Anson BURLINGAME, Congress, MA (1820-1870)

BURLINGAME, Anson, a Representative from Massachusetts; born in New Berlin, N.Y., November 14, 1820; moved with his parents to Seneca County, Ohio, in 1823, and to Detroit, Mich., in 1833; attended private schools and the Detroit branch of the University of Michigan; was graduated from the law department of Harvard University in 1846; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Boston; served in the State senate in 1852; member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1853; elected as a candidate of the American Party to the Thirty-fourth Congress and as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1861); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress; appointed Minister to Austria March 22, 1861, but was not accepted by the Austrian Government because of certain opinions he was known to entertain regarding Hungary and Sardinia; Minister to China from June 14, 1861, to November 21, 1867; appointed December 1, 1867, by the Chinese Government its ambassador to negotiate treaties with foreign powers; died in St. Petersburg, Russia, February 23, 1870; interment in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.

Bibliography

Anderson, David L. “Anson Burlingame: Reformer and Diplomat.” Civil War History 25 (December 1979): 293-308; Koo, Telly H. “The Life of Anson Burlingame.” Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1922.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present