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Anson Burlingame | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Burlingame,c. 1860–1865 | |
| United States Minister to the Qing Empire | |
| In office August 20, 1862 – November 21, 1867 | |
| President | Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson |
| Preceded by | John Elliot Ward |
| Succeeded by | John Ross Browne |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's5th district | |
| In office March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1861 | |
| Preceded by | William Appleton |
| Succeeded by | William Appleton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1820-11-14)November 14, 1820 New Berlin, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 23, 1870(1870-02-23) (aged 49) |
| Resting place | Mount Auburn Cemetery |
| Political party | American,Republican |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan Harvard University |
| Signature |  |
Anson Burlingame (November 14, 1820 – February 23, 1870) was an American lawyer,Republican/American Party legislator, diplomat, andabolitionist. As diplomat, he served as the U.S. minister toChina (1862–1867) and then as China's envoy to the U.S., which resulted in the 1868 landmarkBurlingame Treaty.
Burlingame was born inNew Berlin, New York. In 1823 his parents (Joel Burlingame and Freelove Angell) took him to Ohio, and about ten years afterwards to Michigan. Between 1838 and 1841 he studied at the Detroit branch of theUniversity of Michigan, and in 1846 graduated fromHarvard Law School. He was a brother of theDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Sigma chapter). On June 3, 1847, he married Jane Cornelia Livermore. They had sons,Edward Livermore Burlingame (born 1848) and Walter Angell Burlingame (born 1852), as well as a daughter Gertrude Burlingame (born 1856).
Burlingame practiced law in Boston, Massachusetts, and won a wide reputation by his speeches for theFree Soil Party in 1848. He was a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1853, of theMassachusetts State Senate from 1853 to 1854, and of theUnited States House of Representatives from 1855 to 1861, being elected for the first term as aKnow Nothing and afterwards as a member of the newRepublican Party, which he helped to organize in Massachusetts.
In May 1856, SenatorCharles Sumner (R-Massachusetts) delivered a fiery anti-slavery speech. He was subsequentlybrutally assaulted in the Senate chamber by RepresentativePreston Brooks (D-South Carolina), who was hailed as a hero by the pro-slavery South.[1]
Shortly afterwards, Burlingame delivered whatThe New York Times referred to as "the most celebrated speech"[2] of his career: a scathing denunciation of Brooks' assault on Sumner, branding him as "the vilest sort of coward" on the House floor.[3]In response, Brooks challenged Burlingame to a duel, stating he would gladly face him "in any Yankeemudsill of his choosing". Burlingame eagerly accepted; as the challenged party, he had his choice of weapons and location. A well-known marksman, he selected rifles as the weapons and the Navy Yard on the Canadian side of the U.S. border inNiagara Falls as the location (in order to circumvent the U.S. ban on dueling). Brooks, reportedly dismayed by both Burlingame's unexpectedly enthusiastic acceptance and his reputation as a crack shot, neglected to show up, instead citing unspecified risks to his safety if he were to cross "hostile country" (the northern U.S. states) in order to reach Canada.[4] Burlingame's solid defense of a fellow Bostonian greatly raised his stature throughout the North.[5]
On March 22, 1861, after Burlingame lost his bid for re-election, PresidentAbraham Lincoln appointed Burlingame asMinister to theAustrian Empire, but Burlingame, who had championed the HungarianLajos Kossuth and his drive for independence from the Austrian Empire, was not acceptable and did not serve.[7]
Lincoln instead appointed Burlingame as minister to theQing Empire. Burlingame worked for a cooperative policy rather than the imperialistic policies of force which had been used during theFirst andSecond Opium Wars and developed relations with the reform elements of the court.[8] As he put it, the "cooperative policy... substituted for the old doctrine of violence one of fair diplomatic action," and the representatives of the Western powers agreed that they would not interfere in the internal affairs of China. Burlingame reported that he had used his diplomacy to get the European powers to agree that they would "give to the treaties a fair and Christian construction; that they ... never would menace the territorial integrity of China."[9]
The success of this diplomacy was not lost on Qing dynasty court officials. On November 16, 1867, he was set to retire and return to his political career at home. Reform officials in the court, however, wanted to send a mission abroad to expand and formalize relations, but in the words of Burlingame's instructions, feared that "without training and experience [the officials]would not be at all familiar with foreign manners and customs". The emperor appointed Burlingame envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to head a Chinese diplomatic mission to the United States and the principal European nations. The mission, which included two Chinese ministers, an English and a French secretary, six students from Peking, and a considerable retinue, arrived in the United States in March 1868.[10]
Burlingame campaigned and made a series of speeches across the country. His eloquent oratory advocated equal treatment of China and a welcoming stance toward Chinese immigrants. When the delegation reached Washington, Burlingame used his personal relations with the Republican administration to negotiate a relatively quick and favorable treaty.On July 28, 1868, negotiations agreed on a series of articles, supplementary to theReed Treaty of 1858, and later known as theBurlingame Treaty. The treaty provided that Chinese subjects in the United States should enjoy the same rights as citizens of themost favored nation, a legal strategy which up until that point had only been used to expand foreign privileges in China. Burlingame successfully got the treaty to include a clause permitting Chinese to become citizens, which had been barred by American law. This treaty was the first equal treaty between China and a western power after the Opium War.[11]
Burlingame went on to negotiate treaties with Denmark, Sweden, Holland, and Prussia.[12] He died suddenly atSaint Petersburg on February 23, 1870, while negotiating terms for a treaty with Russia. Although there was no suspicion at the time or for nearly 150 years, researchers in 2025 published evidence from diplomatic dispatches, official reports, private letters, and medical journals that they charge indicated a "likely assassination." They point to arsenic, citing Burlingame’s symptoms, their severity, and progression from onset to death over six days.[13]
To honor his memory, the Court in Beijing raised Burlingame's posthumous status to the First Rank and awarded his family a pension of $10,000.[14] He was buried inMount Auburn Cemetery inCambridge, Massachusetts.[15]
His sonEdward L. Burlingame was founding editor ofScribner's Magazine. His grandson (Edward's son),Roger Burlingame, was an author of fiction, nonfiction, and biographies.
After Burlingame's death, the spirit and many of the specific provisions of the treaty bearing his name were reversed. Foreign powers continued to encroach upon China, and Congress passed strict laws against Chinese immigration. The success of the Communist Revolution of 1949 led to animosity between the two countries and Burlingame's reputation was as a naive and euphoric advocate of China. After warming of relations in the 1980s, Burlingame's reputation began to rise again, however.[18][14]Burlingame, California;Burlingame, Kansas; andAnson, Wisconsin, are all named after Anson Burlingame.[19] Theranch which Burlingame purchased inSan Mateo on the San Francisco Bay retained his name and was eventually developed after his death.[20]
Anson Burlingame's portrait, painted by Albion Harris Bicknell, hangs in historicFaneuil Hall, Boston. In 2018, upon the 150th anniversary of theBurlingame Treaty, a new bust of Anson Burlingame sculpted by Zhou Limin was unveiled at an international ceremony held at the Burlingame Public Library inBurlingame, California.[16][17]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 5th congressional district March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1861 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Minister to the Austrian Empire (did not serve) 1861 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | U.S. Minister to China 1861–1867 | Succeeded by |
 | ||
| Commissioner | ||
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | ||
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | ||
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | ||
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | ||
| Chiefs of the U.S. Liaison Office inBeijing | ||
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | ||
See also:American Institute in Taiwan | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
