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GODKIN, EDWIN LAWRENCE (1831-1902)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 174 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GODKIN, See also:EDWIN See also:LAWRENCE (1831-1902) , See also:American publicist, was See also:born in Moyne, See also:county See also:Wicklow, See also:Ireland, on the 2nd of See also:October 1831. His See also:father, See also:James Godkin, was a Presbyterian See also:minister and a journalist, and the son, after graduating in 1851 at See also:Queen's See also:College, See also:Belfast, and studying See also:law in See also:London, was in 1853-1855 See also:war correspondent for the London Daily See also:News in See also:Turkey and See also:Russia, being See also:present at the See also:capture of See also:Sevastopol, and See also:late in 1856 went to See also:America and wrote letters to the same See also:journal, giving his impressions of a tour of the See also:southern states of the American See also:Union. He studied law in New See also:York See also:City, was admitted to the See also:bar in 1859, travelled in See also:Europe in 186o-1862, wrote for the London News and the New York Times in 1862-1865, and in 1865 founded in New York City the Nation, a weekly projected by him See also:long before, for which See also:Charles See also:Eliot See also:Norton gained See also:friends in See also:Boston and James See also:Miller See also:McKim (1810-1894) in See also:Philadelphia, and which Godkin edited until the end of the See also:year 1899. In 1881 he sold the Nation to the New York Evening See also:Post, and became an See also:associate editor of the Post, of which he was editor-in-See also:chief in 1883-18991 succeeding Carl See also:Schurz. In the 'eighties he engaged in a controversy with Goldwin See also:Smith over the Irish question. Under his leadership the Post See also:broke with the Republican party in the presidential See also:campaign of 1884, when Godkin's opposition to See also:Blaine did much to create the so-called See also:Mugwump party (see MUGWUMP), and his See also:organ became thoroughly See also:independent, as was seen when it attacked the Venezuelan policy of See also:President See also:Cleveland, who had in so many ways approximated the ideal of the Post and Nation. He consistently advocated currency reform, the See also:gold basis, a See also:tariff for See also:revenue only, and See also:civil service reform, rendering the greatest aid to the last cause. His attacks on Tammany See also:Hall were so frequent and so virulent that in 1894 he was sued for See also:libel because of See also:biographical sketches of certain leaders in that organization—cases which never came up for trial. His opposition to the war with See also:Spain and to imperialism was able and forcible. He retired from his editorial duties on the 30th of See also:December 1899, and sketched his career in the Evening Post of that date. Although he recovered from a severe apoplectic stroke See also:early in 1900, his See also:health was shattered, and he died in Greenway, See also:Devonshire, See also:England, on the 21st of May 1902. Godkin shaped the lofty and independent policy of the Post and the Nation, which had a small but influential and intellectual class of readers.

But as editor he had none of the See also:

personal See also:magnetism of See also:Greeley, for instance, and his superiority to the See also:influence of popular feeling made Charles See also:Dudley See also:Warner See also:style the Nation the "weekly See also:judgment See also:day." He was an economist of the school of See also:Mill, urged the See also:necessity of the See also:abstraction called " economic See also:man," and insisted that See also:socialism put in: practice would not improve social and economic conditions in See also:general. In politics he was an enemy of sentimentalism and loose theories in See also:government. He published A See also:History of See also:Hungary, A.D. 300-1850 (1856), Government (1871, in the American See also:Science See also:Series), Reflections and Comments (1895),' Problems of See also:Modern See also:Democracy (1896) and Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy (1898). See See also:Life and Letters of E. L. Godkin, edited by Rollo See also:Ogden (2 vols., New York, 1907).

End of Article: GODKIN, EDWIN LAWRENCE (1831-1902)

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