Edward Everett

Infobox Congressman
name =Edward Everett


imagesize =200px
state =Massachusetts
district =4th
term_start =March 4, 1825
term_end =March 3, 1835
preceded =Timothy Fuller
succeeded =Samuel Hoar
order2 =15th Governor of Massachusetts
term_start2 =January 13, 1836
term_end2 =January 18, 1840
lieutenant2 =George Hull
predecessor2 =Samuel Turell Armstrong (acting)
successor2 =Marcus Morton
order3 =20th United States Secretary of State
term_start3 =November 6, 1852
term_end3 =March 3, 1853
predecessor3 =Daniel Webster
successor3 =William L. Marcy
order4 =United States Senator
from Massachusetts
term_start4 =March 4, 1853
term_end4 =June 1, 1854
predecessor4 =John Davis
successor4 =Julius Rockwell
birth_date =April 11, 1794
birth_place =Boston, Massachusetts
death_date =January 15, 1865 (aged 70)
death_place =Boston, Massachusetts
nationality =
party =Whig
otherparty =
spouse =Charlotte Gray Brooks
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =Harvard University
occupation =Professor, University President
profession =
net worth =
religion =Unitarian


website =
footnotes =

Edward Everett (April 11, 1794ndash 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.

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.

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 1823ndash October 18, 1854
#Charlotte Brooks Everett August 13, 1825ndash December 15, 1879 married U.S. Navy Captain Henry Augustus Wise.
#Grace Webster Everett December 24, 1827ndash 1836
#Edward Brooks Everett May 6, 1830ndash November 5, 1861 married Helen Cordis Adams
#Henry Sidney Everett December 31, 1834ndash October 4, 1898 married Katherine Pickman Fay.
#William Everett October 10, 1839ndash February 16, 1910

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.

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.cite journal |title=Thirty-Third Congress|journal=The New York Times|date=April 7, 1854]

Everett was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States in the 1860 election on the Constitutional Union ticket.

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.

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."

Death and legacy

Everett died in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 15, 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 [http://www.frbsf.org/currency/metal/silvercerts/622.html American Currency Exhibit] of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

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, Paul Revere. "Edward Everett, Orator and Statesman." Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1925. P. 299]

References

* Boston (Mass.), and James McKellar Bugbee. "A Memorial of Edward Everett, From the City of Boston." Boston: City council, 1865. [http://books.google.com/books?id=lAFfJB5XwHIC&pg=PA12&dq=%22Anne+Gorham+everett%22&as_brr=1&ei=uNJQR7CnD6TOpwLtlNxe#PPA12,M1 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. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ExYaAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=charlotte+brooks+everett&source=web&ots=X3KG0p8VeF&sig=1PMGLvFqotKDqpBLFr6FZ97yIAI googlebooks] Accessed December1, 2007
* [http://www.fishfamilies.com/genealogy/view_person.phtml/I7114 Henry Sidney Everett] Retrieved December 1, 2007
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~mabiog/Suffolk_County/everettedh.htm Edward Hill Everett] Retrieved December 1, 2007

External links

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* [http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/HVDpresidents/everett.php Biography, and career summary]
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* [http://www.mass.gov/statehouse/massgovs/eeverett.htm Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography]
* [http://www.archive.org/stream/edwardeverett00bostrich/edwardeverett00bostrich_djvu.txt Internet archive.org]