William M. Evarts

For more information on William Maxwell Evarts, visit Britannica.com.

The American lawyer and statesman William Maxwell Evarts (1818-1901) was secretary of state under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Born in Boston, William M. Evarts was educated at Boston Latin School and Yale College, from which he graduated in 1837. He attended the Dane Law School at Harvard and entered practice in New York City in 1841. In 1843 he married Helen Minerva Wardner. Evarts achieved early eminence at the New York bar, and in 1859 he formed what became one of the nation's most successful corporate law firms.

As a Whig, Evarts defended the Compromise of 1850 and played no part in the antislavery movement except to win the Lemmon slave case (1860). The decision upheld the right of the state of New York not to return to slavery any African Americans brought by sea from a slave state and sequestered in a free state for subsequent shipment back into slavery in a third state.

In 1860 Evarts, now a Republican, preferred William Seward to Abraham Lincoln as the Republican presidential candidate. During the Civil War, Evarts played only a minor diplomatic role; he was sent to England to help prevent the equipping of the Confederate Navy. As a conservative Republican, he found favor with Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, by successfully leading the defense of the President in the 1868 impeachment proceedings. Evarts was named attorney general, serving until the end of Johnson's term in 1869.

Although never a favorite of President U.S. Grant, Evarts was named, with Caleb Cushing and Morrison R. Waite, as counsel before the Geneva arbitration tribunal in the Alabama Claims case. The three lawyers won a settlement for Civil War damages from England and established a precedent for the arbitration of international disputes.

In 1877 Evarts was counsel for the Republican party before the electoral commission appointed to settle the disputed presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden. As Evarts urged, the commission counted the disputed votes for Hayes.

During the Hayes administration (1877-1881) Evarts served as secretary of state. He worked for the expansion of American trade around the world. Like many New Yorkers of his class, Evarts was friendly to England, despite the commercial competition of the two countries. However, he did protest the English intrusion into Guatemala and negotiated with Colombia to frustrate the French attempt to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The French failed for other reasons, but Evarts had foreseen that the United States could powerfully enhance its world trade position by having such a canal under its domination. Evarts's most significant achievement was in Far Eastern affairs. He pursued an aggressive policy, increasing American trade with Japan; and after aiding Hayes in writing the veto for a flagrantly anti-Chinese bill favored in California, he negotiated a treaty with China limiting the importation of coolie laborers into the United States and relaxing the barriers against American exporters trading in China. He also arranged for the establishment of an American base in Samoa.

From the days of the Lincoln administration onward, Evarts's name was mentioned whenever a vacancy occurred on the Supreme Court, but that goal always eluded him. In 1885 the New York Legislature sent him to the U.S. Senate for one term.

Second in fame only to his defense of President Johnson was Evarts's winning of acquittal for Henry Ward Beecher in the sensational trial involving alleged sexual improprieties. Still, it was in the realm of corporate law that Evarts made his great reputation as a lawyer. He won innumerable cases important in the advancement of business enterprise and was long regarded as a leader of the New York bar. He died in his New York home in 1901.

Further Reading

Chester L. Barrows, William M. Evarts: Lawyer, Diplomat, Statesman (1941), is an excellent biography.

William Maxwell Evarts served as attorney general of the United States during the last year of the administration of President Andrew Johnson. Evarts was a distinguished and powerful New York attorney who successfully defended President Johnson at his impeachment trial, represented the Republican party before an electoral commission during the disputed presidential election of 1876, served as secretary of state during the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes, and ended his public career as a U.S. senator.

Evarts was born February 16, 1818, in Boston. He graduated from Yale University in 1837 and then attended Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1841 and subsequently established a successful legal practice. From 1849 to 1853, Evarts acted as assistant district attorney for the New York District.

Evarts entered public service during the Civil War. He participated in diplomatic activities as a member of the Secretary of Defense Committee for the Union. In 1863 he went to England as a Union delegate to convince England to stop providing war vessels and equipment to the Confederacy.

Following the end of the Civil War, Evarts returned to his law practice. He was drawn back to Washington, D.C., in 1868 to help defend President Johnson at his impeachment trial. The charges against Johnson were weak and politically motivated, yet the mood in the Senate appeared to favor conviction. Evarts proved instrumental in obtaining an acquittal, though by a margin of only one vote. Johnson rewarded Evarts by appointing him attorney general. Evarts served in that position until the end of the Johnson administration in March 1869.

Evarts then returned to New York government. He led the New York City Bar Association for ten years and was an advocate for political reform in the city, which was dominated by the corrupt Democratic political machine led by the "Tweed Ring." The ring was named after William Marcy Tweed, the New York City Democratic party leader who ran the party organization popularly known as Tammany Hall. Tweed and his associates used their political connections and political offices to gain a foothold in city and county government. Once formed, the Tweed Ring misappropriated government funds through such devices as faked leases, padded bills, false vouchers, unnecessary repairs, and overpriced goods and services bought from suppliers controlled by the ring.

In 1876 Evarts reentered the national political arena, this time as the chief counsel of the national Republican party. The presidential election of 1876 between Democrat Samuel J. Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes ended in disputes involving the voting returns of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Two sets of returns were submitted from each of these states, one favoring Tilden, the other Hayes. If Hayes were awarded the electoral votes from these states, and one more from a disputed Oregon elector, he would defeat Tilden in a vote of 185-184.

Congress appointed an electoral commission to decide which returns to accept. In the end Evarts and the Republican members of the commission were able to convince commission member and Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Bradley to cast his vote, which was the deciding vote, for the Hayes electors and Hayes was awarded the presidency. Tilden agreed to the result out of fear that violence would ensue if he disputed it. In return the Republicans made a side agreement with southern Democrats that led to President Hayes in 1877 removing federal occupation troops from the former states of the Confederacy. Evarts was also a key player in these affairs.

President Hayes, like President Johnson before him, rewarded Evarts, appointing him secretary of state in 1877. Evarts served in this capacity during the four years of the Hayes administration. In 1885 he was elected a U.S. senator from New York. He served in the Senate until 1889. In failing health he retired from politics and the law in 1891.

Evarts died February 28, 1901, in New York City.

Quotes:

"It is faith among men that holds the moral elements of society together, as it is faith in God that binds the world to his throne."

"The pious ones of Plymouth who, reaching the Rock, first fell upon their own knees and then upon the aborigines."

William Maxwell Evarts
27th United States Secretary of State
In office March 12, 1877 – March 7, 1881
President	Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded by	Hamilton Fish
Succeeded by	James G. Blaine
30th United States Attorney General
In office July 17, 1868 – March 4, 1869
President	Andrew Johnson
Preceded by	Henry Stanberry
Succeeded by	Ebenezer R. Hoar
United States Senator from New York
In office March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1891
Preceded by	Elbridge G. Lapham
Succeeded by	David B. Hill
Born	February 6, 1818 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	February 28, 1901 (aged 83) New York City, New York
Resting place	Ascutney Cemetery, Windsor, Vermont
Political party	Whig Republican
Spouse(s)	Helen Minerva Bingham Wardner
Alma mater	Yale College Harvard Law School
Profession	Law

William Maxwell Evarts (February 6, 1818 – February 28, 1901) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as US Secretary of State, US Attorney General and US Senator from New York. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of author, editor, and Indian removal opponent Jeremiah Evarts, and the grandson of Declaration of Independence signer Roger Sherman.

Contents 1 School, family, and early career 2 Political career 3 Retirement 4 Extended family 5 Sources 6 Popular Culture 7 References 8 External links

School, family, and early career

William attended Boston Latin School, graduated from Yale College in 1837 and then attended Harvard Law School. While at Yale he became a member of the secret society Skull and Bones, but later in life spoke out against such societies at the 1873 Yale commencement alumni meeting, claiming they bred snobbishness. ^[1][2]

He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1841, and soon took high rank in his profession. He married Helen Minerva Bingham Wardner in 1843. They had 12 children between 1845 and 1862, all born in New York City.

Political career

A Whig Party supporter before joining the fledgling Republican Party, Evarts was appointed an assistant United States district attorney and served from 1849-1853. In 1860 he was chairman of the New York delegation to the Republican National Convention where he placed Senator William H. Seward's name in nomination for President. In 1861 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate from New York. He was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1867-1868.

He was chief counsel for President Andrew Johnson during the impeachment trial, and from July 1868 until March 1869 he was Johnson's Attorney General of the United States. In 1872 he was counsel for the United States before the tribunal of arbitration on the Alabama claims at Geneva, Switzerland.

Evarts served as counsel for President-elect Rutherford B. Hayes, on behalf of the Republican Party, before the Electoral Commission in the disputed U.S. presidential election of 1876. During President Rutherford B. Hayes's administration he was United States Secretary of State. He was a delegate to the International Monetary Conference at Paris 1881.

From 1885 to 1891 he was a U.S. Senator from New York. While in Congress (49th, 50th and 51st Congresses), he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Library from 1887 to 1891. As an orator Senator Evarts stood in the foremost rank, and some of his best speeches were published.

He led the American fund-raising effort for the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty and spoke at its unveiling on October 28, 1886.

Retirement

Senator Evarts retired from public life due to ill health in 1891. He was also part of a law practice in New York City called Evarts, Southmoyd and Choate. He died in New York City and was buried at Ascutney Cemetery in Windsor, Vermont.

Portrait of William M. Evarts

Extended family

William was a member of the extended Baldwin, Hoar & Sherman family, which had many members in American politics.

Ebenezer R. Hoar, a first cousin of Evarts, was a U.S. Attorney General, Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and representative in Congress. The two were best friends, and shared similar professional pursuits and political beliefs. Each served, in succession, as United States Attorney General. Some of Evarts's other first cousins include U.S. Senator & Governor of the State of Connecticut, Roger Sherman Baldwin; U.S. Senator for Massachusetts (brother of Ebenezer R.) George F. Hoar; and California state senator and founding trustee of the University of California, Sherman Day.

Son Maxwell Evarts graduated from Yale College in 1884, where he was also a member of Skull and Bones. He served as a New York City District attorney, and then later as General Counsel for E. H. Harriman, which later became the Union Pacific Railroad, president of two (2) Windsor, VT banks, and the chief financial backer of the Gridley Automatic Lathe (manufactured by the Windsor Machine Co.). In politics, Maxwell served as a representative in the Vermont state legislature and was a Vermont State Fair Commissioner.

Allen Wardner Evarts, another son, graduated from Yale College in 1869. He supported the founding of Wolf's Head Society, and was first president of its alumni association and held the position for 20 years over two separate terms. He was a law partner, corporate president, and trustee of Vassar College.

Grandson Maxwell E. Perkins was the famed Charles Scribner's Sons editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and James Jones.

Great nephew Evarts Boutell Greene was the famed American historian appointed Columbia University's first De Witt Clinton Professor of History 1923, Department Chairman from 1926 to 1939. Chairman of the Columbia Institute of Japanese Studies, 1936–39. He was a noted authority on the American Colonial and Revolutionary War periods. Another relative, Henry Sherman Boutell, was a member of the Illinois state house of representatives, 1884; member of the U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1897 to 1911 (6th District 1897-1903, 9th District 1903-11); delegate, Republican National Convention from Illinois, 1908; U.S. Minister, Switzerland, 1911-13.

Great great nephew Roger Sherman Greene II, the son of Daniel Crosby Greene and Mary Jane (Forbes) Greene; was the U.S. Vice Consul in Rio de Janeiro, 1903-04; Nagasaki, 1904-05; Kobe, 1905; U.S. Consul in Vladivostok, 1907; Harbin, 1909-11; U.S. Consul General in Hankow, 1911-14.

Great great nephew Jerome Davis Greene (1874-1959): President, Lee, Higginson & Company from 1917 to 1932; Secretary, Harvard University Corporation from 1905 to 1910 & 1934-1943; General Manager of the Rockefeller Institute 1910-1012, assistant and secretary to John D. Rockefeller Jr. as Trustee, Rockefeller Institute; Trustee, Rockefeller Foundation; Trustee, Rockefeller General Education Board from 1910 to 1939. executive secretary, American Section - Allied Maritime Transport Council, 1918 Joint Secretary of the Reparations, Paris Peace Conference, 1919; Chairman, American Council Institute of Pacific Relations, 1929-32; Trustee, Brookings Institution of Washington from 1928 to 1945; and a founding member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Great-grandson Archibald Cox served as a U.S. Solicitor General and special prosecutor during President Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal, whereas Evarts defended a U.S. President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial. In a sense, they both successfully argued their cases, which represent two of the three U.S. Presidential impeachment efforts. An impeachment trial was never held in Nixon's case, due to the president's resignation.

Sources

•  "Evarts, William Maxwell". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

• William M. Evarts at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Popular Culture

William M. Evarts was a running gag in the Jack Benny radio episode of 53-04-05 Easter Parade.

References

1. ^ Alexandra Robbins, Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power, Little, Brown and Company, 2002, Robbins, page 131, 199.
2. ^ Chester Leonard Barrows, William M. Evarts, Lawyer, Diplomat, Statesman, University of North Carolina press, 1941, page 12

External links

• Family tree of William Maxwell Evarts
• EVARTS, William Maxwell at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• William Maxwell Evarts Find A Grave
• The Ebenezer Hoar Papers
• Evarts, William Maxwell from 1818 to 1901. Papers from 1849 to 1887
• Eulogy on Chief-Justice Chase by William Maxwell Evarts at Project Gutenberg Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase
• Sherman Genealogy Including Families of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, England By Thomas Townsend Sherman
• Hoar-Baldwin-Foster-Sherman family of Massachusetts at Political Graveyard

• Works related to William M. Evarts at Wikisource

Legal offices
Preceded by Henry Stanberry	United States Attorney General 1868–1869	Succeeded by Ebenezer R. Hoar
Political offices
Preceded by Hamilton Fish	United States Secretary of State Served under: Rutherford B. Hayes March 12, 1877–March 7, 1881	Succeeded by James G. Blaine
United States Senate
Preceded by Elbridge G. Lapham	United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1885–1891 Served alongside: Warner Miller, Frank Hiscock	Succeeded by David B. Hill

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v • d • e Cabinet of President Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) Vice President None (1865-1869) Secretary of State William H. Seward (1865-1869) Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch (1865-1869) Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (1865-1868) • John Schofield (1868-1869) Attorney General James Speed (1865-1866) • Henry Stanberry (1866-1868) • William M. Evarts (1868-1869) Postmaster General William Dennison (1865-1866) • Alexander Randall (1866-1869) Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (1865-1869) Secretary of the Interior John Palmer Usher (1865) • James Harlan (1865-1866) • Orville Hickman Browning (1866-1869)

v • d • e Cabinet of President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) Vice President William A. Wheeler (1877-1881) Secretary of State William M. Evarts (1877-1881) Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman (1877-1881) Secretary of War George W. McCrary (1877-1879) • Alexander Ramsey (1879-1881) Attorney General Charles Devens (1877-1881) Postmaster General David M. Key (1877-1880) • Horace Maynard (1880-1881) Secretary of the Navy Richard Wigginton Thompson (1877-1880) • Nathan Goff, Jr. (1881) Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz (1877-1881)

Persondata
NAME	Evarts, William Maxwell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	February 6, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH	Boston, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH	February 28, 1901
PLACE OF DEATH	New York City, New York

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