Edward Everett
Edward Everett (April 11, 1794-January 15, 1865) was a Whig Party politician from Massachusetts. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard University in 1811, studied theology and was ordained pastor of the Brattle Street Unitarian Church, Boston, in 1814. Everett was a professor of Greek literature at Harvard, and an overseer of the University. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served from March 4, 1825-March 3, 1835. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1834.
Everett was appointed United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain 1841-1845, declining a commission to China in 1843. He served as president of Harvard 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 to March 3, 1853. He was elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1853, until his resignation, effective June 1, 1854.
Everett was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States in 1860 on the Constitutional-Union ticket.
He died in Boston, and was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Everett was considered the nation's greatest orator of his time. He was invited to give the main speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg 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, but Lincoln's followup 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 short, but moving, speech.
External Links
Referenced By
Abe Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln | Aztalan State Park | Beantown | Benjamin Paul Akers | Boston | Boston, Massachusetts | Edward Everett Horton | Edward Evertt Horton | Gettysburg Address | Governor of Massachusetts | Harvard | Harvard College | Harvard University | Henry Wilson | Historic Members of the United States Senate | Honest Abe | List of Governors of Massachusetts | List of Massachusetts Governors | List of United States Senators from Massachsetts | List of former members of the U.S. Senate | List of former members of the United States Senate | Massachusetts/Boston | Nineteenth United States Congress | Secretary of State of the United States | Twentieth United States Congress | Twenty-first United States Congress | Twenty-second United States Congress | Twenty-third United States Congress | U.S. Secretary of State | U.S. presidential election, 1860 | US Secretary Of State | United States Presidential election of 1860 | United States Secretary of State
|
