From Canal Boy to President

From Canal Boy to President

One of the more common campaign items for James Garfield is a token that celebrates Garfield’s humble beginnings working as a tow boy on the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal.

   

After President Garfield’s assassination in 1881, the theme from Garfield’s campaign became the perfect basis for a biography by the popular children’s author, Horatio Alger Jr.

Horatio Alger Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific American author whose writings were characterized by a "rags-to-riches" narrative.  In January 1867, the first of 12 installments of Ragged Dick appeared in a magazine, Student and Schoolmate. The story, about a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability, was a huge success. It was expanded and published as a novel in 1868.  It proved to be Alger’s best-selling work, and a model for his many children’s novels that followed.

In 1881, Alger wrote “From Canal Boy to President; or, The Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield.”

The book sold well, but more factual biographies are available.