George Bancroft - Early life and education, Career in education and literature, Career in politics

Historian and diplomat, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He tried unsuccessfully to establish a preparatory school for boys before he began writing his History of the United States (10 vols, 1834–74). He viewed the American political experiment as the highest form of civilization, and his writing showed a marked bias in favour of democracy. He supported James K Polk's ‘dark horse’ candidacy for the Democratic nomination in 1844, and was rewarded with the post of secretary of the navy (1845–6). He established the Naval Academy at Annapolis (1845) and aided the work of the Naval Observatory. He served as ambassador to Great Britain (1846–9) and later to Prussia and Germany (1867–74). After returning to the USA he spent his final years writing various historical books and articles.

George Bancroft (Worcester, Massachusetts, October 3, 1800 – Washington, DC, January 17, 1891) was an American historian and statesman who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state and at the national level. During his tenure as U.S. Secretary of the Navy, he established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1845. Among his best-known writings is the magisterial series, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.

Early life and education

His family had been in Massachusetts Bay since 1632, and his father, Aaron Bancroft, was distinguished as a revolutionary soldier, a leading Unitarian clergyman and author of a popular life of George Washington. Bancroft began his education at Phillips Exeter Academy and entered Harvard College at thirteen years of age.

Bancroft concluded his years of preparation by a European tour, in the course of which he sought out almost every distinguished man in the world of letters, science and art;

Bancroft's father had devoted his son to the work of the ministry;

Career in education and literature

His first position was that of tutor at Harvard.

A little volume of poetry, translations and original pieces, published in 1823 gave its author no fame. This was the first serious effort made in the United States to elevate secondary education to the plane on which it belonged.

In spite of the exacting and severe routine of the Round Hill School, Bancroft contributed frequently to the North American Review and to Walsh's American Quarterly; In 1834 appeared the first volume of the History of the United States, which would appear over the next four decades (1834-74) and established his reputation.

His first wife was Sarah Dwight, of a rich family in Springfield, Massachusetts;

Career in politics

His entry into politics came in 1837 with his appointment by Martin Van Buren as Collector of Customs of the Port of Boston. During this short period in the cabinet he established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, gave the orders which led to the occupation of California, and sent Zachary Taylor into the contested land between Texas and Mexico.

He likewise made himself the authority on the Oregon boundary dispute, with the result that in 1846 he was sent as Minister Plenipotentiary to London, where he lived in constant companionship with the historian Macaulay and the poet Hallam. on his return to the United states in 1849 he withdrew from public life, residing in New York and writing history.

In April of 1864, at Bancroft's request, President Lincoln wrote out what would become the fourth of five known manuscripts of the Gettysburg Address. Mr. Bancroft planned to include this copy in "Autograph Leaves of Our Country's Authors," which he planned to sell at a Soldiers' and Sailors' Sanitary Fair in Baltimore.

In 1866, Bancroft was chosen by Congress to deliver the special eulogy on Lincoln;

His latest official achievements are considered the greatest. The naturalization treaties, named the "Bancroft treaties" in his honor, which he negotiated successively with Prussia and the other north German states were the first international recognition of the right of expatriation, a principle since incorporated in the law of nations.

Several ships have been named USS Bancroft for him.