Rufus CHOATE, Congress, MA (1799-1859)

CHOATE, Rufus, a Representative and a Senator from Massachusetts; born in Essex, Mass., on October 1, 1799; graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1819; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Danvers, Mass., in 1823; member, State house of representatives 1825; member, State senate 1826; moved to Salem in 1828; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Congresses and served from March 4, 1831, to June 30, 1834, when he resigned; moved to Boston in 1834; elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Daniel Webster and served from February 23, 1841, to March 3, 1845; retired from political life to devote his time to law; member of the State constitutional convention in 1853; attorney general of Massachusetts in 1853; died in Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 13, 1859; interment in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law; Choate, Rufus. The Works of Rufus Choate: With A Memoir of His Life. Edited by S.G. Brown. 2 vols. 1862. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1972; Matthews, Jean. Rufus Choate. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980.

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