Although he had zero expectation of winning, this man ran as a third-party candidate in the Election of (*) 1876 representing the Greenback Labor Party.
This man invented a circular elevator shaft before the first elevator was even invented in expectation of the imminent invention of a mechanism to transport people up and down buildings. Shortly before his death, this man compiled his political speeches and letters into the collection Ideas for a Science of Good Government, which strongly advocated for fiat currency and condemned usury. Although he had zero expectation of winning, this man ran as a third-party candidate in the Election of (*) 1876 representing the Greenback Labor Party. This man convinced the owners of the B&amp;O railroad that steam power was effective by demonstrating his own steam-powered locomotive, called the Tom Thumb, in a wildly successful trial in 1830. A school founded by this man ended its policy of giving full scholarships to undergraduates in 2014 and was the site of a speech that ended "let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." For 10 points, name this inventor who founded a namesake university in New York where Abraham Lincoln gave a famous 1860 speech.
This man invented a circular elevator shaft before the first elevator was even invented in expectation of the imminent invention of a mechanism to transport people up and down buildings.
Peter Cooper [accept Cooper Union] 