George Bancroft | |
|---|---|
 Bancroftc. 1860 | |
| United States Minister to Germany | |
| In office May 10, 1871 (1871-05-10) – June 30, 1874 (1874-06-30) | |
| President | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Preceded by | Himself (Minister to Prussia) |
| Succeeded by | Bancroft Davis |
| United States Minister to Prussia | |
| In office August 28, 1867 (1867-08-28) – May 10, 1871 (1871-05-10) | |
| President | |
| Preceded by | Joseph A. Wright |
| Succeeded by | Himself (Minister to Germany) |
| 17thUnited States Minister to the United Kingdom | |
| In office November 12, 1846 (1846-11-12) – August 31, 1849 (1849-08-31) | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| President | |
| Preceded by | Louis McLane |
| Succeeded by | Abbott Lawrence |
| 17thUnited States Secretary of the Navy | |
| In office March 11, 1845 (1845-03-11) – September 9, 1846 (1846-09-09) | |
| President | James K. Polk |
| Preceded by | John Y. Mason |
| Succeeded by | John Y. Mason |
| 5th Collector of thePort of Boston | |
| In office 1837–1841 | |
| Appointed by | Martin Van Buren |
| Preceded by | David Henshaw |
| Succeeded by | Levi Lincoln Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1800-10-03)October 3, 1800 Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | January 17, 1891(1891-01-17) (aged 90) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouses |
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| Education | |
George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian, statesman andDemocratic politician who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state of Massachusetts and at the national and international levels.
During his tenure asU.S. secretary of the Navy, he established theUnited States Naval Academy atAnnapolis. He was a senior American diplomat in Europe, leading diplomatic missions to Britain and Germany. Among his best-known writings is the magisterial series,History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.
Bancroft was born on October 3, 1800, inWorcester, Massachusetts. His family had been inMassachusetts Bay since 1632.
George's father,Aaron Bancroft, was distinguished as aRevolutionary War soldier, a leadingUnitarian clergyman, and author of a popular biography ofGeorge Washington.[1]
Bancroft began his education atPhillips Exeter Academy.
Education there, that early, was not in controlled step. Given multiple students were done by age 12 or 13, it at that point went through a level we'd consider to be grammar school. With no high schools yet, college was next. The preceptor, Benjamin Abbott, encouraged a college with similar views, religiously tolerant.[2]Thus, Bancroft enteredHarvard College at thirteen years of age and graduated with the Class of 1817.[3]
After Harvard, Bancroft's father sent him abroad to study in Germany, where he studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. At Göttingen, he studiedPlato withArnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren, history with Heeren andGottlieb Jakob Planck, languages[a] and scripture interpretation with Albert Eichhorn, natural science withJohann Friedrich Blumenbach, German literature withGeorg Friedrich Benecke, French and Italian literature with Artaud and Bunsen, and classics withGeorg Ludolf Dissen. In 1820, he received his doctorate from theUniversity of Göttingen.[citation needed]
Bancroft capped off his education with a European tour, in the course of which he sought out almost every distinguished man in the European world of letters, science and art, includingJohann Wolfgang von Goethe,Wilhelm von Humboldt,Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher,Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,Lord Byron,Barthold Georg Niebuhr,Christian Charles Josias Bunsen,Friedrich Carl von Savigny,Varnhagen von Ense,Victor Cousin,Benjamin Constant andAlessandro Manzoni.[citation needed]
Bancroft returned to the United States in 1822. While the young man delivered several sermons at his father's behest shortly after his return, his love of literature proved a stronger attachment.
His first position was as a tutor of Greek at Harvard. Bancroft chafed at the narrow curriculum of Harvard in his day and the pedantic spirit of its classics curriculum. Moreover, his personal affect of ardentRomanticism subjected him to ridicule among the formal society of New England and his political sympathies forJacksonian democracy put him at odds with nearly all of the Boston elite.[citation needed]
In 1823, he published his first work, a little volume of poetry, translations and original pieces, which brought no fame. Bancroft finally left Cambridge and withJoseph Cogswell established theRound Hill School atNorthampton, Massachusetts.[4]
While at Round Hill, Bancroft contributed frequently to theNorth American Review andAmerican Quarterly. He also made a translation ofArnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren's work onThe Politics of Ancient Greece. In 1836, he published an oration advocating universal suffrage and the foundation of the state on the power of the whole people.[5]
In 1830, he was elected to theMassachusetts State Senate from Northampton without his knowledge by the support of theWorking Men's Party, but refused to take his seat.[6] and the next year he declined another nomination, though certain to have been elected, for the state senate.
Bancroft, having trained in the leading German universities, was an accomplished scholar, whose masterworkHistory of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent covered the new nation in depth down to 1789.[7] HisHistory of the United States started appearing in 1834, and he constantly revised it in numerous editions.[8] It remains among the most comprehensive histories of colonial America.[citation needed]
Bancroft was aRomantic, emphasizing nationalist and republican values.[citation needed] Bancroft played on four recurring themes to explain the development of American values: providence, progress, patria, and pan-democracy. "Providence" meant that destiny depended more on God than on human will. The idea of "progress" indicated that through continuous reform a better society was possible.Patria was deserved because America's spreading influence would bring liberty and freedom to more and more of the world. "Pan-democracy" meant the nation-state was central to the drama, not specific heroes or villains.[9]
Richard C. Vitzthum argues that Bancroft's histories exemplify hisUnitarian moral vision of faith in progress. The history of America, in Bancroft's view, exemplified the gradual unfolding of God's purpose for mankind – the development of religious and political liberty.[10]
George M. Frederickson argues that Bancroft's "universalist theory of national origins... made the American Revolution not only the fruit of a specific historical tradition, but also a creed of liberty for all mankind."[11]
Bancroft's orotund romantic style and enthusiastic patriotism fell out of favor with later generations of scientific historians, who did not assign his books to students.[12] After 1890, American scholars of theImperial School took a more favorable view of theBritish Empire than Bancroft.[13][14]
Edmund Morgan compares Bancroft's history to that of the Liberal statesmanSir George Trevelyan in that both reject theProgressive view of the Revolution as a mere invocation of political philosophy as a means to keep and consolidate power. Morgan and other neo-Whig historians have embraced Bancroft's view that the patriots were motivated by a deep commitment to individual liberty.[15]
Inspired by Bancroft,Bernard Bailyn and a cohort of mid-twentieth-century historians challenged the dichotomy between "national self-awareness" and the study of history.[16] Although they had found "limitations" in Bancroft's works, mid-twentieth-century "instrumentalist" historians wished to reexamine the "image of colonial origins" of theAmerican Revolution. By 1956, this subset of scholars had tentatively determined that, "toward the end of the seventeenth century there emerged an entire apparatus of local politics" that "came, gradually, to accommodate itself" within the imperial system and in various "forms...it is their collapse under the pressures of new circumstances after 1760 that alone made the Revolution'irrepressible.' "[17]
In 1837, Bancroft entered active politics by accepting an appointment as Collector of Customs of the Port of Boston by PresidentMartin Van Buren. Two of his own appointees in the office wereOrestes Brownson and authorNathaniel Hawthorne.
In 1844, Bancroft was the Democratic candidate forgovernor of Massachusetts but he was defeated. He called for theannexation of Texas as extending "the area of freedom" and opposed slavery.
In 1845, in recognition for his support at the previous Democratic convention, Bancroft was appointed toJames Polk's cabinet asSecretary of the Navy, serving until 1846, when, for a month, he was actingSecretary of War.
During his short period in the cabinet, Bancroft established theUnited States Naval Academy atAnnapolis, creating a legacy of education and leadership.[18] He ordered naval action that resulted in the occupation of California and, as secretary of War, sentZachary Taylor into the contested land between Texas and Mexico. That catalyzed theMexican War, resulting in the United States greatly increasing its territory in the Southwest.
Bancroft designed and developed the Naval Academy; he received all the appropriations for which he asked. Congress had never been willing to establish a naval academy, but Bancroft studied the law to assess the powers of the Secretary of the Navy. He found that he could order "a place where midshipmen should wait for orders." He could also direct instructors to give lessons to them at sea, and by law, instructors could follow the midshipmen to the place of their common residence on shore. The appropriation of the year for the naval service met the expense, and the Secretary of War ceded an abandoned military post to the navy.
Therefore, when Congress came together, it learned that the midshipmen not at sea were housed at Annapolis. Thus, they were protected from the dangers of idleness and city life and busy at a regular course of study. Congress accepted the school, which was in full operation, and granted money for the repairs of the buildings.
Bancroft introduced some new respected professors into the corps of instructors, and he suggested a system of promotion, related to experience and achievements as well as age. The merit system was not fully developed or applied at the time. Bancroft was influential also in obtaining additional appropriations for theUnited States Naval Observatory.
Similarly, Bancroft studied so deeply theOregon boundary dispute that in 1846, he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to London to work with the British government on the issue. There, he roomed with the historianMacaulay and the poetHallam. With the election of WhigZachary Taylor as president, Bancroft's political appointment ended. On his return to the United States in 1849, he withdrew from public life and moved to New York, where he focused on writing history.
As a private citizen, Bancroft initially expressed skepticism towardsAbraham Lincoln's election, describing him as, "without brains," and "ignorant, self-willed, and... surrounded by men some of whom are almost as ignorant as himself."[19] However, Bancroft softened to the wartime president after initiating correspondence with Lincoln in 1861, and used the communication to argue for the case of abolishing slavery.[20][21] In April 1864, at Bancroft's request, PresidentAbraham Lincoln wrote out what would become the fourth of five known manuscripts of theGettysburg Address. Bancroft planned to include the copy inAutograph Leaves of Our Country's Authors, which he planned to sell at a Soldiers' and Sailors'Sanitary Fair, in Baltimore, to raise money to care for the Union Army.
In 1866, he was chosen by Congress to deliver the special eulogy on Lincoln.[22]
In 1867, PresidentAndrew Johnson offered Bancroft the post of US minister to Prussia, enabling him to return to Germany. Bancroft remained in Berlin for seven years, throughout theFranco-Prussian War andGerman unification.
PresidentUlysses S. Grant appointed him minister to the German Empire in 1871. During his tenure in Berlin, Bancroft spent much time negotiating agreements withPrussia and the other north German states relating to naturalization and citizenship issues; they became known as theBancroft Treaties in his honor.[23] The treaties were the first international recognition of the right ofexpatriation. The principle has since incorporated in thelaw of nations.
His last official achievements were his participation in the 1872 arbitration on the status of theSan Juan Islands, stemming from thePig War of 1859. The United States maintained that the disputed channel was intended to be theHaro Strait, while Great Britain believed that it was theRosario Strait. In the San Juan arbitration Bancroft displayed great versatility and skill and won the case, which was decided by a commission (three eminent German Judges) appointed by the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm I. The final ruling was issued on October 21, 1872, and British troops withdrew from San Juan Island on November 22, 1872, after 26 years of maintaining an amicable, yet tense relationship.[24]
His first wife was Sarah Dwight, of a rich family inSpringfield, Massachusetts; they married in 1827 and had two sons. She died in 1837. He formed a second marriage with Mrs Elizabeth Davis Bliss, a widow with two children. Together they had a daughter.
In his later years Bancroft lived inWashington, D.C., summering atRose Cliff,Newport, Rhode Island, the site whereRosecliff was later built.
Bancroft was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1838, and also served as its Secretary of Domestic Correspondence from 1877 to 1880.[25]
In 1841, Bancroft was elected as a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society.[26]
In New York, Bancroft was a founding member of theAmerican Geographical Society and served as the society's first president for nearly three years (February 21, 1852 – December 7, 1854).[27]
Bancroft was elected an Associate Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1863.[28]
Bancroft served as the President of the American Historical Association, 1885-1886.[29]
Bancroft died in 1891, inWashington, D.C. He was the last surviving member of the Polk cabinet.
Among his other speeches and addresses may be mentioned a lecture on "The Culture, the Support, and the Object of Art in a Republic," in the course of theNew York Historical Society in 1852; and one on "The Office, Appropriate Culture, and Duty of the Mechanic."
Bancroft contributed a biography ofJonathan Edwards to theAmerican Cyclopædia.
The United States Navy has named several shipsUSSBancroft for him, as well as the fleet ballistic missile submarineUSSGeorge Bancroft (SSBN-643), the mid-19th centuryUnited States Coast SurveyschoonerUSCSBancroft and steelgunboatUSS Bancroft (1892)
The dormitory at theUnited States Naval Academy,Bancroft Hall, is named after him. It is the largest single dormitory in the world.[30]
Bancroft is one of 23 famous names on the$1 educational currency note of 1896.[31]
The name of Bancroft, honoring George Bancroft, is found atop one of several marble pillars in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the United StatesLibrary of Congress in Washington, D.C.[32]
Many schools, streets, towns, etc. bear his name:
Bancroft is interred atRural Cemetery in Worcester.
Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Bancroft, George".The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. pp. 202–204.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Massachusetts 1844 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Navy 1845–1846 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Minister to Britain 1846–1849 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | U.S. Minister to Prussia 1867–1874 | Succeeded by |
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