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DANA, FRANCIS (1743-1811)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 792 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DANA, See also:FRANCIS (1743-1811) , See also:American jurist, was See also:born in See also:Charlestown, See also:Massachusetts, on the 13th of See also:June 1743. He was the son of See also:Richard Dana (1699-1772), a See also:leader of the Massachusetts provincial See also:bar, and a vigorous See also:advocate of colonial rights in the pre-revolutionary See also:period. Francis Dana graduated at Harvard in 1762, was admitted to the bar in 1767, and, being an opponent of the See also:British colonial policy, became a leader of the Sons of See also:Liberty, and in 1774 was a member of the first See also:pro-. vincial See also:congress of Massachusetts. During a two years' visit to See also:England he sought earnestly to gain See also:friends to his See also:colony's cause, but returned to See also:Boston in See also:April 1776 convinced that a friendly See also:settlement of the dispute was impossible. He was a member of the Massachusetts executive See also:council from 1776 to 1780, and a delegate to the See also:Continental Congress from 1776 to 1778. As a member of the latter See also:body he became chairman in See also:January 1778 of the See also:committee appointed to visit See also:Washington at Valley Forge, and confer with him concerning the reorganization of the See also:army. This committee spent about three months in See also:camp, and assisted Washington in preparing the See also:plan of reorganization which Congress in the See also:main adopted. In this See also:year he was also a member of a committee to consider See also:Lord See also:North's offer of conciliation, which he vigorously opposed. In the autumn of 1779 he was appointed secretary to See also:John See also:Adams, who had been selected as See also:minister plenipotentiary to negotiate See also:treaties of See also:peace and See also:commerce with See also:Great See also:Britain, and in See also:December 178o he was appointed See also:diplomatic representative to the See also:Russian See also:government. He remained at St See also:Petersburg from 1781 to 1783, but was never formally received by the empress See also:Catherine. In See also:February 1784 he was again chosen a delegate to Congress, and in January 1785 he became a See also:justice of the Massachusetts supreme See also:court. He was See also:chief justice of this court from 1791 to 1806, and presided with ability and rare distinction.

He was an See also:

earnest advocate of the See also:adoption of the Federal constitution, was a member of the Massachusetts See also:convention which ratified that See also:instrument, and was one of the most influential advisers of the leaders of the Federalist party. His tastes were scholarly, and he was one of the founders of the American See also:Academy of Arts and Sciences. He died at See also:Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 25th of April 1811. His son, RICHARD See also:HENRY DANA (1787-1879), was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 15th of See also:November 1787. Hewas educated at Harvard in the class of s8o8. Subsequently he studied See also:law and in 1811 was admitted to practice. But all other interests were See also:early subordinated to his love of literature, to which the greater See also:part of his See also:long See also:life was devoted. He became in 1814 a member of a See also:literary society in Cambridge, known as the See also:Anthology See also:Club. This club began the publication of a monthly See also:magazine, The Monthly Anthology, which gave way in 1815 to The North American See also:Review. In the editorial See also:control of this periodical he was associated with Jared See also:Sparks and See also:Edward T. Charming (1790-1856) until 1821, contributing essays and criticisms which attracted wide See also:attention. In 1821-1822 he edited in New See also:York a See also:short-lived literary magazine, The Idle See also:Man.

He published his first See also:

volume of Poems in 1827, and in 1833 appeared his Poems and See also:Prose Writings, republished in 185o in two volumes, in which were included practically all of his poems and of his prose contributions to periodical literature. Although the bulk of his published writings was not large, his See also:influence on American literature during the first See also:half of the ,9th See also:century was surpassed by that of few of his contemporaries.

End of Article: DANA, FRANCIS (1743-1811)

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