00:07 - Hi

00:07 - i'm Joe Farrell

00:08 - and i'm Joe farley

00:09 - we're here at historic

00:11 - Harrisburg cemetery

00:12 - at the grave of

00:13 - Simon Cameron

00:15 - Joe

00:15 - Simon Cameron was a very controversial guy wasn't he?

00:18 - absolutely Cameron

00:20 - basically was viewed

00:21 - differently by different people some folks view him as just a brilliant politician

00:25 - who dominated Pennsylvania politics for years

00:28 - as a matter of fact he served four terms as

00:29 - the united states senator from Pennsylvania

00:32 - other people view him as one of the most

00:33 - corrupt officials in the history of this state.

00:38 - He was born

00:39 - in nearby

00:40 - Maytown Pennsylvania

00:42 - and had very little

00:43 - formal education

00:44 - but even as a young man he was very ambitious

00:47 - and he saw opportunities.

00:49 - He saw

00:50 - Pennsylvania

00:51 - and neighboring states growing with a lot of railroads and canals

00:55 - and Bridges

00:56 - and

00:57 - decided to jump right on in that stuff

00:59 - to the extent where even formed his own bank to help for finance those projects.

01:04 - He was the master at kind of mixing politics and business

01:08 - mostly to his own benefit.

01:10 - in 1845

01:12 - he was elected to

01:13 - to the senate from Pennsylvania for the first time

01:16 - he served one term.

01:18 - In the 1850s when the republican party began to emerge he became very

01:22 - active in organizing the Republicans here in Pennsylvania

01:25 - they elected him senator.

01:27 - In 1858

01:29 - once he was elected senator from Pennsylvania

01:31 - in 1858

01:32 - he began to position himself as a potential candidate

01:35 - for president

01:37 - in 1860

01:39 - Cameron had some serious delegates behind him

01:42 - when he went to the convention in 1860 but not nearly enough

01:45 - for him

01:46 - to get the nomination for himself

01:48 - but he knew

01:49 - that no one could win the nomination

01:51 - without Pennsylvania support

01:52 - so he became a power broker at the convention.

01:56 - He made a deal with Lincoln's

01:57 - people

01:59 - that he would for throw his

02:00 - votes to Lincoln

02:01 - in exchange for a cabinet position.

02:04 - The staff agreed to that deal and Lincoln did indeed secure the nomination.

02:08 - As a matter of fact of course when Lincoln found

02:10 - out about the deal he was very upset he had given

02:13 - explicit instructions to

02:15 - the folks representing him at the Chicago convention

02:17 - not to make any deals.

02:20 - He sent a letter to Cameron is a matter of fact that basically withdrew the offer

02:24 - Cameron ignored the letter

02:26 - and went to the Pennsylvania

02:27 - congressional delegation and had them go see Lincoln

02:30 - on his behalf to put pressure on Lincoln

02:33 - Lincoln finally relented and agreed to honor the commitment and he made Cameron

02:38 - his secretary of war

02:40 - while secretary of war

02:41 - there was repeated

02:43 - accusations of corruption in the war department.

02:46 - Congress investigated

02:48 - found

02:49 - that there were

02:50 - inferior supplies

02:52 - meat.

02:55 - Knapsacks.

02:56 - All kinds of other blankets all kind of supplies that were

02:59 - sold

03:00 - at exorbitant prices

03:02 - and without.

03:03 - Using the bidding process

03:05 - the competitive bidding process

03:06 - Lincoln was fed up with these charges and decided Cameron had to go.

03:10 - He made it easy for him

03:12 - by appointing him as minister to Russia.

03:15 - As a matter of fact when he

03:16 - when Thaddeus Stevens who was a congressman from Pennsylvania heard that Cameron

03:20 - had been appointed minister to Russia

03:22 - he said the Tsar better bring in his things of the night

03:24 - he was obviously insinuating that Cameron would steal when while he was in Russia

03:28 - he stayed in Russia for only one year came back to Pennsylvania and

03:32 - and got his senate seat back

03:34 - you can perhaps sum

03:35 - Simon Cameron up

03:37 - by something he himself said

03:39 - he said

03:40 - that in his view

03:41 - and honest politician was one

03:43 - who once he's bought stays bought

03:45 - you can learn more about Simon Cameron.

03:48 - In our book keystone tombstones volume one

03:51 - available at sunbury press dot com.