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George Bancroft, photograph by Mathew Brady (credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born Oct. 3, 1800, Worcester, Mass., U.S. — died Jan. 17, 1891, Washington, D.C.) U.S. historian. Bancroft was educated at Harvard and several German universities. He was minister to England (1846 – 49), Prussia (1867 – 71), and the German empire (1871 – 74). He was the first scholar to plan a comprehensive study of the U.S. from the colonial days through the end of the Revolutionary War. His 10-volume History of the United States (1834 – 40, 1852 – 74) reflected his belief that the U.S. represented humanity's closest approximation yet to the perfect state and earned him his reputation as the "father of U.S. history."

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