"The Southern States are already the Ireland of the Union." : Richard Henry Wilde

Richard Henry Wilde (1789-1847) was regarded as one of the finest American poets of his day.  Born in Ireland, he settled in Georgia and served several terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican and later Jacksonian Democrat.  He supported William H. Crawford for president in 1824.  Wilde left the United States for Europe in 1835 then returned in 1843 where he resided in New Orleans and served as professor of law at Tulane University.

Lord Byron called Wilde’s “My Life is Like the Summer Rose” (printed below) the best poem to come from the United States.  Wilde was truly a Renaissance Man; a gifted poet, student of law, and astute social and political critic.  Also printed below is a letter he wrote after the disputed and corrupt election of John Quincy Adams in 1824.  To Wilde, it was already clear that the South was “the Ireland of the Union” and that the game was rigged in Washington D.C.  The two parties were in fact one with the sole object of enriching themselves at the expense of the Constitution.  Shortly before Wilde penned this letter, Thomas Jefferson had written to Crawford that: