Edward Everett.html

 
ca de en es fr it nl no pl pt ru ro fi sv tr vo


 

Edward Everett
Edward Everett

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 4th district
In office
March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1835
Preceded by Timothy Fuller
Succeeded by Samuel Hoar

In office
January 13, 1836 – January 18, 1840
Lieutenant George Hull
Preceded by Samuel Turell Armstrong (acting)
Succeeded by Marcus Morton

In office
November 6, 1852 – March 3, 1853
President Millard Fillmore
Preceded by Daniel Webster
Succeeded by William L. Marcy

In office
March 4, 1853 – June 1, 1854
Preceded by John Davis
Succeeded by Julius Rockwell

Born April 11, 1794
Boston, Massachusetts
Died January 15, 1865 (aged 70)
Boston, Massachusetts
Political party Whig
Spouse Charlotte Gray Brooks
Children Anne Gorham Everett
Charlotte Brooks Everett
Grace Webster Everett
Edward Brooks Everett
Henry Sidney Everett
William Everett
Alma mater Harvard University
Occupation Professor, University President
Religion Unitarian
Signature Edward Everett's signature

Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was a Whig Party politician from Massachusetts. Everett was elected to the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, and also served as President of Harvard University, United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Britain, and Governor of Massachusetts before being appointed United States Secretary of State by President Millard Fillmore to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Daniel Webster. Mentioned in the book "The Perfect Tribute," Everett was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States in the 1860 election on the Constitutional Union ticket. In 1863 he delivered a two-hour Gettysburg Oration that has been eclipsed in history by President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which Everett praised as superior to his own. He was the father of congressman William Everett and the great uncle of Edward Everett Hale.

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to the Rev. Oliver Everett and Lucy (Hill) Everett, he attended Boston Latin School and graduated as the valedictorian from Harvard University in 1811, studied theology under the urging of the Rev. Joseph Stevens Buckminster, and was ordained pastor of the Brattle Street Unitarian Church, Boston, in 1814. He was the first American to receive a Ph.D.. His brother Alexander Hill Everett was a noted diplomatist and man of letters.

Marriage and children

On May 8, 1822 Edward Everett married Charlotte Gray Brooks, daughter of Peter Chardon Brooks and Ann Gorham. They had six children:

  1. Anne Gorham Everett March 3, 1823  – October 18, 1854
  2. Charlotte Brooks Everett August 13, 1825 – December 15, 1879 married U.S. Navy Captain Henry Augustus Wise.
  3. Grace Webster Everett December 24, 1827 – 1836
  4. Edward Brooks Everett May 6, 1830 – November 5, 1861 married Helen Cordis Adams
  5. Henry Sidney Everett December 31, 1834 – October 4, 1898 married Katherine Pickman Fay.
  6. William Everett October 10, 1839 – February 16, 1910

Harvard University service and early political career

Everett was a professor of Greek literature at Harvard University, an overseer of the University, and its president from 1846 to 1849. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served from March 4, 1825 to March 3, 1835. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1834.

High political ranks

Edward Everett

Everett served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1836–1840. He was then appointed United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain from 1841 to 1845 and declined a commission to China in 1843. He served as president of Harvard University from 1846–1849.

In 1852 he was appointed United States Secretary of State by President Millard Fillmore to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Daniel Webster, and served until the end of the Fillmore Administration, March 3, 1853. He was elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1853, until his resignation, effective June 1, 1854. On Thursday, April 6, 1854, he presented a petition from the people of Dedham against the Missouri Compromise and one from the people of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in favor of securing religious freedom for Americans abroad.1

Everett was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States in the 1860 election on the Constitutional Union ticket.

Educationist work

Edward Everett

Everett went to Germany to take courses and returned to this country as the first American to receive a Ph.D. degree. Eventually, 10,000 of America’s wealthiest families would send their sons to obtain the Ph.D. in Prussian universities.

Implementation of the Prussian education system was to become the goal of Edward Everett, America’s first Ph.D. As Governor of Massachusetts, Everett had to deal with the problem of the influx of poor Irish Catholics into his state (as a result of the Irish Potato Famine). In 1852, with the support of Horace Mann, another strong advocate of the Prussian model, Everett made the decision to adopt the Prussian system of education in Massachusetts.

Shortly after Everett and Mann began to adopt the Prussian system, the Governor of New York set up the same method in 12 different New York schools on a trial basis.

Evertt died in Boston and is interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Notes

  1. ^ "Thirty-Third Congress". The New York Times. April 7, 1854.

References

  • Bush, Philippa Call, and Anne Gorham Everett. Memoir of Anne Gorham Everett; With Extracts from Her Correspondence and Journal. Boston: Priv. print, 1857. googlebooks Retrieved December 6, 2008
  • "Thirty-Third Congress". The New York Times. April 7, 1854. 

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Timothy Fuller
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 4th congressional district

March 4, 1825–March 3, 1835
Succeeded by
Levi Lincoln, Jr.
Political offices
Preceded by
Samuel Turell Armstrong
Governor of Massachusetts
January 13, 1836 – January 18, 1840
Succeeded by
Marcus Morton
Preceded by
Daniel Webster
United States Secretary of State
November 6, 1852–March 3, 1853
Succeeded by
William L. Marcy
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Andrew Stevenson
U.S. Minister to Great Britain
1841 – 1845
Succeeded by
Louis McLane
United States Senate
Preceded by
John Davis
United States Senator (Class 2) from Massachusetts
March 4, 1853–June 1, 1854
Served alongside: Charles Sumner
Succeeded by
Julius Rockwell
Party political offices
Preceded by
Andrew Jackson Donelson
Whig Party vice presidential candidate
1860 (lost)
Succeeded by
(none)
Preceded by
(none)
Constitutional Union Party vice presidential candidate
1860 (lost)
Academic offices
Preceded by
Josiah Quincy III
President of Harvard University
1846–1849
Succeeded by
Jared Sparks
All Right Reserved © 2007, Designed by Stylish Blog.