Josiah Quincy III (; February 4, 1772 – July 1, 1864) was an American educator and political figure. He was a member of the

U.S. 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 ...

(1805–1813), mayor of Boston (1823–1828), and

President of Harvard University The president of Harvard University is the chief academic administration, administrator of Harvard University and the ''Ex officio member, ex officio'' president of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Corporation. Each is appoi ...

(1829–1845). The historic Quincy Market in downtown Boston is named in his honor.

Life and politics

Early life and education

Quincy, the son of

Josiah Quincy II Josiah Quincy II (; February 23, 1744April 26, 1775) was an American lawyer and patriot. He was a principal spokesman for the Sons of Liberty in Boston prior to the Revolution and was John Adams' co-counsel during the trials of Captain Thomas ...

and Abigail Phillips, was born in Boston, on that part of Washington Street that was then known as Marlborough Street. He was a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips of Watertown, the progenitor of the New England Phillips family in America. Quincy's father had traveled to England in 1774, partly for his health but mainly as an agent of the patriot cause to meet with the friends of the colonists in London. Josiah Quincy II died off the coast of Gloucester on April 26, 1775. His son, young Josiah, was a little over three years old. He entered

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

, Andover, when it opened in 1778, and graduated from Harvard in 1790. After his graduation from Harvard he studied law for three years under the tutorship of William Tudor. Quincy was admitted to the bar in 1793, but was never a prominent advocate. In 1797 Quincy married Eliza Susan Morton of New York, younger sister of

Jacob Morton Major-General Jacob Morton (1761–1836) was an American military officer, lawyer, and businessman. Biography Morton was born in New York City on July 8, 1761. He studied law at The College of New Jersey, the predecessor of Princeton University; ...

. They had seven children:

Eliza Susan Quincy ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program created from 1964 to 1966 at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to demonstrate the s ...

Josiah Quincy, Jr. Josiah Quincy IV (; January 17, 1802 – November 2, 1882) was an American politician. He was mayor of Boston (December 11, 1845 – January 1, 1849), as was his father Josiah Quincy III (mayor in 1823–1828) and grandson Josiah Quincy VI ...

, Abigail Phillips Quincy, Maria Sophia Quincy, Margaret Morton Quincy, Edmund Quincy, and Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy.

Career

In 1798 Quincy was appointed Boston Town Orator by the Board of Selectmen, and in 1800 he was elected to the School Committee. Quincy became a leader of the

Federalist party The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. De ...

in Massachusetts, was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1800, and served in the Massachusetts Senate in 1804–5. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1803. From 1805 to 1813, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives where he was one of the small Federalist minority. In the dark days of the Embargo in the second term of President Thomas Jefferson, he suggested his impeachment. He attempted to secure the exemption of fishing vessels from the

Embargo Act The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations that was enacted by the United States Congress. As a successor or replacement law for the 1806 Non-importation Act and passed as the Napoleonic Wars continued, it repr ...

, urged the strengthening of the United States Navy, and vigorously opposed the admittance of Louisiana as a state in 1811. In this last matter he stated as his "deliberate opinion, that if this bill passes, the bonds of this Union are virtually dissolved; that the States that compose it are free from their moral obligations; and that, as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must." This was probably the first assertion of the right of secession on the floor of Congress. Quincy left Congress because he saw that the Federalist opposition was useless. In 1812, Quincy was a founding member of the American Antiquarian Society. Josiah Quincy Gilbert Stuart

After leaving Congress, Quincy was a member of the Massachusetts Senate until 1820. In 1821–22 he was a member and speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Quincy resigned from the legislature to become judge of the municipal court of Boston. Quincy was a candidate for Mayor of Boston in Boston's first election under a city charter, held on April 8, 1822. The votes of this first election were evenly split between Quincy and Harrison Gray Otis, with a few votes to others. Neither Quincy nor Otis had a majority, so neither was elected. They both withdrew their candidacies, and John Phillips was elected Boston's first mayor. In 1823 Quincy was elected as the second mayor of Boston; he served six-one year terms from 1823 to 1828. During his terms as mayor Quincy Market was built, the fire and police departments were reorganized, and the city's care of the poor was systematized. Quincy was responsible for leading the shutdown of the Boston High School for Girls in 1826. In 1871, a Report of the Commissioner of Education was published and on page 512 an account of the organization of the Boston High School for Girls was written. Dr. Isabel Bevier's publication of The Home Economics Movement recounts it as such: "On September 25, 1825, the city council appropriated $2,000 for a high school for girls. The school was instituted January 13, 1825, and before the end of the second year had become so popular, the applicants for admission were so numerous, so many parents were disappointed that children were not received, the demand for larger and better accommodations involved such additional expenditures, that the school committee, under the lead of the mayor, Josiah Quincy, met the emergency by abolishing the school and pronouncing it a failure. For a period of twenty-three years no attempt was made to revive the subject in either branch of the city council.” In 1829, Quincy was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society. From 1829 to 1845, he was President of Harvard University, of which he had been an overseer since 1810, when the board was reorganized. At a time when college presidents were chosen for their intellectual achievements, Quincy's past experience as a politician and not an academic made him an unusual choice. He has been called "the great organizer of the university." He gave an elective (or "voluntary") system an elaborate trial; introduced a system of marking (on the scale of 8) on which college rank and honors, formerly rather carelessly assigned, were based; first used courts of law to punish students who destroyed or damaged college property; and helped to reform the finances of the university. During his term Dane Hall (for law) was dedicated, Gore Hall was built, and the Astronomical Observatory was equipped. Quincy House, one of the university's twelve upperclass residential houses, is named for him. In 1856 Quincy gave an address concerning the then upcoming American presidential election. Quincy endorsed the Republican candidate,

John C. Fremont John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, and denounced how "for more than fifty years, the Slave States have subjugated the Free States." This speech is cited in ''"Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power'', by

Garry Wills Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...

. His last years were spent principally on his farm in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

, where he died on July 1, 1864.

Works

''A Municipal History of the Town and City of Boston During Two Centuries from September 17, 1630 to September 17, 1830''
Boston: Charles C. Little & James Brown, 1852. *''History of Harvard University''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1840. *''The History of the Boston Athenæum, with Biographical Notices of its Deceased Founders.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts., Metcalf and Company, 1851. *''Essay on the Soiling of Cattle''. 1852. *''Address Illustrative of the Nature and Power of the Slave States and the Duties of the Free States'' (Ticknor and Fields, 1856)
''The Duty of Conservative Whigs in the Present Crisis: A Letter to the Hon. Rufus Choate''
Boston: William A. Hall, 1856.

Notes and references

;Attribution

External links