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William Lowndes Yancey (August 10, 1814 – July 27, 1863) was a journalist, politician, orator, diplomat and an American leader of the Southern secession movement. A member of the group known as the Fire-Eaters, Yancey was one of the most effective agitators for secession and rhetorical defenders of slavery. An early critic of John C. Calhoun and nullification, by the late 1830s Yancey began to identify with Calhoun and the struggle against the forces of the anti-slavery movement. In 1849, Yancey was a firm supporter of Calhoun's "Southern Address" and an adamant opponent of the Compromise of 1850. Throughout the 1850s, Yancey, sometimes referred to as the "Orator of Secession", demonstrated the ability to hold large audiences under his spell for hours at a time.〔, . Potter refers to Yancey as "the most silver-tongued of a race of uninhibited orators, and the most fervent exponent of southern rights."〕 At the 1860 Democratic National Convention, Yancey, a leading opponent of Stephen A. Douglas and the concept of popular sovereignty, was instrumental in splitting the party into Northern and Southern factions. At the 1860 convention, he used the phrase “squatter sovereignty” in a speech he gave to describe popular sovereignty.〔p. 250, Democratic Party. National Convention, Charleston and Baltimore, 1860. Proceedings of the Conventions at Charleston and Baltimore. Washington, 1860.〕 During the Civil War, Yancey was appointed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis to head a diplomatic delegation to Europe in the attempt to secure formal recognition of Southern independence. In these efforts, Yancey was unsuccessful and frustrated. Upon his return to America in 1862, Yancey was elected to the Confederate States Senate where he was a frequent critic of the Davis Administration. Suffering from ill health for much of his life, Yancey died during the war at the age of 48. ==Youth== Yancey’s mother, Caroline Bird, lived on the family home (nicknamed "the Aviary") located near the falls of the Ogeechee River in Warren County, Georgia. On December 8, 1808, she married Benjamin Cudworth Yancey, a lawyer in South Carolina who had served on the USS Constellation during the Quasi-War with France. Yancey was born at "the Aviary"; three years later, on October 26, 1817, his father died of yellow fever.〔.〕 He was probably named for William Lowndes (1782-1822), who represented South Carolina in Congress at the time that Yancey was born. Yancey’s widowed mother married the Reverend Nathan Sydney Smith Beman on April 23, 1821. Beman had temporarily relocated to South Carolina to operate Mt. Zion Academy, where William was a student. In the spring of 1823, the entire family moved when Reverend Beman took a position at the First Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York. Beman worked with Reverend Charles G. Finney in the New School movement and in the 1830s became involved with abolitionism through contacts with Theodore Dwight Ward and Lyman Beecher.〔.〕 Beman’s marriage was marred by domestic unrest and spousal abuse that led to serious considerations of divorce and finally a permanent separation in 1835. This atmosphere affected the children and caused William to reject many of his step-father’s teachings. Yancey’s biographer, historian Eric H. Walther, speculates the character of Yancey’s later career was a result of low self-esteem and a search for public adulation and approval that went back to his childhood experiences with Reverend Beman.〔.〕 In the fall of 1830, Yancey was enrolled at Williams College in northwestern Massachusetts. The 16-year-old Yancey was admitted as a sophomore based on the required entrance examinations. At Williams, he participated in the debating society and for a short time was the editor of a student newspaper. In the autumn of 1832, Yancey took his first steps as a politician by working on the campaign for Whig Ebenezer Emmons. Overall, Yancey had a successful stay at Williams academically that was marred only by frequent disciplinary problems. Despite being selected as the Senior Orator by his class, Yancey left the school in the spring of 1833, six weeks before graduation.〔.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Lowndes Yancey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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