Reconstruction Era Biographies | Horace Greeley Biography

Born February 3, 1811
Amherst, New Hampshire

Died November 29, 1872
New York, New York

Newspaper publisher and editor, writer, and presidential candidate

"I am weary of fighting over issues that ought to be dead—that logically were dead years ago. When slavery died, I thought that we ought speedily to have ended all that grew out of it by universal amnesty and impartial suffrage."

An influential newspaper publisher and writer, Horace Greeley was a significant public figure for reform from the 1840s to the early 1870s and was affectionately called "Uncle Horace" by admiring readers. He was a leading proponent for abolition (end of slavery) through the Civil War years, supported programs for the poor and working class, and sought to improve society through pacifism (nonviolence) and cooperation. During the Reconstruction era (1865–77),...