Kate Chase and William Sprague: Politics and Gender in a Civil War Marriage.Kate Chase Katherine Jane ("Kate") Chase (August 13, 1840 – July 31, 1899), was the daughter of famous Ohio politician Salmon P. Chase, the Treasury Secretary to President Abraham Lincoln and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. and William Sprague William Sprague may refer to:
abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-8032-2947-X.) Peg A. Lamphier has written an intriguing biography of the marriage of Kate Chase, the "belle of Washington," and William Sprague, the Rhode Island Rhode Island, island, United States Rhode Island, island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. governor and senator. This is a partisan biography in two ways. First, the biography is about the public careers of two profoundly partisan individuals. Second, the author herself is a partisan, a loyalist on the side of Kate. Lamphier writes, "although I have come to better understand William, he was an abusive and unrepentant drunkard One who habitually engages in the overindulgence of alcohol. In order for an individual to be labeled a drunkard, drunkenness must be habitual or must recur on a constant basis. who spectacularly failed his family. No amount of objectivity can overcome my distaste for the man, and accordingly I will always be Kate's champion" (p. 10). Emotions dominate this biography. Soon after Kate Chase (1840-1899) was born, her mother died and her father, Salmon P. Chase Noun 1. Salmon P. Chase - United States politician and jurist who served as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court (1808-1873) Salmon Portland Chase, Chase , "raised his daughters in a sea of emotional ambiguity" (p. 13). Her father introduced her to politics and taught her how to play the political game. For Kate, this game centered on advancing her father's political career. Salmon P. Chase was an Ohio senator and governor, as well as secretary of the treasury under Lincoln. He wanted to be president of the United States The head of the Executive Branch, one of the three branches of the federal government. The U.S. Constitution sets relatively strict requirements about who may serve as president and for how long. . Kate also wanted this, and Lamphier investigates whether Kate's marriage to William Sprague (1830-1915) was about the money he could provide for these political aspirations. Her close reading of personal correspondence leads her to the conclusion that love and desire, similar backgrounds, and hopes for the future explain the marriage. Lamphier also explains that the couple's romantic love was difficult to sustain; Kate returned to play political hostess for her father, and William threw himself into politics and business. By 1867 a new source of friction between the couple was on the scene in the form of Roscoe Conkling, the "Adonis of the Senate" (p. 2). The marriage dissolved into "extreme cruelty extreme cruelty n. an archaic requirement to show infliction of physical or mental harm by one of the parties to his/her spouse to support a judgment of divorce or an unequal division of the couple's property. and gross misbehavior" and ended in divorce in 1881 (chap. 7). Lamphier, Kate's champion, has written a compelling story. I recommend this book to readers seeking to better understand women's roles in Washington's party politics. Kate's "velvet and silk dresses," Lamphier writes, "acted as a kind of drag, allowing her political mind and female body entree into a male venue" (p. 93). The book successfully uses a case study of an unsuccessful marriage to examine changing ideas of courtship, marriage, and family in the nineteenth century. University of Vermont MELANIE S. GUSTAFSON |
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