William Pitt Ballinger

Paper Summary:

This paper examines John Antony Moretta's biography of William Pitt Ballinger in the book of the same name and attempts to put in an historical perspective the career of a legendary Texas lawyer. It discusses how Ballinger can be considered a kind of 19th century Thomas Jefferson in the breadth of his accomplishments and looks at how Ballinger's various interests and occupations included not only his career as a lawyer, public servant and civic leader, but also earlier service to his state of Texas as a solider.

From the Paper:

"Ballinger was not simply part of Texas' agrarian and agricultural past, however. Although Moretta stresses the difficulty of Texas leaving behind this part of its history, he also, through Ballinger's legal work during the Gilded Age with Industrial Revolution tycoons, shows that Ballinger was able to be flexible in his attitude and outlook, to change with the shift in economic circumstances. Ultimately, Texas, although once a slave state, emerged as one of the most economically successful parts of the former Confederacy, despite the emotional resonance slavery still carried amongst many of its subjects."

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