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

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. 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 ...

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

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. Charles H

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)