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Caleb Cushing (January 17, 1800 – January 2, 1879) was an American Democratic politician and diplomat who served as a Congressman from
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and Attorney General under President Franklin Pierce. He was an eager proponent of territorial and commercial expansion, especially regarding the acquisition of Texas, Oregon and Cuba. He believed that enlarging the American sphere would fulfill "the great destiny reserved for this exemplar American Republic." Cushing secured the first American treaty with China, the Treaty of Wangxia of 1844; it gave American merchants trading rights in five Chinese ports. After the Civil War, Cushing negotiated a treaty with Colombia to give the United States a right-of-way for a trans-oceanic Canal. He helped obtain a favorable settlement of the
Alabama Claims The ''Alabama'' Claims were a series of demands for damages sought by the federal government of the United States, government of the United States from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom in 1869, for the attacks upon ...
, and as the ambassador to Spain in 1870s defused the troublesome
Virginius Affair The ''Virginius'' Affair was a diplomatic dispute that occurred from October 1873 to February 1875 between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain (then in control of Cuba), during the Ten Years' War. ''Virginius'' was a fast American ...
.


Biography


Early life

Born in
Salisbury, Massachusetts Salisbury is a small coastal beach town and summer tourist destination in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Boston on the New Hampshire border. ...
in 1800, he was the son of John Newmarch Cushing, a wealthy
shipbuilder Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
and merchant, and of Lydia Dow, a delicate and sensitive woman from
Seabrook, New Hampshire Seabrook is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 8,401 at the 2020 census. Located at the southern end of the coast of New Hampshire on the border with Massachusetts, Seabrook is noted as the location of th ...
, who died when he was ten. The family moved across the
Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...
to the prosperous shipping town of Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1802. He entered
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
at the age of 13 and graduated in 1817. He was a teacher of mathematics there from 1820 to 1821, and was admitted to practice in the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas in December, 1821. He began practicing law in Newburyport in 1824. There he attended the First Presbyterian Church. On November 23, 1824, Cushing married Caroline Elizabeth Wilde, daughter of Judge Samuel Sumner Wilde, of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. His wife died about a decade later, leaving him childless and alone. He never married again.


State legislature

Cushing served as a Democratic-Republican member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
in 1825, then entered the
Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...
in 1826, and returned to the House in 1828. Afterwards, he spent two years, from 1829 to 1831, in Europe. Upon his return, he again served in the lower house of the state legislature in 1833 and 1834. Then, in late 1834, he was elected to the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
.


Washington career

Cushing served in Congress from 1835 until 1843 (the 24th,
25th 25 (twenty-five) is the natural number following 24 and preceding 26. In mathematics It is a square number, being 52 = 5 × 5. It is one of two two-digit numbers whose square and higher powers of the number also ends in the same last t ...
, 26th and
27th Congress The 27th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. between March 4, ...
es). During the 27th Congress, he was chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Here the marked inconsistency characterizing his public life became manifest. For when
John Tyler John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig tick ...
had become president, had been read out of the Whig party, and had vetoed Whig measures (including a tariff bill) for which Cushing had voted, Cushing first defended the vetoes and then voted again for the bills. In 1843 President Tyler nominated Cushing for U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, but the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
refused to confirm him for this office. He was nominated three times in one day, and rejected all three times.
John Canfield Spencer John Canfield Spencer (January 8, 1788May 17, 1855) was an American lawyer, politician, judge and United States Cabinet secretary in the administration of President John Tyler. Early life John Canfield Spencer was born on January 8, 1788, in H ...
was chosen instead.


China mission

In 1843, Cushing was appointed by President Tyler to be commissioner and United States Ambassador to China, holding this position until March 4, 1845. With the goal of impressing the Royal Chinese court, the Cushing mission consisted of four American warships, loaded with gifts that exalted scientific wonders including revolvers, telescope, and an encyclopedia. His arrival at Macau in February 1844 created a local sensation, but the Chinese government was reluctant to designate another most favored nation. Cushing cleverly mixed the carrot and stick. He warned – against the backdrop of his warships – that not to receive an envoy was a national insult. He threatened to go directly to the Emperor – an unheard of procedure. The Emperor tried delay, but he finally sent an envoy to negotiate with Cushing, leading to the signing of the
Treaty of Wanghia The Treaty of Wanghia (also known as the Treaty of Wangxia; Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce, between the United States of America and the Chinese Empire; ) was the first of the unequal treaties imposed by the United States on China. As per ...
in the village of Wanghia on July 3, 1844. In addition to most favored nation status, Cushing made sure that Americans received
extraterritoriality In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...
. In the following years American trade with China grew rapidly, thanks to the high-speed clipper ships which carried relatively small amounts of high-value cargo, such as ginseng and silk. American Protestant missionaries also began to arrive. The popular Chinese reaction was mostly hostile, but there was a favorable element that provided a base of support for American missionaries and businessmen. By 1850–64, China was enmeshed in the
Taiping rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It laste ...
, a civil war which caused millions of deaths; foreign trade stagnated. While serving as commissioner to China he was also empowered to negotiate a treaty of navigation and commerce with Japan.


Return to Massachusetts

In 1847, while again a representative in the Massachusetts state legislature, he introduced a bill appropriating money for the equipment of a regiment to serve in the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
; although the bill was defeated, he raised the necessary funds privately. He served in the Army during the Mexican War first as colonel of the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, of which he was placed in command on January 15, 1847. He was promoted to brigadier-general of volunteers on April 14 of the same year. He did not see combat during this conflict, and entered Mexico City with his reserve battalion several months after that city had been pacified. He was discharged from the Army on July 20, 1848. In 1847 and again in 1848 the Democrats nominated him for
Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...
, but on each occasion he was defeated at the polls. He was again a representative in the state legislature in 1851, was offered the position as
Massachusetts Attorney General The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected constitutionally defined executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The officeholder is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The officeholder ...
in 1851, but declined; and served as mayor of Newburyport in 1851 and 1852. (He had written a major history of the town when he was 26 years old.) He became an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1852. During the presidency Franklin Pierce, from March 7, 1853, until March 3, 1857, he was Attorney General of the United States. Cushing supported the March 1857
Dred Scott decision ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, enslaved or free; th ...
. In 1858, 1859, 1862, and 1863 he again served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Also during this time, he founded the Cushing Land Agency in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. The building it was housed in, now known as the Cushing Land Agency Building, is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.


1860 and the Civil War

In 1860 he presided over the Democratic National Convention, which met first at Charleston and later at
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, until he joined those who seceded from the regular convention. He then presided also over the convention of the seceding delegates, who nominated
John C. Breckinridge John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...
for the Presidency. Also in 1860 President James Buchanan sent him to Charleston as Confidential Commissioner to the Secessionists of South Carolina. Despite having favored
states' rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...
and opposed the abolition of slavery, during the Civil War, he supported the Union. He was later appointed by President Andrew Johnson as one of three commissioners assigned to revise and codify the laws of the United States Congress. He served in that capacity from 1866 to 1870.


Return to diplomacy

In 1868, in concert with the Minister Resident to Colombia, Cushing was sent to Bogotá, Colombia, and worked to negotiate a right-of-way treaty for a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. At the Geneva conference for the settlement of the
Alabama claims The ''Alabama'' Claims were a series of demands for damages sought by the federal government of the United States, government of the United States from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom in 1869, for the attacks upon ...
in 1871–1872 he was one of the counsels appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant for the United States before the Geneva Tribunal of Arbitration on the Alabama claims. From January 6, 1874, to April 9, 1877, Cushing was Minister to Spain. He defused tensions over the ''Virginius'' Affair, and proved popular in the country.


Supreme Court nomination

On January 9, 1874, Grant nominated Cushing as Chief Justice of the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. The nomination came soon after Grant withdrew the nomination of George Henry Williams to the position. The selection caught many off-guard, including Cushing himself.
Radical Republicans The Radical Republicans (later also known as "Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Recons ...
in the U.S. Senate immediately challenged Cushing's loyalties on account of his earlier close personal rapport with Andrew Johnson and his alleged pre-Civil War Copperhead sympathies. Their feelings of distrust turned into all out opposition to his confirmation when a (non-political) letter that Cushing had written in 1861 to President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis was found and made public. As a result of rising furor, the nomination was withdrawn on January 13, 1874.


Death and legacy

Cushing died in Newburyport on January 2, 1879 where he was laid to rest in the town's Highland Cemetery. The United States Revenue Cutter ''Caleb Cushing'' was named after Cushing. The ''Caleb Cushing'' served during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
and was destroyed by Confederate raiders during the Battle of Portland Harbor on June 27, 1863.


Works

* ''History and Present State of the Town of Newburyport, Mass.'' (1826) * ''Review of the late Revolution in France'' (1833) * ''Reminiscences of Spain'' (1833); * ''Oration on the Growth and Territorial Progress of the United States'' (1839) * ''Life and Public Services of William H. Harrison'' (1840) * ''The Treaty of Washington'' (1873)


See also

*
Unsuccessful nominations to the Cabinet of the United States Members of the Cabinet of the United States are nominated by the president and are then confirmed or rejected by the Senate. Listed below are unsuccessful cabinet nominees—that is, individuals who were nominated and who either declined their own ...


References


Further reading

* * Belohlavek, John M. ''Broken Glass: Caleb Cushing & the Shattering of the Union'' (2005) * Belohlavek, John M. ''Race, Progress, and Destiny: Caleb Cushing and the Quest for American Empire'' (1996) * Fuess, Claude Moore ''The Life of Caleb Cushing'', New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1923. (2 vols.) * Haddad, John R. ''America's First Adventure in China: Trade, Treaties, Opium, and Salvation'' (2013) pp. 136–159
online
* Johnson, Kendall A. ''The New Middle Kingdom: China and the Early American Romance of Free Trade'', Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017. * Kuo, Ping Chia. "Caleb Cushing and the Treaty of Wanghia, 1844". ''The Journal of Modern History'' 5, no. 1 (1933): 34–54.
Online
* Schurz, Carl. New York: McClure Publ. Co., 1907. Schurz reports his impressions of seeing Cushing, in an effort to discourage anti-slavery sentiment, speak at a "Conservative Union Meeting" at
Faneuil Hall Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others ...
in Boston just before the Civil War (Volume II, Chapter IV, p. 162): "While speaking he turned his left shoulder to the audience, looking at his hearers askance, and with a squint, too, as it seemed to me, but I may have been mistaken. There was something like a cynical sneer in his manner of bringing out his sentences, which made him look like Mephistopheles alive, and I do not remember ever to have heard a public speaker who stirred in me so decided a disinclination to believe what he said. In later years I met him repeatedly at dinner tables which he enlivened with his large information, his wit, and his fund of anecdote. But I could never quite overcome the impression he had made upon me at that meeting. I could always listen to him with interest, but never with spontaneous confidence." * Welch, Richard E. "Caleb Cushing's Chinese Mission and the Treaty of Wanghia: A Review." ''Oregon Historical Quarterly'' 58.4 (1957): 328–357
Online
*


External links

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