Posted 2 years ago
TomTopol
(36 items)
Rare US passport of its Legation in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. Issued by Ambassador Breckinridge in 1895.
The Breckinridge family exerted a powerful influence in the divided slave state of Kentucky, with Breckinridge County dating back well before its current constitution of 1799. They were viewed as southern aristocracy, counting many Confederate generals among their cousins. But family members also fought in the Union army and supported Lincoln throughout the conflict.
Clifton Rodes Breckinridge (November 22, 1846 – December 3, 1932) was a Democratic alderman, congressman, diplomat, businessman, and veteran of the Confederate Army and Navy. He was a member of the prominent Breckinridge family, the son of Vice President of the United States and Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, and the great-grandson of U.S. Senator and Attorney General of the United States John Breckinridge.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the Confederate Army with his father and was later a midshipman in the Confederate Navy.
Breckinridge resigned from the House of Representatives in 1894 before his final term's expiration to accept President Cleveland's nomination as Minister to Russia, where he served until 1897. As Minister, he could send reports on Russian aims back to Washington, D.C. His warnings about the end of friendly relations between Russia and China due to Russia's expansion into China did not affect any change in the United States foreign policy due to its then-prevailing isolationism. Because of this, Breckinridge primarily dealt with routine problems of trade and immigration. He was less successful in handling the ceremonial and social aspects of diplomacy in Saint Petersburg, as the expense of entertaining amidst the splendor of the aristocratic Russian capital was beyond his means. This was particularly true during the rich festivities that marked the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna in 1896. To his chagrin, Breckinridge had to wear ceremonial knee breeches required by the protocol at the coronation. Breckinridge feared his former constituents in Arkansas would never understand his elaborate attire.
In 1900, he was appointed to a position on the Dawes Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory. Given the responsibility of distributing individual allotments of tribal land to the Cherokee, Breckinridge and other commissioners were charged with fraudulently acquiring Indian lands in 1903. An investigation handled by the Department of Justice cleared Breckinridge of illegal actions, and he left the commission in 1905.
After resigning from the Dawes Commission, Breckinridge founded the Arkansas Valley Trust Company in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he served as president until 1914. He was a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention from 1917 to 1918, where he convinced fellow delegates to approve a unicameral legislature. However, the provision was later rescinded. He was widowed in 1921 and lived in Fort Smith until 1925, when he moved to Hyden, Kentucky, to live with his daughter, Mary Breckinridge, founder of the Frontier Nursing Service. At first, they lived in the first Midwife Clinic with the nurses while the big log cabin was built in Wendover. Clifton looked after the horses for the first frontier nurses. He died in Wendover on December 3, 1932, at age eighty-six. He was interred at Lexington Cemetery among several family members, including his wife and children. His Fort Smith house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A fantastic passport of a southern aristocracy family and just new in my collection.
