Editing Henry George (section)

==Political career==
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| footer = [[Governor of California|California Governors]] [[Henry Huntly Haight]] and [[William Irwin (California politician)|William Irwin]], who fostered George's early political career
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George first ran for public office in 1869, when he sought the Democratic nomination for [[California State Assembly|State Assembly]]. However, he refused to pay the party's assessment fee, and was therefore ineligible for consideration.<ref>{{cite book |last=George |first=Henry Jr. |title=The Life of Henry George |date=1900 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435008600934&seq=226 |location=New York |publisher=[[Robert Schalkenbach Foundation]] |page=206 |accessdate=8 October 2024}}</ref> Despite this setback, he remained active in the [[California Democratic Party]]. Governor [[Henry Huntly Haight]], impressed by the young journalist, recruited George to manage the party's newspaper in [[Sacramento]], and in 1871 he served as secretary of the Democratic state convention as it renominated Haight. Later that year, he finally received the party's nomination for State Assembly, but was defeated alongside the rest of the ticket in a [[1871 California gubernatorial election|Republican landslide]].<ref>{{cite book |last=George |first=Henry Jr. |title=The Life of Henry George |date=1900 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435008600934&seq=231 |location=New York |publisher=[[Robert Schalkenbach Foundation]] |pages=211–218 |accessdate=8 October 2024}}</ref>

In the [[1875 California gubernatorial election|1875 election]], George campaigned for [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[William Irwin (California politician)|William Irwin]], who handily won thanks to [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] vote splitting. A few months later, George was forced to give up the ''Evening Post'' due to a financial dispute with [[U.S. Senator]] [[John P. Jones (Nevada politician)|John P. Jones]]. Unable to find work or provide for his family, George wrote to Governor Irwin, who rewarded him with the office of State Inspector of Gas Meters.<ref>{{cite book |last=George |first=Henry Jr. |title=The Life of Henry George |date=1900 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435008600934&seq=267 |location=New York |publisher=[[Robert Schalkenbach Foundation]] |pages=247–249 |accessdate=8 October 2024}}</ref> George held that office from 1876<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=8 January 1876 |title=News of the morning |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18760108.2.19&srpos=4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22inspector+of+gas+meters%22+george----1876--- |work=[[The Sacramento Union|The Sacramento Daily Union]] |location=Sacramento |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref> to 1880,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=10 April 1880 |title=A successor for Henry George |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBWP18800410.2.72&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22inspector+of+gas+meters%22+george------- |work=Santa Barbara Weekly Press |location=Santa Barbara |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref> during which he was able to write ''Progress and Poverty''.

Around the same time, the [[Anti-Chinese sentiment|anti-Chinese]] [[Workingmen's Party of California|Workingmen's Party]] led by [[Denis Kearney]] was seeing a meteoric rise in popularity. George supported the party and endorsed their platform,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=20 May 1878 |title=Does he mean to resign? |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18780520.2.10&srpos=4&e=------187-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22harry+george%22----1878--- |work=[[The Sacramento Union|The Sacramento Daily Union]] |location=Sacramento |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref> but took issue with Kearney himself. When [[California Constitutional Conventions#Sacramento Convention of 1878–79|California's Second Constitutional Convention]] was called in 1878, George was nominated as a delegate on both the Democratic and Workingmen's tickets, but lost the latter's nomination after he refused to recognize Kearney as leader of the party.<ref name=Kearney>{{cite book |last=George |first=Henry Jr. |title=The Life of Henry George |date=1900 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435008600934&seq=318 |location=New York |publisher=[[Robert Schalkenbach Foundation]] |pages=298–300 |accessdate=8 October 2024}}</ref> While an anti-Kearney faction still nominated him,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=4 June 1878 |title=Convention of the Workingmen's Party |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18780604.2.5&srpos=3&e=------187-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22harry+george%22----1878--- |work=[[The Daily Alta California]] |location=San Francisco |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref> his refusal to toe the party line cost him the election, though he still polled the highest of any Democrat in the district.<ref name=Kearney/>

When the [[California State Legislature]] convened in [[1881 United States Senate election in California|1881]] to elect a [[U.S. Senator]], [[California State Senator|State Senator]] [[Warren Chase]] nominated George. In his nomination speech, Chase eulogized George as follows:

{{blockquote|He has in knowledge of American and European history no superior in this State. He is a man who can be an honor to the State and nation and to the United States Senate, and an honor to himself; a man whose heart beats in sympathy with the great body of the people; a man who is eminently like unto that greatest of modern men—Abraham Lincoln; a man who, if the people were to select, would be selected as the champion of their rights; a man—a man who has already gained a national reputation as the ablest political economist of America, standing the peer of John Stuart Mill, Ricardo and Adam Smith, and all the writers of history on political economy.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=15 January 1881 |title=Henry George |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=RBS18810115.2.9&srpos=3&e=------188-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22henry+george%22+senate----1881--- |work=Red Bluff Sentinel |location=Red Bluff |access-date=7 October 2024}}</ref>}}

George only received two votes out of 40 cast in the [[California State Senate|State Senate]]; one from Chase, and the other from fellow Workingmen's Senator [[California's 12th senatorial district|Joseph C. Gorman]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=12 January 1881 |title=The State Legislature |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJH18810112.2.13&srpos=1&e=------188-en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22henry+george%22+senate----1881--- |work=San Jose Herald |location=San Jose |access-date=7 October 2024}}</ref>

In 1880, now a popular writer and speaker,<ref>According to his granddaughter [[Agnes de Mille]], ''Progress and Poverty'' and its successors made Henry George the third most famous man in the US, behind only [[Mark Twain]] and [[Thomas Edison]]. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060203164125/http://www.henrygeorgefoundation.us/]}}</ref> George moved to New York City, becoming closely allied with the [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalist]] community despite being of [[English Americans|English]] ancestry. From there he made several speaking journeys abroad to places such as Ireland and [[Scotland]] where access to land was (and still is) a major political issue.

[[File:Henry George 1897 by Walter Russell.jpg|thumb|200px|Campaigning for mayor in 1897, just before his death]]
[[1886 New York City mayoral election|In 1886]], George campaigned for mayor of New York City as the candidate of the United Labor Party, the short-lived political society of the [[United Labor Party (New York)|United Labor Party]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Genovese|first=Frank C.|date=1991|title=Henry George and Organized Labor: The 19th Century Economist and Social Philosopher Championed Labor's Cause, but Used Its Candidacy for Propaganda|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3487043|journal=The American Journal of Economics and Sociology|volume=50|issue=1|pages=113–127|doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.1991.tb02500.x|jstor=3487043|issn=0002-9246}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=O’Donnell|first=Edward|date=October 22, 2015|title=Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?402336-1/henry-george-crisis-inequality|access-date=November 7, 2021|website=www.c-span.org|language=en-us}}</ref> He polled second, more than the Republican candidate [[Theodore Roosevelt]]. The election was won by [[Tammany Hall]] candidate [[Abram Stevens Hewitt]] by what many of George's supporters believed was fraud. {{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} In the [[New York state election, 1887|1887 New York state elections]], George came in a distant third in the election for [[Secretary of State of New York]].<ref name="anb.org" /><ref>''Dictionary of American Biography,'' s.v. "George, Henry," 214–215.</ref> The United Labor Party was soon weakened by internal divisions: the management was essentially Georgist, but as a party of organized labor it also included some [[Marxist]] members who did not want to distinguish between land and [[Capital (economics)|capital]], many [[Catholic]] members who were discouraged by the excommunication of Father [[Edward McGlynn]], and many who disagreed with George's free trade policy. George had particular trouble with [[Terrence Powderly|Terrence V. Powderly]], president of the [[Knights of Labor]], a key member of the United Labor coalition. While initially friendly with Powderly, George vigorously opposed the tariff policies which Powderly and many other labor leaders thought vital to the protection of American workers. George's strident criticism of the tariff set him against Powderly and others in the labor movement.<ref>Robert E. Weir, "A Fragile Alliance: Henry George and the Knights of Labor," ''American Journal of Economics and Sociology'' 56, no. 4 (Oct. 1997), 423–426.</ref> [[New York City mayoral elections#1897 to 1913|In 1897]], George again ran for mayor of New York City. However, he had his fatal stroke during the campaign.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historical Echoes: Henry George – NYC Mayoral Candidate and Best-Selling, Self-Educated Political Economist - Liberty Street Economics |url=https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2012/01/historical-echoes-henry-george-nyc-mayoral-candidate-and-best-selling-self-educated-political-econom.html |website=libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org |date=January 6, 2012 |access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref><ref name=sullivan1>{{cite book |last1=Morton |first1=Richard Allen |title=Roger C. Sullivan and the Making of the Chicago Democratic Machine, 1881–1908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xA7MDAAAQBAJ |publisher=McFarland |access-date=May 11, 2020 |pages=108 |language=en |year=2016|isbn=9781476663777 }}</ref>

During George's life, communities in Delaware and Alabama were developed based on his single tax on land and this legacy continued through applications in a number of areas around the world, including Australia, New Zealand and [[Taiwan]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|pages=301}}</ref>