Green, Duff

Related Category: U.S. History: Biographies

1791–1875, American journalist and politician, b. Woodford co., Ky. After service in the War of 1812, he settled in Missouri, where he became (1824) editor of the St. Louis Enquirer. He moved (1825) to Washington, D.C., purchased the United States Telegraph, and backed Andrew Jackson for President. After Jackson was elected (1828), Green's newspaper became the administration journal and Green was admitted to Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet. He backed John C. Calhoun against Jackson in the nullification controversy, however, and thereafter he increasingly defended the South on the issues of slavery and the tariff. He left (1836) the Telegraph, and—having staunchly supported the Harrison-Tyler ticket in 1840—served Tyler on diplomatic missions to England (1843) and to Texas and Mexico (1844–45). He started (1844) in New York City the Republic, a newspaper devoted to tariff reduction and sympathetic toward the South. He became increasingly involved in Southern industrial development and railroad building. He had secured charters and funds for a Southern Pacific railroad and was about to start construction when the Civil War began. During the war he operated various ironworks for the Confederacy.