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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| President | Millard Fillmore |
| 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(s) | 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 (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 two-minute 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 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 May 8, 1822 Edward Everett married Charlotte Gray Brooks, daughter of Peter Chardon Brooks and Ann Gorham. They had six children:
- Anne Gorham Everett March 3, 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.
Everett also had a love for mathematics as can be seen from his probably most famous quote: ‘In the pure mathematics we contemplate absolute truths which existed in the divine mind before the morning stars sang together, and which will continue to exist there when the last of their radiant host shall have fallen from heaven.’
[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 a goal of Everett. 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.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Thirty-Third Congress". The New York Times. April 7, 1854.
[edit] 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.
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Edward Everett |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Edward Everett |
- Works of Edward Everett at HolyeBooks.org
- 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 Retrieved on 2009-04-11
- Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography
- Internet archive.org
- Edward Everett at Find a Grave
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