Cameron
Cameron names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Cameron SIMON, an American statesman
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIMON, an American statesman; born in Maytown, Lancaster began, when co., Pa., March 8, 1799; 9 years of age, to learn the trade of a printer. In 1820 he was editor of a paper in Doylestown, Pa., and in 1822 he held a similar post in Harrisburg. He then interested himself in banking and the building of railroads, and for a time served as Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania. From 1845 to 1849 he was United States Senator from Pennsylvania, elected by the Democratic party. He became a member of the Republican party on its formation, and in 1856 he was again elected United States Senator. He was unsuccessfully supported for the offices of both President and Vice-President in the National Convention of 1860, and in 1861 he was appointed Secretary of War by President Lincoln. He advocated the arming of fugitive slaves, and other extreme measures. In January, 1862, he resigned from the Cabinet, and was appointed minister to Russia. He succeed ed in gaining the support of the Russian government for the Union. In November of the same year he resigned, and lived in retirement till 1866, when he was again elected to the United States Senate. In 1872 he became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 1877 he retired from the Senate in favor of his son, James Donald Cameron. His influence over the Republican party was strong, and his power in the politics of his State practically absolute. He died in Maytown (near Donegal), Pa., June 26, 1889. CAMEROON. See KAMERUN.
Cameron JOHN, a Scotch scholar
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOHN, a Scotch scholar; born in Glasgow about 1579, and educated at the university of that city. In 1600 he went to the Continent, where his ab ability and erudition secured for him several appointments at Bergerac, Sedan, Saumur, and other seats of learning. Returning to Great Britain in 1620, he was two years later appointed principal of the University of Glasgow; but in less than a year he returned to Saumur, and thence to Montauban, where he received a divinity professorship. Here, as at Glasgow, his doctrine of passive obedience made him many enemies, by one of whom he was stabbed in the street, and he died from the effects of the wound in 1625.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The biographical facts Collier's gave in 1921 still stand: Simon Cameron ran Pennsylvania's Republican machine and handed his Senate seat to his son in 1877, and John Cameron died in 1625 of a street stabbing at Montauban. What has shifted is the explanation of Cameron's exit from Lincoln's Cabinet: Collier's ties it to his advocacy of arming fugitive slaves, while modern historians stress the corruption in his War Department contracting, for which the House of Representatives censured him in 1862 "€"the origin of Thaddeus Stevens's crack that Cameron would not steal a red-hot stove. The page's other line has dated badly in a different way: Collier's still sent readers looking for "Cameroon" to "Kamerun," though Germany had already lost the colony in the First World War, and it became the independent Republic of Cameroon in 1960"€"61.
Written for this edition, 2026.