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EVERETT, EDWARD (1794–1865)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 9 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EVERETT, See also:EDWARD (1794–1865) , See also:American statesman and ,orator, was See also:born in See also:Dorchester, See also:Massachusetts, on the nth of See also:April 1794. He was the son of Rev. See also:Oliver Everett and the See also:brother of See also:Alexander See also:Hill Everett (q.v.). His See also:father died in 1802, and his See also:mother removed to See also:Boston with her See also:family after her See also:husband's See also:death. At seventeen Edward Everett graduated from Harvard See also:College, taking first honours in his class. While at college he was the See also:chief editor of The See also:Lyceum, the earliest in the See also:series of college See also:journals published at the American See also:Cambridge. His earlier predilections were for the study of See also:law, but the See also:advice of See also:Joseph See also:Stevens Buckminster, a distinguished preacher in Boston, led him to prepare for the See also:pulpit, and as a preacher he at once distinguished himself. He was called to the See also:ministry of the Brattle See also:Street See also:church (Unitarian) in Boston before he was twenty years old. His sermons attracted wide See also:attention in that community, and he gained a considerable reputation as a theologian and a controversialist by his publication in 1814 of a See also:volume entitled See also:Defence of See also:Christianity, written in See also:answer to a See also:work, The Grounds of Christianity Examined (1813), by See also:George See also:Bethune See also:English (1787–1828), an adventurer, who, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was in turn a student of law and of See also:theology, an editor of a newspaper, and a soldier of See also:fortune in See also:Egypt. Everett's tastes, however, were then, as always, those of a See also:scholar; and in 1815, after a service of little more than a See also:year in the pulpit, he resigned his See also:charge to accept a professorship of See also:Greek literature in Harvard College. After nearly five years spent in See also:Europe in preparation, he entered with See also:enthusiasm on his duties, and, for five years more, gave a vigorous impulse, not only to the study of Greek, but to all the work of the college. In See also:January 182o he assumed the charge of the See also:North American See also:Review, which now became aby treaty).

In 1835 he was elected See also:

governor of Massachusetts. He brought to the duties of the See also:office the untiring See also:diligence which was the characteristic of his public See also:life. We can only allude to a few of the See also:measures which received his efficient support, e.g. the See also:establishment of the See also:board of See also:education (the first of such boards in the See also:United States), the scientific surveys of the See also:state (the first of such public surveys), the criminal law See also:commission, and the preservation of a See also:sound currency during the panic of 1837. Everett filled the office of governor for four years, and was then defeated by a single See also:vote, out of more than one See also:hundred thousand. The See also:election is of See also:interest historically as being the first important American election where the issue turned on the question of the See also:prohibition of the See also:retail See also:sale of intoxicating liquors. In the following See also:spring he made a visit with his family to Europe. In 1841, while residing in See also:Florence, he was named United States See also:minister to See also:Great See also:Britain, and arrived in See also:London to enter upon the duties of his See also:mission at the See also:close of that year. Great questions were at that See also:time open between the two countries—the north-eastern boundary, the affair of M'Leod, the seizure of American vessels on the See also:coast of See also:Africa, in the course of a few months the affair of the " See also:Creole," to which was soon added the See also:Oregon question. His position was more difficult by See also:reason of the frequent changes that took See also:place in the See also:department at See also:home, which, in the course of four years, was occupied successively by Messrs See also:Webster, See also:Legare, Upshur, See also:Calhoun and See also:Buchanan. From all these gentlemen Everett received marks of approbation and confidence. By the institution of the See also:special mission of See also:Lord See also:Ashburton, however, the See also:direct negotiations between the two governments were, about the time of Everett's arrival in London, transferred to See also:Washington, though much business was transacted at the American See also:legation in London. Immediately after the See also:accession of See also:Polk to the See also:presidency Everett was recalled.

From January 1846 to 1849, as the successor of See also:

Josiah Quiney, he was See also:president of Harvard College. On the death, in See also:October 1852, of his friend See also:Daniel Webster, to whom he had always been closely attached, and of whom he was always a confidential adviser, he succeeded him as secretary of state, which See also:post he held for the remaining months of See also:Fillmore's See also:administration, leaving it to go into the See also:Senate in 1853, as one of the representatives of Massachusetts. Under the work of the See also:long session of 1853–1854 his See also:health gave way. In May 1854 he resigned his seat, on the orders of his physician, and retired to what was called private life. But, as it proved, the remaining ten years of his life most widely established his reputation and See also:influence throughout See also:America. As See also:early as 182o he had established a reputation as an orator; such as few men in later days have enjoyed. He was frequently invited to deliver an " oration " on some topic of See also:historical or other interest. With him these "orations," instead of being the ephemeral entertainments of an See also:hour, became careful studies of some important theme. Eager to avert, if possible, the impending conflict of arms between the North and See also:South, Everett quarterly; and he was indefatigable during the' four years of his editorship in contributing on a great variety of subject's. From 1825 to 1835 he was a member of the See also:National See also:House of Representatives, supporting generally the administration of President J. Q. See also:Adams and opposing that of See also:Jackson, which succeeded it.

He See also:

bore a See also:part in almost every important debate, and was a member of the See also:committee of See also:foreign affairs during the whole time of his service in See also:Congress. Everett. was a member of nearly all the most important select committees, such as those on the See also:Indian relations of the state of See also:Georgia, the See also:Apportionment See also:Bill, and the See also:Bank of the United States, and See also:drew the See also:report either of the See also:majority or the minority. The report on the congress of See also:Panama, the leading measure of the first session of the Nineteenth Congress, was See also:drawn up by Everett, although he was the youngest member of the committee and had just entered Congress. He led the unsuccessful opposition to the Indian policy of See also:General Jackson (the removal of the See also:Cherokee and other See also:Indians, without their consent, from lands guaranteed to them prepared an " oration " on George Washington, which he de-livered in every part of America. In this way, too, he raised more than one hundred thousand dollars, for the See also:purchase of the old home of Washington at See also:Mount See also:Vernon. Everett also prepared for the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannica a See also:biographical See also:sketch of Washington, which was published separately in 1860. In 186o Everett was the See also:candidate of the See also:short-lived Constitutional-See also:Union party for the See also:vice-presidency, on the See also:ticket with See also:John See also:Bell (q.v.), but received only 39 electoral votes. During the See also:Civil See also:War he zealously supported the national See also:government and was called upon in every See also:quarter to speak at public meetings. He delivered the last of his great orations at See also:Gettysburg, after the See also:battle, on the See also:consecration of the national See also:cemetery there. On the 9th of January x865 he spoke at a public See also:meeting in Boston to raise funds for the See also:southern poor in See also:Savannah. At that meeting he caught See also:cold, and the immediate result was his death on the 15th of January 1865. In Everett's life and career was a See also:combination of the results of diligent training, unflinching See also:industry, delicate See also:literary tastes and unequalled acquaintance with See also:modern See also:international politics.

This combination made him in America an entirely exceptional See also:

person. He was never loved by the See also:political managers; he was always enthusiastically received by assemblies of the See also:people. He would have said himself that the most eager wish of his life had been for the higher education of his countrymen. His orations have been collected in four volumes (1850-1859). A work on international law, on which he was engaged at his death, was never finished. See also:Allibone records 84 titles of his books and published addresses. (E. E.

End of Article: EVERETT, EDWARD (1794–1865)

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