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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—MassachusettsCUSHING, Caleb
(1800—1879)
CUSHING, Caleb, a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Salisbury, Mass., January 17, 1800; was graduated from Harvard University in 1817; studied law; was admitted to the bar at Newburyport in 1823; member of the State house of representatives in 1825; served in the State senate in 1827; again a member of the State house of representatives in 1833 and 1834; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Twenty-third Congress in 1833; elected as an Anti-Jacksonian candidate to the Twenty-fourth and reelected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1835-March 3, 1843); chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Twenty-seventh Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1842; appointed by President Tyler as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China on May 8, 1843, and also commissioner on the same date; resigned March 4, 1845; while serving as commissioner to China was empowered to negotiate a treaty of navigation and commerce with Japan; again a member of the State house of representatives in 1845 and 1846; colonel of a Massachusetts regiment which served in the war with Mexico; appointed brigadier general by President Polk April 14, 1847; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor in 1847 and again in 1848; again elected to the State house of representatives in 1850; offered the position as attorney general of Massachusetts in 1851, but declined; mayor of Newburyport, Mass., in 1851 and 1852; appointed judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts in 1852; appointed by President Pierce as Attorney General of the United States on March 7, 1853, and served until March 3, 1857; chairman of the Democratic National Conventions at Baltimore and Charleston in 1860; appointed by President Johnson as a commissioner to codify the laws of the United States and served from 1866 to 1870; instructed on November 25, 1868, in concert with the Minister Resident to Colombia, to negotiate a treaty for a ship canal across the Isthmus; appointed in 1872 by President Grant counsel for the United States before the Geneva Tribunal of Arbitration on the Alabama claims; nominated by President Grant in 1874 to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, but was not confirmed by the Senate; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain from January 6, 1874, to April 9, 1877; died in Newburyport, Essex County, Mass., on January 2, 1879; interment in Highland Cemetery.
Bibliography
Baldasty, Gerald J. “Political Stalemate in Essex County: Caleb Cushing’s Race for Congress, 1830-1832.” Essex Institute Historical Collections
117 (January 1981): 54-70; Fuess, Claude M. The Life of Caleb Cushing
. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1923.
Baldasty, Gerald J. “Political Stalemate in Essex County: Caleb Cushing’s Race for Congress, 1830-1832.” Essex Institute Historical Collections
117 (January 1981): 54-70.
Barstow, Benjamin. Speech of Benjamin Barstow, of Salem, on the abolition propensities of Caleb Cushing. Delivered at the Massachusetts National Democratic Convention, held at Boston, Sept. 22, 1853
. Boston: Office of the National Democrat
, 1853.
Belohlavek, John M. Broken Glass: Caleb Cushing & the Shattering of the Union
. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2005.
Cushing, Caleb. Address. Delivered September 26, 1850, at Salem, before the Essex Agricultural Society
. Salem, [Mass.]: Printed at office of Salem Gazette
and Essex
Co. Mercury
, 1850.
———. An address, delivered at the laying of the corner stone of the new town hall
. Newburyport: Huse & Bragdon, printers, 1850.
———. An address delivered at Lynn: Before the associated lodges of Salem, Lynn, Marblehead, Danvers, & Beverly, on the festival of St. John, June 24, A. L. 5826
. Newburyport [Mass.]: Printed by E.W. Allen, 1826.
———. An address delivered before the American Institute of the city of New-York
. New-York: Printed by J. Van Norden, 1836.
———. Address on occasion of the annual commencement exercises of the Columbian Law College of the District of Columbia
. Washington, D. C.: McGill & Witherow, printers, 1868.
———. Argument of Mr. Cushing for the appellees in the case of De Haro’s heirs versus the United States: Supreme Court of the United States, April 11, 1867
. Reported by D. F. Murphy. Washington: McGill & Witherow, printers and stereotypers, 1867.
———. Beyond the Rocky Mountains: Report on the Territory of Oregon
. Fairfield, Wash.: Ye Galleon Press, 1999.
———. The claims of citizens of the United States on Denmark
. Cambridge, [Mass.]: Printed by Hilliard, Metcalf, and Co., 1826.
———. Contract of the Mexican government for the survey of the public lands in the State of Sonora
. Washington: [N.p.], 1860.
———. The Cushing Reports: Ambassador Caleb Cushing’s Confidential Diplomatic Reports to the United States Secretary of State, 1843-1844: Mexico, Egypt, the Barbary States, India, Ceylon
. Edited & introduced by Margaret Diamond Benetz. Salisbury, N.C.: Documentary Publications, 1976.
———. A eulogy on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
. Cambridge, [Mass.]: Printed by Hilliard and Metcalf, 1826.
———. A eulogy on La Fayette
. Dover, N.H.: G. Wadleigh, 1834.
———. Geneva award
. [New York: N.p., 1872].
———. The history and present state of the town of Newburyport
. Newburyport: Printed by E.W. Allen, 1826.
———. Introductory discourse delivered before the American Institute of Instruction, at their fifth anniversary meeting, in Boston, August 1834
. Boston: Tuttle and Weeks, 1834.
———. Memoir on the subject of British enlistments in the United States
. [Newburyport?: N.p., 1862?]
———. Opinion as to the construction of the Non-intercourse acts and Captured property acts relatively to the Prize acts
. Washington: N.p., 1866.
———. Opinion of the attorney general on so much of the act to remodel the diplomatic and consular systems of the United States, approved March 1, 1855, and section III of the act approved March 3, 1855, amendatory thereof, as related to consuls
. Washington: A. O. P. Nicholson, public printer, 1855.
———. An oration delivered before the citizens of Newburyport: on the fifty-sixth anniversary of American independence
. Newburyport, [Mass.]: Printed by T.B. & E.L. White, 1832.
———. Oration delivered by the Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, before the Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, at Tammany Hall, on Monday, July 5th, 1858
. New York: Pub. by order of the Society, 1858.
———. An oration, delivered in Newburyport, on the forty-fifth anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1821
. Newburyport: Printed at the office of the Newburyport Herald
, 1821.
———. An oration, on the material growth and progress of the United States, delivered at Springfield, Mass., on the Fourth of July, 1839
. Springfield: Printed by Merriam, Wood and Co., 1839.
———. An oration pronounced at Boston before the Colonization society of Massachusetts, on the anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1833
. Boston: Lyceum Press, G. W. Light & Co., 1833.
———. An oration pronounced at the request of the Washington Light Infantry Company in Newburyport, July 24, 1822, in commemoration of the company’s twenty-second anniversary
. Newburyport: E. W. Allen, 1822.
———. An oration pronounced before the literary societies of Amherst College August 23, 1836
. Boston: Light & Stearns, 1836.
———. Outlines of the life and public services, civil and military, of William Henry Harrison
. Boston: Weeks, Jordan and Company, 1840.
———. Remarks of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on the Neutrality bill
. Washington: Printed by Galles and Seaton, 1938.
———. A reply to the letter of J. Fenimore Cooper. By one of his countrymen
. Boston: J. T. Buckingham, 1834.
———. Review, historical and political, of the late revolution in France, and of the consequent events in Belgium, Poland, Great Britain, and other parts of Europe
. Boston: Carter, Hendee & Co.; Newburyport: T.B. White, 1833.
———. The right of the National Life Insurance co. to establish agencies in the state of New York
. Washington, D.C.: McGill & Witherow, printers, 1868.
———. Speech delivered in Faneuil Hall, Boston, October 27, 1857: also, speech delivered in City Hall, Newburyport, October 31, 1857
. Boston: Printed at the office of the Boston Post
, 1857.
———. Speech of Mr. Cushing, at a public meeting of his constituents in Lowell: August 22nd, 1837
. [Massachusetts?: N.p., 1837].
———. Speech of Hon. Caleb Cushing, in Norombega hall, Bangor, October 2, 1860, before the democracy of Maine
. [Bangor?: N.p., 1860].
———. Speech of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on the bill granting pre-emption rights to settlers on the public lands. Delivered in the House of Representatives, June 13, 1838
. Washington [D.C.]: Printed by Gales and Seaton, 1838.
———. Speech of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on the bill making appropriations for the current expenses of the Indian Department: delivered in the House of Representatives, February 1, 1837
. Washington, [D.C.]: Printed by Gales & Seaton, 1837.
———. Speech of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on the Post Office Bill. Delivered in the House of Representatives, August 25, 1841
. Washington: Printed by Gales and Seaton, 1841.
———. Speech of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on the Remedial justice bill and the treaty with Great Britain, delivered in the House of Representatives, August 26, 1842
. Washington: Printed at the National Intelligencer
Office, 1842.
———. Speech of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on the resolutions of Kentucky and Massachusetts, recommending the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among the states. House of Representatives, May 23, 1836
. Washington, D.C.: Printed by Gales & Seaton, 1836.
———. Speech of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on the right of petition, as connected with petitions for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia: in the House of Representatives, January 25, 1836
. Washington: Printed by Gales and Seaton, 1836.
———. Speeches delivered in the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, on the subject of the currency and public deposits
. Salem: Register Press: W. Palfray, Jr., 1834.
———. Speeches of Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on the Maine boundary question
. Newburyport: Morss and Brewster, 1839.
———. Speeches on the amendment of the constitution of Massachusetts, imposing disabilities on naturalized citizens of the United States
. [Boston]: Printed at the office of the Boston Post
, 1859.
———. To my constituents
. [Washington: N.p., 1841].
———. Tracts on sundry topics of political economy
. Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Co., 1834.
———. The Treaty of Washington; its negotiation, execution, and the discussions relating thereto
. New York: Harper & Bros., 1873. Reprint, N.p.: Ayer Co Pub., 1973.
———. A view of the anthracite coal trade of Pennsylvania
. As published in the N.A. review. Boston: N.p., 1836.
Fuess, Claude M. The Life of Caleb Cushing.
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1923. Reprint, Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1965.
Hodgson, Sister Michael Catherine. Caleb Cushing, Attorney General of the United States, 1853-1857.
Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1955.
Smith, Alice E. “Caleb Cushing’s Investments in the St. Croix Valley.” Wisconsin Magazine of History
28 (September 1944): 7-19.
Welch, Richard E., Jr. “Caleb Cushing’s Chinese Mission and the Treaty of Wanghia: a Review.” Oregon Historical Quarterly
58 (December 1957): 328-57.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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