafood, eggs, cooked vegetables, raw vegetables, fruits or pickles. In English culture, the term does not refer to a s ...

.'' (1807–08). Paulding was also, by the mid-1830s, an ardent and outspoken defender of slavery, and he later endorsed southern secession from the union.

Biography

James Kirke Paulding was born on August 22, 1778, at Pleasant Valley,

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

, New York. His parents were William Paulding and Catherine Ogden. Paulding was chiefly self-educated. He became a close friend of

. With Irving, Paulding proposed a literary project. As he described, "one day in a frolicsome mood, we broached the idea of a little periodical merely for our own amusement, and that of the town, for neither of us anticipated any further circulation." The result was ''

; ''a short-lived satirical periodical, from which the word 'Gotham' was first ascribed as a name for New York City. Along with Irving, Paulding was associated with the "

Knickerbocker Group The Knickerbocker Group was a somewhat indistinct group of 19th-century American writers. Its most prominent members included Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper and William Cullen Bryant. Each was a pioneer in general literature—novel ...

", a group which also included William Cullen Bryant, Gulian Crommelin Verplanck, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Joseph Rodman Drake,

Robert Charles Sands Robert Charles Sands (May 11, 1799 – December 16, 1832) was an American writer and poet. Biography Robert Charles Sands was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 11, 1799, the son of Auditor-General Comfort Sands. He was a scholar and a writer ...

, Lydia Maria Child, and

Nathaniel Parker Willis Nathaniel Parker Willis (January 20, 1806 – January 20, 1867), also known as N. P. Willis,Baker, 3 was an American author, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfello ...

. Paulding's other writings also include '' The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan'' (1812), a satire, ''

The Dutchman's Fireside ''The Dutchman's Fireside'' is an 1831 novel that was popular in its day, by American author James Kirke Paulding.O'Donnell, ThomasIntroduction to James Kirke Paulding, The Dutchman's Fireside in Upstate Literature: Essays in Memory of Thomas F. O' ...

'' (1831), a romance which attained popularity, ''A'' ''Life of Washington'' (1835), and some poems. Extracts from his epic poem ''The Backwoodsman'' (1818) were popularly reprinted throughout his life. In the decade before Washington Irving and

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

achieved popular success, Paulding experimented in every genre in an effort to forge a new American literature. Thereafter, his outstanding contributions were in the novel and in a stage comedy. ''Koningsmarke'' (1823), which he began as a spoof of

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

's historical romances, took unexpected hold of his imagination and became a well-turned novel, notable for its portrait of an old black woman that anticipates

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most ...

and for its sympathetic yet unromanticized depiction of the Indian. ''The Lion of the West'' (1831), selected in a play competition in which William Cullen Bryant was one of the judges, presented a cartoon of

Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of ...

; it was the most-often performed play on the American stage before ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...

'', and an altered version enjoyed success in London. Paulding's ''View of Slavery in the United States'' (1836) was a comprehensive defense of both Black slavery and America's claim to be a bastion of liberty against the attacks of abolitionists and European critics. Among Paulding's government positions were those of secretary to the

Board of Navy Commissioners The Board of Navy Commissioners was a United States Navy administrative body in existence from 1815 to 1842, with responsibility for the navy's material support. The three-member Board was created as part of an expansion of the U.S. Navy Departme ...

in 1815–23 and Naval Agent in New York in 1824–38. President

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

appointed him Secretary of the Navy in June 1838. As Secretary, he was a conservative figure, whose extensive knowledge of naval affairs was balanced by notable lack of enthusiasm for new technology. He opposed the introduction of steam-propelled warships declaring that he would "never consent to let our old ships perish, and transform our Navy into a fleet of (steam) sea monsters." Nevertheless, his tenure was marked by advances in steam engineering, wide-ranging exploration efforts, enlargement of the fleet and an expansion of the Navy's apprenticeship program. In 1839, Paulding was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...

. Paulding left office with the change of administrations in March 1841, returned to literary pursuits and took up agriculture. He died at his farm near Hyde Park, New York. He is interred at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. USS ''James K. Paulding'' (DD-238) was named in honor of Secretary of the Navy Paulding.

Personal life

Paulding married Gertrude Kemble (d. 1841) on 15 November 1818. Gertrude was the daughter of New York merchant Peter Kemble and the sister of U.S. congressman Gouverneur Kemble. They had four sons: * Peter Kemble Paulding (1819-1900) * William Irving Paulding (1825-1890) * Gouverneur Paulding (1829-1913) * James Nathaniel Paulding (1833-1898)

Oft-quoted phrase

Paulding's story, "The Politician" contains a maxim that is often attributed to Samuel Gompers: "Reward your friends and punish your enemies." The story appears in his collection, ''Tales of the Good Woman, by a Doubtful Gentleman.'' The same basic idea (a definition of justice as doing good to friends and harm to enemies), appears in Plato's dialogue, the ''Republic'', where it is subsequently rejected as inadequate.

Important works

* 1807–1808 – ''

'' (with

) * 1812 �
''The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan''
* 1813 �
''The Lay of the Scottish Fiddle''
* 1818 �
''The Backwoodsman''
* 1820 – ''Salmagundi. Second Series'' * 1822 �
''A Sketch of Old England by a New England Man''
ref> * 1823 �
''Koningsmarke, the Long Finne''
* 1825 �
''John Bull in America, or the New Munchausen''
* 1826 �
''The Merry Tales of the Three Wise Men of Gotham''
* 1828 �
''The New Mirror for Travellers''
* 1829 �
''Tales of the Good Woman, by a Doubtful Gentleman''
* 1830 �
''Chronicles of the City of Gotham''
* 1831 �
''The Dutchman's Fireside''
* 1832 – ''Westward Ho!'' * 1835 �
''Life of George Washington''
in two volumes * 1836 – ''View of Slavery in the United States'' * 1836 �
''The Book of St. Nicholas''
* 1838 �
''A Gift from Fairy Land''
* 1846 – ''The Old Continental, or the Price of Liberty'' * 1849 – ''The Puritan and his Daughter''

Legacy and honors

*The

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Liberty Ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost constr ...

was named in his honor.

References

External links

"The Knickerbocker's Rescue Santa Claus" – an excerpt from Kirke Paulding's "The Book of Saint Nicholas" (1836)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulding, James Kirke 1778 births 1860 deaths Novelists from New York (state) United States Secretaries of the Navy Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Van Buren administration cabinet members 19th-century American politicians People from Hyde Park, New York American male novelists American male poets 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American poets New York (state) Democratic-Republicans American male dramatists and playwrights Knickerbocker Group American essayists