 anson burlingame (november 14, 1820 â february 23, 1870) was an american lawyer, legislator, and diplomat, 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 == he practiced law in boston, 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, br
1820_births 1870_deaths 19th-century_American_diplomats Ambassadors_of_the_United_States_to_Austria Ambassadors_of_the_United_States_to_China Burials_at_Mount_Auburn_Cemetery Burlingame,_California Harvard_Law_School_alumni Know-Nothing_members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives Massachusetts_Free_Soilers Massachusetts_Know_Nothings Massachusetts_Republicans Massachusetts_State_Senators Members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_from_Massachusetts People_from_New_Berlin,_New_York Republican_Party_members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives University_of_Michigan_alumni