“Unimpressionists” at a Glance
A rundown of temporal attributes and historical peers shared by many Rough Cuts
As part of my ongoing “Jigsaw Gens” series, I profile the various American generations (and “microgenerations”) identified by historians.
In This Installment…
Featured Generation: “Unimpressionists” (aka Rough Cuts, Stabilizers, Mixed Signals, Privateers, Know-Somethings)
Who they are: The last generation to be born entirely within the Eighteenth Century, whose leaders drove the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War
When they were born: Approximately between 1781–1793
Key Members
Lawmakers & Policy-Shapers: Zachary Taylor, Daniel Webster, John Tyler, Philip P. Barbour, Martin Van Buren, James Buchanan, Ner Middleswarth, John McLean, Thaddeus Stevens, “Honest John” Davis, Sam Houston, John C. Calhoun, William Slade, Thomas “Old Bullion” Benton, John Catron, Peter Vivian Daniel, Levi Woodbury, John “Mysterious Little White Bird” Ross, Edward Bates, James Moore Wayne, Mangas “Red Sleeve” Coloradas, Solomon P. Sharp, John C. Clark, Samuel Nelson, Erastus Corning, James Hamilton Jr., Lewis Cass, George Mifflin Dallas, William Rufus DeVane King, Chief Seattle, Levi Lincoln Jr., Stevenson Archer, Dohasan, John Jordan Crittenden, Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan, Jacob Collamer, Marcus Morton, Tustenaggee “High-Head Jim” Emathla, William W. Bibb, John Ruggles, Conklin Brush, Martin Chester Deming, John Robertson, William Mason, Jonathan Jennings
Literary Writers: James Fenimore Cooper, “Wash” Parke Custis, John Pierpont, William Cardell, Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps, Maria Gowen Brooks, John Neal, William Alexander Brown, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Catharine Sedgwick, William Tudor II, Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, James Nelson Barker, Charles Sprague, María Bibiana Benítez, James Gates Percival, Richard Henry Dana Sr., Eliza Townsend, Hannah Flagg Gould, Maria James, Carlos Wilcox, Joseph Rodman Drake, Lydia Sigourney, Richard Henry Wilde, Margaret Miller Davidson Sr., John Blair Lynn, John Gardiner Calkins Brainard
Journalists & Historians: William Cullen Bryant, Sarah Josepha Hale, Francis Preston Blair Sr., Charles Sealsfield, Duff Green, Lucy Barnes, Amos Kendall, James Gordon Bennett Sr., Samuel Woodworth, Mordecai Manuel Noah, Isaac Hill, William Lyon Mackenzie, David Cusick, Edward Everett, Ulysses F. Doubleday, Isaac N. Youngs, John Fanning Watson, David Dudley Field I, Joseph Emerson Worcester, Edward Tyrrel Channing, William Goodell, Eliza Violet Gist Blair, James Arlington Bennet, Theodore Dwight, Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, William H. Maynard, Convers Francis, Jared Sparks
Scientists & Researchers: Samuel Morse, Henry Schoolcraft, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Robert Livingston Stevens, George Bomford, Alexander Twilight, Paul Moody, Samuel Guthrie, John Bachman, Tabitha Babbitt, George Ord, Seth Boyden, Thomas L. Jennings, Stephen Harriman Long, William Austin Burt, Sylvester Graham, Peter Cooper, William Beaumont, Joel Roberts Pointsett, Henry Charles Carey, William Darlington, Eliphalet Remington, Joseph Gilbert Totten, Henry Buren, William Ferris Pell, George Hayward, James Pollard Espy, Walter Channing, Jared Potter Kirtland, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, Thaddeus William Harris, Edmund Ruffin III, Thomas Blanchard, Charles Wilkins Short, Thomas Say, William Cranch Bond, Amán Rawson, Thomas Sewall, Chauncey A. Goodrich, Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, Silas Hoadley, John D. Sloat
Athletes: William Carvill, Tom Molineaux, Ogden Hoffman, William Lacey
Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders: William Colgate, James Harper, Wilson Price Hunt, John Perkins Cushing, Nicholas Biddle, James Madison Porter, Betsy Love Allen, Samuel Russell, Frederic “Ice King” Tudor, John William Baker, Robert Stuart, Jacob Best, William Williams, Edward Coles, Isaac Franklin, Daniel Pinckney Parker, John McLoughlin, Tobias Watkins, Pelatiah Perit, Elisha Peck, Seth Thomas, Anson Green Phelps, Jeremiah Thompson, Alpheus Babcock, Hope Slatter, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, David R. Porter, Samuel Turell Armstrong, John Slidell, David S. Kennedy, Gardiner Greene Howland, Joseph Balestier, William Montague Ferry, Pierre Chouteau Jr., William Henry Low, Samuel Shaw Howland, Abraham Schermerhorn, Friend Humphrey, Amos Lawrence, Richard P. Herrick, William Appleton, Louis McLane, William J. Duane, Ramsay Crooks, James Savage
Activists & Organizers: Lucretia Mott, Ichabod Crane, Josiah Henson, Sarah Moore Grimké, Winfield Scott, Jarena Lee, Stephen F. Austin, Benjamin Lundy, David Walker of Boston, Emma Willard, Rebecca Gratz, Joshua Leavitt, Edmund Roberts, Kennekuk, John Emory, Daniel Sabin Butrick, William L. Marcy, Juan Davis Bradburn, Stephen W. Kearny, John Floyd, Erastus “Deaf” Smith, Joe Jim Sr., Thomas Biddle, Alexander Campbell, James Lawrence, Oliver Hazard Perry, Nelly Custis, George Read III of Delaware, James Wolfe Ripley, Molly Fitzhugh Custis, Joseph Halsey Crane, Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, Marianne Wellesley, Admiral Joseph Smith, Francis Gregory, John Payne Todd, David Grimm, John L. Gardner, Ebenezer Brigham, Joshua Ratoon Sands, Thomas Terry Davis, Joel Jones, Cornelius Stribling, William Berkeley Lewis, Jonathan Inslee Coddington
Entertainers: John Howard Payne, Thomas Hilson, Susan Johnstone, Noah Ludlow, Sarah Wheatley, James William Wallack, Mary Ann Duff, James H. Caldwell, David Poe Jr., Eliza Poe, Calvin Phillips, William A. Conway, Joseph Hutton, Edmund Kean, Stephen Price, Edmund Simpson, Henry John Wallack
Musicians: Anthony “Father” Heinrich, Francis Johnson, Michael Rophino Lacy, Ananias Davisson, Thomas Carr, Job Plimpton, Thomas Hastings, Charles Zuener, Francis “Frank” Johnson, Antonio Bagioli, James P. Carrell, Thomas Hastings, Christopher Meineke, John Bray
Visual Artists: Robert Mills, Anna Claypoole Peale, Thomas Sully, Alvan Fisher, John Lewis Krimmel, Angus Oblong, Christian Gobrecht, Susanna Paine, James B. Longacre, Charles Durang, Amasa Hewins, Solomon Willard, Thomas Doughty, Charles Bird King, Hezekiah Augur, Sarah Goodridge, John Frazee, Ammi Phillips, William Guy Wall, Ferdinand Durang, James Bowman, Hannah Cohoon, Bass Otis, Moritz Fuerst, Rubens Peale, Matthew Harris Jouett, William Edward West, James Frothingham, Chester Harding, Willis Buell, John Wesley Jarvis, Peter Grain
Cusp Cohorts
Preceding Microgeneration: “The Liberty Babes” (1776–1780)
Prominent “Liberty Babes”: Henry Clay Sr., Francis Scott Key, Margaret Bayard Smith, Thomas Ritchie, Amos Eaton, William Henry Ashley, Stephen Decatur, Juliana Westray, Charlotte Wrighten Placide, Mary Young Pickersgill, Roger Taney, Clement Clarke Moore, Zebulon Pike, Stephen Whitney, Obadiah Bruen Brown, Charlotte Baldwin, Joseph Funk, Rembrandt Peale, John McKinley, Nathan Appleton, Washington Allston, Joseph Warren Revere, Stephen Pleasonton, William B. Wood, Philip Trajetta, Edward Hicks, Richard Mentor Johnson, Thomas Lincoln, Mordecai Myers, Oliver Shaw, Jacob Eichholtz, Peter McQueen, Elisha Riggs, Jean Lafitte, Keokuk, John Blair Linn, William Costin, John Hartwell Cocke, Eufrosina Hinard, Jonathan Thorn, George Armistead, Micah Hawkins, James Kirke Paulding, Henry Baldwin, David Campbell, William Ellery Channing, Jean Ferdinand Rozier, Gabriel Prosser, Charles Stewart Ashworth, Josiah Butler, Chief Richard Brown of the Cherokee, John Vanderlyn, Andrew Pickens Jr., Robert Clark of Galway, John G. Jackson, Edward Lucas, James N. Ford, Richard McCarty, Joseph Story, Anson Dickinson, George Schetky, Robert Trimble, Andrew Dexter Jr., William M. Crane, William B. Bulloch, Samuel Thatcher, James M. Broom, Cowles Mead, George Wolf, “Old” Oliver Ames Sr., Benjamin Hazard, Samuel D. Purviance, William Lattimore, Daniel Hiester
Subsequent Microgeneration: “The Defiant Giants” (1794–1798)
Prominent “Defiant Giants”: James Knox Polk, Sojourner Truth, Walter Hunt, Jacob Hyer, Cornelius “The Commodore” Vanderbilt, Samuel Cornish, Amelia Holman Gilfert, Joseph Brackett, George Catlin, Johns Hopkins, Thomas Bulfinch, Horace Mann, William H. Prescott, Charles Wilkes, John Syme, Matthew C. Perry, Frances Ann Denny Drake, Robert Cooper Grier, Calvin Pollard, George Moses Horton, Margaretta Morris, Andrew Pickens Butler, William Sublette, Levi Coffin, Samuel Cooper, Elizabeth Goodridge, Anson Jones, Thurlow Weed, Silas H. Stringham, Charles Mynn Thruston, William Goode, John Winebrenner, Ethan A. Hitchcock, William “Extra Billy” Smith, Jonas Chickering, Bache McEvers, Thomas Holliday Hicks, Otis Colwell, John Joseph Abercrombie, James Murray Mason, Henry Addison of Georgetown, Charles H. Bell, George Nixon Briggs, Reverdy Johnson, Francis Kenrick, Archbishop John Joseph Hughes, William B. Ide, John Torrey, Epaphroditus Ransom, James Boggs, Edwin Vose Sumner, John M. Clayton, Peter Harvey, Joseph Pannell Taylor, Richard Barnes Mason, John Adams Dix, William Apess, McDonald Clarke, James Ferguson, Mary Lyon, James Lick, Robert F. Stockton, Cornelia Frances Jefferson, François Chouteau, James Eights, Gerrit Smith, Jacob Bailey Moore, Samuel Henry Dickson, Ohdahwe Corntassel, Richard Harlan, James Bowie, Henry Engelhard Steinway, George Peabody, Benjamin Bonneville, John Neagle, Maria Martin, Chief Oshkosh, Joseph Henry, Daniel Drew, Asher Brown Durand, John Blennerhassett Martin, David Walker of Boston, James Wallice Eastburn, Gershom Jacques Van Brunt, Richard Delafield, Hiram Paulding, Charles Simmons, Therese Albertine Luise Robinson, Jim Beckwourth, David Thompson
Click here to subscribe to my stories.
