ABSTRACT
Charles Augustus Davis was born in New Jersey in 1795. By the time he published his first "J. Downing, Major" letter in 1833, he had become a prominent member of the silk-stocking community in New York City. An enemy of everything democratic, Davis was a wealthy Whig and a close friend of the aristocratic Philip Hone. Davis was a member of the Bread-and-Cheese Club, organized by James Fenimore Cooper, and the Book Club, along with such notables as Washington Irving. Davis's J. Downing letters helped solidify his position as a leading conservative Whig in New York. In 1842, Davis was given one of two places of honor among a select group of twenty-four Whigs chosen to host a visit to New York by Daniel Webster. In addition to his Downing letters, Davis is generally recognized as the pseudonymous author of three pamphlets on finance. Davis died in 1867.
