Note 186 — AMERICA.

These are Roger Sherman and Henry Wilson, already noticed, and Daniel Sheffey, Gideon Lee, William Claflin, John B. Alley, and H. P. Baldwin. In answer to the question, “What shoemaker has risen to political or literary eminence in the United States?” a writer in the Philadelphia Dispatch, besides speaking of the four remarkable men we have selected as examples, says, “There are other famous names of graduates from that profession. Daniel Sheffey of Virginia learned the trade, and worked at it many years, and from 1809 to 1817 represented his district in the Congress of the United States. His retort to John Randolph of Roanoke, who taunted him on the floor of Congress with his former occupation, was, ‘The difference, sir, between my colleague and myself is this, that if his lot had been cast like mine in early life, instead of rising, by industry, enterprise, and study, above his calling, and occupying a seat on this floor, he would at this time be engaged in making shoes on the bench.’ ... Gideon Lee, a mayor of New York City, and a member of Congress from about 1840 to 1844, was a working shoemaker, and afterward a leather dealer. William Claflin, an ex-governor of Massachusetts and a member of Congress, worked at the shoemaker’s trade when young, and is now at the head of a very large shoe-manufacturing firm. John B. Attey, an ex-member of Congress from Massachusetts, was in the shoe trade, as was also H. P. Baldwin, ex-governor of Michigan, and ex-member of Congress from that State.”