Rufus Choate
Rufus Choate | |
---|---|
United States Senator from Massachusetts | |
In office February 23, 1841 – March 3, 1845 | |
Preceded by | Daniel Webster |
Succeeded by | Daniel Webster |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 2nd district | |
In office March 4, 1831 – June 30, 1834 | |
Preceded by | Benjamin W. Crowninshield |
Succeeded by | Stephen C. Phillips |
10th Massachusetts Attorney General | |
In office 1853–1854 | |
Governor | John H. Clifford |
Preceded by | John H. Clifford |
Succeeded by | John H. Clifford |
Member of the Massachusetts Senate | |
In office 1827 | |
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives | |
In office 1825–1826 | |
Personal details | |
Born | British Canada | October 1, 1799
Resting place | Mount Auburn Cemetery Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Political party | Whig |
Alma mater | Dartmouth College Harvard University |
Profession | Law |
Rufus Choate[pronunciation?] (October 1, 1799 – July 13, 1859) was an American lawyer, orator, and Senator who represented Massachusetts as a member of the Whig Party. He is regarded as one of the greatest American lawyers of the 19th century, arguing over a thousand cases in a lifetime practice extending to virtually every branch of the law then recognized. Notably, he was one of the pioneers of the legal technique of arousing jury sympathy in tort cases. In one instance, he successfully won a record judgement of $22,500 for a badly injured widow, the most ever awarded to a plaintiff at the time.[1]
Along with his colleague and close associate Daniel Webster, he is also regarded as one of the greatest orators of his age. Among his most famous orations are his Address on The Colonial Age of New England delivered at the centennial celebration of the settlement of Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1831 and his Address on The Age of the Pilgrims as the Heroic Period of Our History before the New England Society of New York in 1843. Through these addresses, Choate became one of the most prominent advocates of promoting the Puritan settlers as the first founders of the American republic.
A staunch nationalist and unionist, Choate was among several former Whigs to oppose the Republican Party over concerns that it was a "sectional party" whose platform threatened to separate the Union. In turn, he publicly voiced his support for Democratic candidate James Buchanan over Republican John C. Frémont in the 1856 presidential election.
Early life
Rufus Choate was born in
A precocious child, at six he is said to have been able to repeat large parts of the
In the fall of 1820 he was entered at the
Career
He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1823 and practiced at what was later South Danvers (now Peabody) for five years, during which time he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1825–1826) and in the Massachusetts Senate (1827).
In 1828, he moved to
In 1834, before the completion of his second term, he resigned and established himself in the practice of law in
In the Senate, he spoke on the tariff, the
In 1856, he refused to follow most of his former Whig associates into the
Speeches
The Colonial Age of New England, 1831.
The Importance of Illustrating New-England History by a Series of Romances like the Waverly Novels, 1833.
The Age of the Pilgrims as the Heroic Period of Our History, 1843.
The Positions and Functions of the American Bar, as an Element of Conservatism in the State, 1845.
American Nationality, 1856,
The Eloquence of Revolutionary Periods, 1857.
Health
In 1850 Choate traveled Europe for three months to improve his health. He was accompanied by his old friend and well-known lawyer, the Hon. Joseph M. Bell, who married Choate's sister, and later his daughter Helen.[5]: 427, 429, 434
In 1859, failing health led him to seek rest yet again in Europe. In June 1859, he sailed from Boston to England, became worse and left the ship at
Family
With his wife Helen Olcott, whom he married on March 29, 1825, Choate had seven children: Catherine Bell (1826–1830), an infant child (1828–1828), Helen Olcott (1830–1918), Sarah (1831–1875), Rufus (1834–1866), Miriam Foster (1835–??), and Caroline (1837–1840).[5]
Legacy
Choate's private library contained seven thousand books with three thousand volumes in his law library.
Works
- Works — edited, with a memoir, by S. G. Brown, and published in two volumes at Boston in 1862
- Memoir — published in 1870
- EG Parker's Reminiscences of Rufus Choate (New York, 1860)
- EP Whipple's Some Recollections of Rufus Choate (New York, 1879)
- Albany Law Review of 1877–1878
- Claude Fuess' Rufus Choate, The Wizard of the Law (1928)
- The Political Writings of Rufus Choate (2003)
Further reading
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Attribution
- This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
References
- ^ Howe, Daniel Walker (1979). The Political Culture of the American Whigs. The University of Chicago Press. p. 225.
- ^ "Rufus Choate | Encyclopedia.com".
- ^ Jameson, Ephraim Orcutt. The Choates in America. 1643–1896. John Choate and His Descendants. Chebacco, Ipswich, Mass. Boston: A. Mudge & Son, printers, 1896.
- ^ Dartmouth to honor two valedictorians, Dartmouth Press Release, June 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- ^ a b c d e Cogswell, J. B. D. (John Bear Doane), 1829-1889 (1884). Memoir of Rufus Choate. The Library of Congress: Cambridge : J. Wilson.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ State Street Trust Company. Forty of Boston's historic houses. 1912.
- )
- ^ "Maria Bickford". Brown University Law Library. Archived from the original on November 21, 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
- ISBN 0-8103-9134-1.
- ^ Historic Ipswich (February 18, 2019). "Choate Island and Rufus Choate". Historic Ipswich. Archived from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
External links
- United States Congress. "Rufus Choate (id: C000375)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Reminiscences of Rufus Choate by Edward Parker, published 1860.
- The Works of Rufus Choate: With a Memoir of His Life by Samuel Gilman Brown, published 1862.
- Memories of Rufus Choate by Joseph Neilson, published 1884.
- Works by Rufus Choate at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)