Edward Everett

Edward Everett (April 11, 1794– January 15, 1865) was an American politician, religious leader and educator from Massachusetts. He was a Whig. He served as U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State. He also taught at Harvard University and was as president of Harvard.  He was the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Constitutional Union Party in 1860.  He gave a long speech at Gettysburg right before Abraham Lincoln.

When Abraham Lincoln became president, the Civil War broke out. Everett had been calmer about slavery, but he was a strong Unionist. He worked hard to raise support for the Union through speaking in public. In November 1863, when the military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was dedicated, Everett was the main speaker. His two-hour speech was before the much shorter, but now more famous Gettysburg Address by President Lincoln. Everett was moved by the short speech and wrote to Lincoln, "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."Simon, et al., eds. The Lincoln Forum: Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, and the Civil War.  Mason City: Savas Publishing Company, 1999. , p. 41

 References 

Other websites


 Full text of Everett's Gettysburg Oration
 Biography



 Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography at Archive.org
 Edward Everett Papers at Harvard University Archives
 Oil portrait of Edward Everett by Bass Otis, at University of Michigan Museum of Art

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Category:1794 births
Category:1865 deaths
Category:Whig Party (United States) politicians
Category:Governors of Massachusetts
Category:United States senators from Massachusetts
Category:United States representatives from Massachusetts
Category:Harvard University faculty
Category:Educators from Boston
Category:Presidents of Harvard University