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BANCROFT, GEORGE (1800—1891)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 309 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BANCROFT, See also:GEORGE (1800—1891) , See also:American historian and statesman, was See also:born in See also:Worcester, See also:Mass., on the 3rd of See also:October 1800. His See also:family had been in See also:America since 1632, and his See also:father, See also:Aaron Bancroft, was distinguished as a revolutionary soldier, clergyman and author. The son was educated at See also:Phillips See also:Academy, See also:Exeter, at Harvard University, at See also:Heidelberg, See also:Gottingen and See also:Berlin. At Gottingen he studied See also:Plato with See also:Heeren, New Testament See also:Greek with See also:Eichhorn and natural See also:science with See also:Blumenbach. His See also:heart was in the See also:work of Heeren, easily the greatest of See also:historical critics then living, and the forerunner of the See also:modern school; it was from this See also:master that Bancroft caught his See also:enthusiasm for See also:minute pains-taking erudition. He concluded his years of preparation by a See also:European tour, in the course of which he received See also:kind See also:attention from almost every distinguished See also:man in the See also:world of letters, science and See also:art; among others, from See also:Goethe, See also:Humboldt, See also:Schleiermacher, See also:Hegel, See also:Byron, See also:Niebuhr, See also:Bunsen, See also:Savigny, See also:Cousin, See also:Constant and See also:Manzoni. Bancroft's father was a Unitarian, and he had devoted his son to the work of the See also:ministry; but the See also:young man's first experiments at See also:preaching, shortly after his return from See also:Europe in 1822, were unsatisfactory, the theological teaching of the See also:time having substituted See also:criticism and literature for faith. His first position was that of See also:tutor in Harvard. Instinctively a humanist, he had little See also:patience with the narrow curriculum of Harvard in his See also:day and the rather pedantic spirit with which classical studies were there pursued. Moreover, he had brought from Europe a new manner, full of the affections of ardent youth, and this he wore without ease in a society highly satisfied with itself; the young See also:knight-errant was therefore subjected to considerable ridicule. A little See also:volume of See also:poetry, See also:translations and See also:original pieces, published in 1823 gave its author no fame. As time passed, and See also:custom created familiarity, his See also:style, See also:personal and See also:literary, was seen to be the outward See also:symbol of a See also:firm resolve to preserve a philosophic See also:calm, and of an enormous underlying See also:energy which spent itself in labour, " ohne Hast, aber See also:auch ohne Rast." He found the conventional See also:atmosphere of See also:Cambridge uncongenial, and with a friend he established the See also:Round See also:Hill school at See also:Northampton, Mass.

This was the first serious effort made in the See also:

United States to elevate secondary See also:education to the See also:plane on which it belonged. Although born into a Whig family, yet Bancroft's studies carried him. irresistibly into the Democratic party. Whi'e a teacher in his 'own school he was elected to the See also:state legislature as a Democrat, but under pressure from the family of his first wife, who were ardent Whigs, he refused to serve. In x831 he likewise declined the nomination of the See also:Massachusetts Democrats for secretary of state. By this time he was influential in the See also:councils of his party, and See also:President See also:Van Buren appointed him See also:collector of the See also:port of See also:Boston, a position which he filled with success. Two of his appointees were See also:Orestes See also:Brownson and Nathaniel See also:Hawthorne. In 1844 he was the Democratic See also:candidate for the governorship, but he was defeated. In 1845 he entered See also:Polk's See also:cabinet as secretary of the See also:navy, serving until 1846, when for a See also:month he was acting secretary of See also:war. During this See also:short See also:period in the cabinet he established the See also:naval academy at See also:Annapolis, gave the orders which led to the occupation of See also:California, and sent Zachary See also:Taylor into the debatable See also:land between See also:Texas and See also:Mexico. He also continued his pleadings for the See also:annexation of Texas, as extending " the See also:area of freedom," and though a Democrat, took high moral ground as to See also:slavery; he likewise made himself the authority on the See also:North-Western Boundary question. In 1846 he was sent as See also:minister to See also:London, where he lived in constant companionship with See also:Macaulay and See also:Hallam. On his return in 1849 he withdrew from public See also:life, residing in New See also:York.

In 1866 he was chosen by See also:

Congress to deliver the See also:special eulogy on See also:Lincoln; and in 1867 he was appointed minister to Berlin, where he remained until his resignation in 1874. Thenceforward he lived in See also:Washington and See also:Newport, dying at Washington on the 17th of See also:January 1891. His latest See also:official achievements were the greatest. In the See also:San Juan See also:arbitration he displayed See also:great versatility and skill, winning his See also:case before the See also:emperor with brilliant ease. The See also:naturalization See also:treaties which he negotiated successively with See also:Prussia and the other north See also:German states were the first See also:international recognition of the right of See also:expatriation, a principle since incorporated in the See also:law of nations. In spite of the exacting and severe routine of the Round Hill school, Bancroft contributed frequently to the North American See also:Review and to See also:Walsh's American Quarterly; he also made a See also:translation of Heeren's work on The Politics of See also:Ancient See also:Greece. In 1834 appeared the first volume of the See also:History of the United States. The second followed in 1837, and others as the exigencies of public life permitted Supplementary to the first volume was an See also:article published by him in the North American Review for 1835 on " The Documentary History of the Revolution." Thisarticle not merely brought the new method to the See also:notice of the See also:reading public, but revealed to it the See also:wealth of material available. The nature and extent of his studies, the solidity of his work, and the philosophic spirit which animates both, explain the enthusiasm with which the earlier volumes of Bancroft were received. Their See also:sale at See also:home was very large; they were re-printed in See also:England and translated immediately into Danish, See also:Italian, German and See also:French. The latest volumes were considered by all competent See also:judges quite as important as their predecessors. When the author was preparing to return from Berlin, the Royal Academy made him their See also:guest at a public See also:dinner, an unprecedented See also:honour; and the See also:universities of Berlin, Heidelberg and See also:Munich united in a testimonial of regard.

At Washington he was the confidential advisor of statesmen to the end of his life and the unofficial See also:

dean of the best society. Bancroft's historical creed is best set forth in the address he delivered on the semi-centennial of the New York Historical Society in 1854. In See also:philosophy he found the basis for positing a collective human will, revealing in its activities the materials for determining ethical See also:laws. Since there must be the same conservation of energy in morals as elsewhere, the eternal See also:reason is the divine See also:Logos. History, therefore, is See also:God working in examples. It must be a unit, its forces constant and its totality an organic whole. Within this the individual moves and acts with See also:liberty and responsibility; for each, in will, See also:affection and See also:intellect is consubstantial with the See also:rest. Truth, morals and See also:justice are subject to no See also:evolution; but the collective man evolves better forms of knowledge and behaviour. The organization of society, therefore, produces successive states, in each of which the principle of freedom is better established than in the antecedent. Permanency in republican See also:government is, therefore, based upon corresponding experience and culture, and its possibilities grow ever stronger. The relation of American See also:democracy to the systems which have preceded it forms the latest See also:proof of these contentions. As Heeren's See also:pupil, he laid enormous stress on the importance of original authorities.

In dealing with documentary See also:

evidence he sought to apply very stringent rules:—(1) Carefully distinguish between original authority and historical memorials or See also:aids; for example, between a fact recorded at first- or second-See also:hand knowledge, and a decision of principle by authority. (2) Represent every man from his own standpoint; See also:judge him from your own. His collections of original materials were vast; beginning with his See also:residence in England, he brought together at enormous pains and expense the authenticated copies of archives, family papers, and personal See also:journals written by historic personages, which now constitute an invaluable treasure in the New York public library. They are from every land and from every See also:people with which American origins are connected. His use of this material was not always according to accepted See also:standards. To avoid dryness and prolixity he condensed quotations, and occasionally employed the Thucydidean method of abridgment or See also:representation in See also:place of fact catalogues. During his See also:long life enormous strides were made by others in See also:collecting the materials of American history, and while in the See also:main he kept See also:pace with them by ruthless revision, yet even the latest edition of his work disregards some See also:minor facts which others knew for the insertion of much which the author alone knew. Bancroft's See also:imagination and enthusiasm were alike exuberant. His pages abound in See also:fine and acute insight. His generalizations are vivid and enlightening. He spared no pains to acquire true -style, frequently rewriting his chapters, and sometimes testing passages of philosophy and description in eight different forms. Yet to a certain extent he lacked the representative See also:power and often failed to conceal his art, many pages ringing with artificial tones.

But, after making all allowances, it remains true that he had a pefect sense of proportion, See also:

sound See also:maxims and thorough See also:common-sense. He was of that greatest human type: a man of the See also:present, valuing justly the past and no dreamer. In the nature and extent of his studies, in the solidity of his work, and in the philosophic spirit which animated his life he ranks as the foremost historian of the United States, and as an American historian second to none of his European contemporaries in the same See also:line. He displayed the heroic, epic value of American history, its unity with the great central stream, and dispelled for ever the extravagant conceptions of a sentimental world just emerging from the visionary philosophy of the 18th See also:century. See M. A. de See also:Wolfe See also:Howe, The Life and Letters of George Bancroft (New York, 1908). (W. M.

End of Article: BANCROFT, GEORGE (1800—1891)

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