The 1855 History Podcast

Kingdom of Righteousness | A Lost Era of American History (Alexander Ramsey, Part One)


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When Alec was a small boy, he traveled deep into the woods outside his home in Pennsylvania. With other children, he hoped to catch a glimpse of a man known as the Pennsylvania Hermit, a cave-dwelling old man who had gone insane and hidden himself away from society after his sister was executed for murdering her own children. But when Alec was 6, the Hermit finally died, passing away into legend.


By the time the boy was a man, his father had died by suicide, the same year that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died--the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was up to this boy, Alexander Ramsey, to find a way out of the misery of the tangled mountain ridges, the land of the Pennsylvania Hermit and his father's death. It was up to Ramsey to find a way through a tortured American society spiraling out of control. Before long, he would find his way. Before long, he would have blood of his own on his hands.

Alexander Ramsey was Minnesota Territory's first governor. He was a congressman, a senator and a secretary of war. He oversaw forced removals and executions. He helped orchestrate three wars. And along the way, he lived a high-octane political thriller of a life filled with backstabbing, unlikely alliances, and tragedy. 

In this episode, we lay out the forgotten fringes of the social and political world that shaped Alexander Ramsey as he took power for the first time, and as he learned how to wield his political strengths. 

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