He was elected in 1875 as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut where he worked to improve the water supply, bring gas lighting to streets, and enforce liquor and prostitution laws. It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab, or a Hottentot-it is still an immortal spirit'. He spoke before the legislature concerning the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude: 'A human soul, 'that God has created and Christ died for,' is not to be trifled with. His museum added America's first aquarium and expanded the wax-figure department.īarnum served two terms in the Connecticut legislature in 1865 as a Republican for Fairfield, Connecticut. He suffered economic reversals in the 1850s due to bad investments, as well as years of litigation and public humiliation, but he used a lecture tour as a temperance speaker to emerge from debt. In 1850, he promoted the American tour of Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind, paying her an unprecedented $1,000 a night for 150 nights. He used the museum as a platform to promote hoaxes and human curiosities such as the Fiji mermaid and General Tom Thumb. He embarked on an entertainment career, first with a variety troupe called 'Barnum's Grand Scientific and Musical Theater', and soon after by purchasing Scudder's American Museum which he renamed after himself. He is widely credited with coining the adage ' There's a sucker born every minute', although no evidence has been collected of him saying this.īarnum became a small business owner in his early twenties and founded a weekly newspaper before moving to New York City in 1834.

and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me.' According to his critics, his personal aim was 'to put money in his own coffers'. He was also an author, publisher, and philanthropist, though he said of himself: 'I am a showman by profession . Phineas Taylor Barnum ( / ˈ b ɑːr n ə m/ J– April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey.

The Life of P. T. Barnum by P.T. Barnum