Edward Everett
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| Edward Everett | |
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| In office March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1835 |
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| Preceded by | Timothy Fuller |
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| Succeeded by | Samuel Hoar |
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| In office January 13, 1836 – January 18, 1840 |
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| Lieutenant | George Hull |
| Preceded by | Samuel Turell Armstrong (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Marcus Morton |
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| In office November 6, 1852 – March 3, 1853 |
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| Preceded by | Daniel Webster |
| Succeeded by | William L. Marcy |
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| In office March 4, 1853 – June 1, 1854 |
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| Preceded by | John Davis |
| Succeeded by | Julius Rockwell |
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| Born | April 11, 1794 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | January 15, 1865 (aged 70) Boston, Massachusetts |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse | Charlotte Gray Brooks |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Professor, University President |
| Religion | Unitarian |
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.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Marriage and children
On 8 May 1822 Edward Everett married Charlotte Gray Brooks, daughter of Peter Chardon Brooks and Ann Gorham. They had six children:
- Anne Gorham Everett 1823 – October 18, 1854
- Charlotte Brooks Everett August 13, 1825 – December 15, 1879 married U.S. Navy Captain Henry Augustus Wise.
- Grace Webster Everett December 24, 1827 – 1836
- Edward Brooks Everett May 6, 1830 – November 5, 1861 married Helen Cordis Adams
- Henry Sidney Everett December 31, 1834 – October 4, 1898 married Katherine Pickman Fay.
- William Everett October 10, 1839 – February 16, 1910
[edit] 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.
[edit] High political ranks
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.
[edit] Educationist work
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.
[edit] Gettysburg Oration
Everett was considered the nation's greatest orator of his time, when oratory was at its modern peak. As such, he was invited to give the main speech at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on September 23, 1863, following the Battle of Gettysburg. He told the organizing committee that he would be unable to prepare an appropriate speech in such a short period of time, and requested that the date be postponed. The committee agreed, and the dedication was postponed until November 19. Almost as an afterthought, David Wills, the president of the committee, asked President Abraham Lincoln to make a "few appropriate remarks."
Everett spoke for two hours, and contemporary accounts of the dedication praised his oration, which was peppered with Classical references and interrupted by applause on several occasions. However, he was upstaged: Lincoln's two-minute follow-up speech, known as the Gettysburg Address, is one of the most famous speeches in the History of the United States. Everett wrote a note to Lincoln the next day, telling him of his appreciation for the President's brief, but moving, speech: "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion in two hours, as you did in two minutes."
[edit] Death and legacy
He died in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1865, and was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The cities of Everett, Pennsylvania, and Everett, Massachusetts, are named for him, as is Edward Everett Square, the southern end of Massachusetts Avenue at Columbia Road in Boston's Dorchester section. An elementary school bearing his name is located just down the street from the square. Also, Everett Avenue in Winchester, Massachusetts, is named after him because of the land that he owned in that area.
Everett School in Sioux City, Iowa, is named in his honor.
An engraved portrait of Everett appears on U.S. currency on fifty dollar denomination silver certificates issued in 1890 and 1891. These rare notes, which are still legal tender, often sell for well over $3000 and are referred to as "Everetts" by collectors. An example can be viewed online in the American Currency Exhibit of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
[edit] Quote
On admitting the first black student to Harvard University: "If this boy passes the examinations he will be admitted and if the white students choose to withdraw, all the income of the college will be devoted to his education." (Frothingham, p. 299)[2]
[edit] References
- ^ "Thirty-Third Congress" (April 7, 1854). The New York Times.
- ^ Frothingham, Paul Revere. Edward Everett, Orator and Statesman. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1925.
- Boston (Mass.), and James McKellar Bugbee. A Memorial of Edward Everett, From the City of Boston. Boston: City council, 1865. googlebooks Accessed November 30, 2007
- Wise, Jennings C. Col. John Wise of England and Virginia (1617-1695); His Ancestors and Descendants. Richmond Va: Bell Books and Stationery Co, 1918. googlebooks Accessed December1, 2007
- Henry Sidney Everett Retrieved December 1, 2007
- Edward Hill Everett Retrieved December 1, 2007
[edit] External links
- Full text of Everett's Gettysburg Oration
- Biography, and career summary
- Works by Edward Everett at Project Gutenberg
- Edward Everett at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography
- Internet archive.org
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