PAULDING, JAAtEs KIRKE (17791860). An American author. horn in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, N. Y. After a scanty educa tion, he went to New York, where. with William Irving, his brother-in-law, and with Washing ton Irving, he collaborated in Salmagundi (1807), the second series of the same (1819) be ing by Paulding alone. During the War of 1812 he published the Direrting History of John Bull and Brother .lonathan ; and in 1814 the United Slates and England. a defense against British criticisms. This work attracted attention and caused him to he appointed seeretary of the board of navy commissioners. In 1817 he published a defense of the Southern States and of slavery in Utters from. the South, by a Yorthern Man; in 1822, A Sketrh of Old England, by a England Man ; and in 1825 John Bull in America, or the .Pero Munchausen, a satire on the writings of British tourists. Meanwhile he had published his first novel, Koningsmarke (1823) ; Merry Tales of the Three Wise Men of Gotham ( 1826) folloxlisl, and other books. mainly humorous and
satirical. In 1831 he produced The Dutchman's Fin side, a novel dealing with the old Dutch set tlers. This, his best work, was followed by West ward Ho! ( 1832), a novel dealing with Kentucky. Next came a good biography of Washington (18351. and Slavery in the United States (1836). Meanwhile he had been navy agent at New York ity since 1825. a position from which he was advanced in 1837 to the post of Secretary of the Navy in Van Buren's Cabinet. On his retirement in 1841 he went to a country residence at Hyde Park. where he wrote a few stories and plays, the novel, The Puritan and His Daughter (1849), being the most conspicuous. There he died, April 6. 1860. his select works appeared in four vol nines (1867-6S). Consult Literary Life of James K. Paulding, by his son William (New York, 18(i7).