Rufus Choate

Rufus Choate
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office February 23, 1841 – March 4, 1845
Preceded by	Daniel Webster
Succeeded by	Daniel Webster
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1831 – June 30, 1834
Preceded by	Benjamin W. Crowninshield
Succeeded by	Stephen C. Phillips
10th Massachusetts Attorney General
In office 1853–1854
Preceded by	John H. Clifford
Succeeded by	John H. Clifford
Personal details
Born	(1799-10-01)October 1, 1799 Ipswich, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	July 13, 1859(1859-07-13) (aged 59) Halifax, British Canada
Political party	Whig
Alma mater	Dartmouth College Harvard University
Profession	Law
Religion	Christian

Rufus Choate (October 1, 1799 – July 13, 1859) was an American lawyer, orator, and Congressman.

Early life and family

Rufus Choate was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a descendant of an English family which settled in Massachusetts in 1643.^[1] His first cousin, physician George Choate, was the father of George C. S. Choate and Joseph Hodges Choate. Rufus Choate's birthplace, Choate House, remains virtually unchanged to this day.

A precocious child, at six he is said to have been able to repeat large parts of the Bible and of Pilgrim's Progress from memory. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa^[2] and graduated as valedictorian of his class at Dartmouth College in 1819, was a tutor there in 1819–1820, spent a year in the law school of Harvard University, receiving the LL.D. degree in 1845. Choate studied for a like period in Washington, D.C., in the office of William Wirt, then Attorney General of the United States.

Career

Rufus Choate memorial statue by noted American sculptor Daniel Chester French, John Adams Court House, Boston, Massachusetts

He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1823 and practiced at what was later South Danvers (now Peabody) for five years, during which time he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1825–1826) and in the Massachusetts Senate (1827).

In 1828, he moved to Salem, where his successful conduct of several important lawsuits brought him prominently into public notice. In 1830 he was elected to Congress as a Whig from Salem, defeating the Jacksonian candidate for re-election, Benjamin Crowninshield, a former United States Secretary of the Navy, and in 1832 he was re-elected. His career in Congress was marked by a speech in defence of a protective tariff.

Choate lived on Winthrop Place, Boston, 1851-1859^[3]

In 1834, before the completion of his second term, he resigned and established himself in the practice of law in Boston. Already his reputation as a speaker had spread beyond New England, and he was much sought after as an orator for public occasions. For several years, he devoted himself unremittingly to his profession but, in 1841, succeeded fellow Dartmouth graduate Daniel Webster in the United States Senate. Shortly afterwards he delivered an address at the memorial services for President William Henry Harrison at Faneuil Hall.

In the Senate, he spoke on the tariff, the Oregon boundary, in favor of the Fiscal Bank Act, and in opposition to the annexation of Texas. On Webster's re-election to the Senate in 1845, Choate resumed his law practice. He later served a short term as attorney-general of Massachusetts in 1853–1854. In 1846, Choate convinced a jury that the accused, Albert Tirrell, did not cut the throat of his lover, or, if he did so, he did it while sleepwalking, under the 'insanity of sleep'.^[4] His successful use of sleepwalking as a defense against murder charges was the first time in American legal history this defense was successful in a murder prosecution.^[5] He was a faithful supporter of Webster's policy as declared in the latter's Seventh of March Speech of 1850 and labored to secure for him the presidential nomination at the Whig national convention in 1852. In 1853, he was a member of the state constitutional convention.

In 1856, he refused to follow most of his former Whig associates into the Republican Party and gave his support to Democrat James Buchanan, whom he considered the representative of a national instead of a sectional party. In July 1859 failing health led him to seek rest in a trip to Europe, but he died on July 13, 1859 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he had been put ashore when it was seen that he probably could not last the voyage across the Atlantic.

Works

• Works — edited, with a memoir, by S. G. Brown, were published in two volumes at Boston in 1862
• Memoir — published in 1870
• EG Parker's Reminiscences of Rufus Choate (New York, 1860)
• EP Whipple's Some Recollections of Rufus Choate (New York, 1879)
• Albany Law Review of 1877–1878)
• The Political Writings of Rufus Choate,' (2003)

Notes

References

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Choate, Rufus". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Attribution

•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rufus Choate

• Rufus Choate at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Works of Rufus Choate: With a Memoir of His Life, by Samuel Gilman Brown
• Reminiscences of Rufus Choate. By Edward Parker, published 1860.
• Memories of Rufus Choate by Joseph Neilson, published 1884.

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

United States Senators from Massachusetts Class 1 Dalton Cabot Goodhue Mason Adams Lloyd Gore Ashmun Mellen Mills Webster Choate Webster Winthrop Rantoul Sumner Washburn Dawes Lodge, Sr. Butler Walsh Lodge, Jr. J. Kennedy Smith E. Kennedy Kirk Brown Warren Class 2 Strong Sedgwick Dexter Foster Pickering Varnum Otis Lloyd Silsbee Davis Bates Davis Everett Rockwell Wilson Boutwell Hoar Crane J. Weeks Walsh Gillett Coolidge Lodge, Jr. S. Weeks Saltonstall Brooke Tsongas Kerry Cowan Markey