Anson Burlingame

Anson Burlingame


Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 5th 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, Chenango County, New York, U.S.
Died	February 23, 1870(1870-02-23) (aged 49) Saint Petersburg, Russia
Political party	American, Republican
Alma mater	University of Michigan, and Harvard Law School
Signature

Anson Burlingame (November 14, 1820 – February 23, 1870) was an American lawyer, legislator, and diplomat.

Early life

Burlingame was born in New Berlin, Chenango County, 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 the University of Michigan, and in 1846 graduated from Harvard Law School. 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).

Early career

Burlingame practiced law in Boston, Massachusetts, and won a wide reputation by his speeches for the Free Soil Party in 1848. He was a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1853, of the state senate from 1853 to 1854, and of the United States House of Representatives from 1855 to 1861, being elected for the first term as a Know Nothing and afterwards as a member of the new Republican Party, which he helped to organize in Massachusetts. He is a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Sigma chapter).

Burlingame vs. Preston Brooks

In May 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts delivered a vituperative denunciation of President Franklin Pierce and Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Bleeding Kansas. In particular, Sumner lambasted Senator Andrew Butler, a cousin of Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina. Three days later, Congressman Brooks advanced upon Sumner while he worked at his desk in the Senate chamber. Using his cane, Brooks beat Sumner into unconsciousness, with Sumner ripping his bolted-down desk from the floor as he attempted to escape. Brooks received no official censure from the House of Representatives, and was instead hailed as a hero in much of the pro-slavery South.^[1]

Shortly afterwards, Burlingame delivered what The 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. In response, Brooks challenged Burlingame to a duel, stating he would gladly face him "in any Yankee mudsill of his choosing". Burlingame, a well-known marksman, eagerly accepted, choosing rifles as the weapons and the Navy Yards on the Canadian side of the U.S. border in Niagara 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 was to cross "hostile country" (the northern U.S. states) in order to reach Canada.^[3] Burlingame's solid defense of a fellow Bostonian greatly raised his stature throughout the North.^[4]

Minister to China and Chinese envoy to Washington

Burlingame was given this Daimyo Oak bonsai when he passed through Japan during his return to the U.S. It is on display at the Gardens of Lake Merritt, Oakland, California.^[5]

On March 22, 1861, after Burlingame lost his bid for re-election, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Burlingame as Minister to the Austrian Empire, but Burlingame, who had championed the Hungarian Lajos Kossuth and his drive for independence from the Austrian Empire, was not acceptable and did not serve.^[6]

On June 14, 1861 Lincoln instead appointed Burlingame as minister to the Qing Empire. Burlingame worked for a cooperative policy rather than the imperialistic policies of force which had been used during the First and Second Opium Wars and developed relations with the reform elements of the court. 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.” ^[7]

The success of this diplomacy was not lost on Qing dynasty court officials. On November 16, 1867, when he was set to retire and return to his political career at home, the Chinese government 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. Burlingame used his personal relations with the Republican administration to negotiate a relatively quick and favorable treaty. In a series of speeches across the country, he displayed eloquent oratory to advocate equal treatment of China and a welcoming stance toward Chinese immigrants.

On July 28, 1868 the mission concluded at Washington, D.C. a series of articles, supplementary to the Reed Treaty of 1858, and later known as the Burlingame Treaty. The treaty provided that Chinese subjects in the United States should enjoy the same rights as citizens of the most favored nation, a legal strategy which up until that point had only been used to expand foreign privileges in China. Burlingame worked successfully to include a clause permitting Chinese to become citizens, which was barred by American law. This treaty was the first equal treaty between China and a western power after the Opium War.^[8]

Subsequently, Burlingame also negotiated treaties with Denmark, Sweden, Holland, and Prussia.^[9] He died suddenly at Saint Petersburg on February 23, 1870, while negotiating terms for a treaty with Russia. He was buried in Boston.

Family

His son Edward L. Burlingame was founding editor of Scribner's Magazine.

Legacy

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.^[10]

Burlingame, California, and Burlingame, Kansas, are both named after Anson Burlingame. The Kansas Free-State party rewarded his anti-slavery efforts by renaming a small railroad town after him.^[11] The ranch which Burlingame purchased in San Mateo on the San Francisco Bay retained his name and was eventually developed after his death.^[12]

Notes

↑ John Schrecker, "'For the Equality of Men -- for the Equality of Nations': Anson Burlingame and China's First Embassy to the United States, 1868," Journal of American-East Asian Relations 17.1 (2010): 10.
↑ The New York Times, February 24, 1870, pg.5
↑ "The Beginnings of the Burlingame Mission", Walsh, Warren B., The Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 4.3 (May 1945): 274-277
↑ Schrecker, "'For the Equality of Men -- for the Equality of Nations'": 10.
↑
↑ Williams, Anson Burlingame,
↑ Schrecker, "'For the Equality of Men -- for the Equality of Nations'," 11.
↑ Schrecker, "'For the Equality of Men -- for the Equality of Nations'," 29-30.
↑ Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Burlingame, Anson". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
↑ Schrecker, "'For the Equality of Men -- for the Equality of Nations'," 33-34.
↑ John Rydjord, Kansas Place Names (University of Oklahoma Press, 1981), 357.
↑ Burlingame Family Papers, Library of Congress

References

Frederick Wells Williams, Anson Burlingame and the First Chinese Mission to Foreign Powers (New York: Scribner's, 1912).

Anson Burlingame at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
John Schrecker, ""For the Equality of Men -- for the Equality of Nations": Anson Burlingame and China's First Embassy to the United States, 1868," Journal of American-East Asian Relations 17.1 (2010): 9-34.

External links

Anson Burlingame and the Daimyo Oak

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by William Appleton	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 5th congressional district March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1861	Succeeded by William Appleton
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by J. Glancy Jones	U.S. Minister to the Austrian Empire (did not serve) 1861	Succeeded by J. Lothrop Motley
Preceded by John E. Ward	U.S. Minister to China 1861-67	Succeeded by Ross Browne

United States Ambassadors to China

Envoys to the Qing Empire 1843–1858	Caleb Cushing 1843–44 Alexander Hill Everett 1845–47 John Wesley Davis 1848–50 Humphrey Marshall 1852–54 Robert Milligan McLane 1853–54 Peter Parker 1855–57

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plentipotentiary to the Qing Empire 1858–1913	William Bradford Reed 1857–58 John Elliott Ward 1858–60 Anson Burlingame 1861–67 John Ross Browne 1868–69 Frederick F. Low 1869–73 Benjamin Avery 1874–75 George Seward 1876–80 James Burrill Angell 1880–81 John Russell Young 1882–85 Charles Harvey Denby 1885–98 Edwin H. Conger 1898–1905 William Woodville Rockhill 1905–09 William James Calhoun 1909–13

Envoy to the Republic of China 1913–1929	Paul Samuel Reinsch 1913–19 Charles Richard Crane 1920–21 Jacob Gould Schurman 1921–25 John Van Antwerp MacMurray 1925–29

Ambassador to the Republic of China 1929–1949	Nelson T. Johnson 1929–41 Clarence E. Gauss 1941–44 Patrick J. Hurley 1944–45 John Leighton Stuart 1946–49 Embassy in Taipei 1949–pres.

Chiefs of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing 1973–79	David K. E. Bruce 1973–74 George H. W. Bush 1974–75 Thomas S. Gates, Jr. 1976–77 Leonard Woodcock 1977–79

Ambassador to the People's Republic of China 1979–present	Leonard Woodcock 1979–81 Arthur W. Hummel, Jr. 1981–85 Winston Lord 1985–89 James R. Lilley 1989–91 J. Stapleton Roy 1991–95 Jim Sasser 1996–99 Joseph Prueher 1999–2001 Clark T. Randt, Jr. 2001–09 Jon Huntsman, Jr. 2009–11 Gary Locke 2011–14 Max Baucus 2014–pres.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts

1st district	F Ames Dexter Goodhue Holten Sedgwick Skinner Sedgwick J Bacon Eustis Quincy Ward, Jr. Mason Gorham Webster Gorham Appleton Gorham Lawrence Fletcher Lawrence Winthrop Appleton Winthrop S Eliot Appleton Scudder T Eliot Hall T Eliot Buffinton Crapo Davis Randall Wright Lawrence Treadway Heselton Conte Olver Neal

2nd district	Goodhue Foster W Lyman Sedgwick Ward Sr. W Lyman Shepard J Crowninshield Story Pickman Reed Pickering Silsbee Barstow B Crowninshield Choate Phillips Saltonstall D King Rantoul Fay Crocker Buffinton O Ames Harris Long E Morse Gillett Churchill Bowles Kaynor Granfield Clason Furcolo Boland Neal McGovern

3rd district	Gerry Bourne Coffin Lyman Mattoon Cutler Nelson Livermore White Pickering Nelson Varnum Nelson Osgood Cushing Abbott Duncan Edmands Damrell C Adams Thomas Rice Twichell Whiting I Pierce Field B Dean Field Ranney L Morse J Andrew Walker JR Thayer R Hoar C Washburn JA Thayer Wilder Paige F Foss Casey Philbin Drinan Donohue Early Blute McGovern N Tsongas

4th district	Sedgwick Dearborn Thatcher Wadsworth Foster Lincoln Hastings Varnum Richardson Dana Stearns Fuller E Everett Sa Hoar Parmenter Thompson Palfrey Thompson Sabine Walley Comins Rice Hooper Frost Abbott L Morse Collins J O'Neil Apsley Weymouth Tirrell Mitchell Wilder Winslow Stobbs P Holmes Donohue Drinan Frank Kennedy III

5th district	Partridge Bourne Freeman L Williams T Dwight Ely Mills Lathrop Sibley Davis Lincoln Hudson C Allen Appleton Burlingame Appleton Hooper Alley Butler Gooch Banks Bowman L Morse Hayden Banks Sh Hoar Stevens Knox B Ames J Rogers E Rogers B Morse Cronin P Tsongas Shannon Atkins Meehan N Tsongas Markey Clark

6th district	Thatcher Leonard Reed Sr. J Smith Taggart S Allen Locke Kendall Grennell Alvord Baker Ashmun G Davis Upham T Davis Alley Gooch Banks Butler Thompson Loring Stone Lovering Lodge Cogswell Moody Gardner Lufkin A Andrew G Bates W Bates Harrington Mavroules Torkildsen Tierney Moulton

7th district	Leonard Ward Sr. Leonard Bullock Bishop Mitchell Barker Baylies Turner Baylies Hulbert Shaw H Dwight S Allen Grennell Briggs J Rockwell Goodrich Banks Gooch Boutwell Brooks Esty E Hoar Tarbox Butler Russell Stone Cogswell W Everett Barrett Roberts Phelan Maloney W Connery L Connery Lane Macdonald Markey Capuano

8th district	Grout Thatcher F Ames Otis Eustis L Williams Green Gardner Green Reed Baylies Sampson Hobart Lathrop Bates Calhoun J Adams Mann Wentworth Knapp Train Baldwin G Hoar JMS Williams Warren Claflin Candler Russell CH Allen Greenhalge Stevens McCall Deitrick Dallinger H Thayer Dallinger Healey Goodwin Macdonald O'Neill Kennedy II Capuano Lynch

9th district	Varnum Bishop J Dean Wheaton Reed Folger Reed H Dwight Briggs Jackson Hastings H Williams Hale Fowler Little Dewitt E Thayer Bailey A Walker W Washburn Crocker G Hoar Rice T Lyman Ely Burnett Candler G Williams O'Neil Fitzgerald Conry Keliher Murray Roberts Fuller Underhill Luce Russell Luce Eliot Gifford Nicholson Keith McCormack Hicks Moakley Lynch Keating

10th district	Goodhue Sewall Read Hastings Upham J Allen Brigham Wheaton Morton F Baylies Bailey HAS Dearborn W Baylies Borden H Williams Borden Burnell Grinnell Scudder Dickinson Chaffee Delano Dawes Crocker Stevens Seelye Norcross Rice Russell J Walker McEttrick Atwood Barrows Naphen McNary O'Connell Curley Murray Tague Fitzgerald Tague Douglass Tinkham Herter Curtis Martin Heckler Studds Delahunt Keating

11th district	Bradbury Bartlett Cutler Stedman A Bigelow Brigham B Adams Russell Hobart Richardson J Adams Reed Burnell Goodrich Trafton Dawes Chapin Robinson Whiting II Wallace Coolidge Draper Sprague Powers Sullivan Peters Tinkham Douglass Higgins Flaherty Curley Kennedy O'Neill Burke Donnelly

12th district	Dearborn Parker Lee S Thatcher Skinner Larned Bidwell Bacon Dewey Hulbert Strong Kendall L Bigelow Baylies Hodges J Adams Robinson F Rockwell Crosby E Morse Lovering Powers Weeks Curley Gallivan McCormack Keith Studds

13th district	Wadsworth Seaver Ruggles Dowse Eustis Reed Randall Simpkins Greene Weeks Mitchell Carter Luce Wigglesworth Burke

14th district	G Thatcher Cutts C King J Holmes Lovering E Foss Harris Gilmore Olney Frothingham Wigglesworth Martin

15th district	Wadsworth Ilsley Whitman Widgery Bradbury Whitman Greene Leach Martin Gifford

16th district	S Thatcher Cook Tallman Davis Brown Orr Hill T Thacher Walsh Gifford

17th district	Bruce Chandler Gannett F Carr Wood J Carr Wilson Kinsley

18th district	Wilson Rice Parker

19th district	Parker Conner Gage Cushman

20th district	Hubbard Parris Lincoln

At-large	Cobb

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 25406532 LCCN: n92104055 GND: 119159651 US Congress: B001112

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