Robert Charles Winthrop
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Robert Charles Winthrop (May 12, 1809 – November 16, 1894) was an American lawyer, philanthropist, and Whig Party politician who represented
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
in the United States House and Senate from 1840 to 1851. He served as the 18th
speaker of the United States House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House or House speaker, is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United ...
and was a political ally and colleague of
Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the 14th and 19th United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary o ...
. After a rapid rise in Massachusetts and national politics and one term as speaker, Winthrop succeeded Webster in the Senate. His re-election campaign resulted in a long, sharply contested defeat by
Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American ...
. He ran for
Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...
in
1851 Events January–March * January 11 – Hong Xiuquan officially begins the Taiping Rebellion in China, one of the bloodiest revolts that would lead to 20 million deaths. * January 15 – Christian Female College, modern-d ...
but lost due to the state's majority requirement, marking the end of his political career and signaling the decline of the Massachusetts Whig Party. Winthrop was born into a prominent Boston political family, descended from colonial governors Thomas Dudley and John Winthrop and commonwealth governor James Bowdoin, his great-grandfather. After an education at
Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a Magnet school, magnet Latin schools, Latin Grammar schools, grammar State school, state school in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been in continuous operation since it was established on April 23, 1635. It is the old ...
and
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
, he studied law with Webster and was admitted to the bar in 1831. In 1835, at the age of twenty-four, he was elected to the
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...
and served five one-year terms. From 1838 to 1840, he served as speaker of the Massachusetts House. In 1840, Winthrop won a special election to succeed Abbott Lawrence in the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
, representing Boston. He was re-elected to a full term but resigned early in 1842 to mourn the death of his young wife. After only six months out of office, his successor Nathan Appleton resigned, and he was elected to succeed him. Winthrop served out the remainder of the term and was elected three more times. In 1847, he was elected Speaker of the House at the start the 30th Congress. However, he lost re-election in 1849 to Howell Cobb of Georgia after a protracted sixty-six ballot contest. In July 1850, Daniel Webster resigned from the United States Senate to become Secretary of State amid outrage over his support for the
Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that temporarily defused tensions between slave and free states during the years leading up to the American Civil War. Designe ...
. Governor George Briggs appointed Winthrop to succeed him, but the 1850 Massachusetts elections resulted in a three-way split of the legislature between Whigs and the Democratic and Free Soil parties, which joined in an anti-Whig coalition. After a divisive fifty-one ballot election, Free Soilers and anti-slavery Democrats united to elect
Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American ...
, an abolitionist lawyer, to the seat. Winthrop made a final run for public office in November of that year when he stood for governor but was again defeated by the Free Soil-Democratic coalition. Though he received a plurality of all votes cast, the majority rule in place at the time sent the election to the
Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...
, where the coalition legislators again denied Winthrop by re-electing Governor George S. Boutwell. For the remainder of his life, Winthrop remained publicly involved as a Christian conservative and unionist but never again ran for public office.


Early life

Robert Charles Winthrop was born in
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, to Thomas Lindall Winthrop (1760–1841), the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, and Elizabeth Bowdoin Temple (1769–1825), who were married on July 25, 1786. He was the youngest of 13 children. His maternal grandparents were Sir John Temple, 8th Baronet (1731–1798), the first British envoy to the United States, and Elizabeth Bowdoin, the daughter of James Bowdoin (1726–1790), the
governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...
. His paternal great-great-grandfathers were Joseph Dudley (1647–1720) and Wait Still Winthrop (1641/2–1717). Winthrop attended the prestigious
Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a Magnet school, magnet Latin schools, Latin Grammar schools, grammar State school, state school in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been in continuous operation since it was established on April 23, 1635. It is the old ...
, and graduated from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1828, which he attended with Dr. Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, George Stillman Hillard, Judge John Gilchrist, Edward Sprague Rand, and others of note.


Career

After studying law with
Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the 14th and 19th United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary o ...
he was admitted to the bar in 1831 and practiced in Boston. At 24, he served in the
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...
from 1835 to 1840, and served as Speaker of the House of that body from 1838 to 1840. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1838.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref> Winthrop was elected US Representative from Massachusetts as a Whig to the 26th
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Abbott Lawrence; he was reelected to the 27th Congress and served from November 9, 1840, to May 25, 1842, when he resigned due to the death of his wife. He was subsequently elected to the 27th Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of his successor, Nathan Appleton; he was reelected to the 28th and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from November 29, 1842, until July 30, 1850. He served as the speaker of the House during the 30th Congress (1847–1849), but could not secure a second term, losing the 1849 speakership election to Howell Cobb in a protracted 63-ballot contest. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 1849. After
Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the 14th and 19th United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary o ...
resigned from the
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
to become Secretary of State in 1850, Winthrop resigned from the House and, at 41, was appointed by fellow Whig governor George Briggs to fill the remainder of Webster's Senate term. Winthrop's views proved no more palatable to abolitionists than did Webster's, and he failed to win reelection by the state legislature to either of Massachusetts' Senate seats in 1851. He resigned without completing his term immediately following his election loss. Later that year, Winthrop actually won a popular plurality in the race for Massachusetts governor but as the state Constitution required a majority, the election was thrown into the legislature. The same coalition of Democrats and Free Soilers defeated him again. His final venture into elected political office was as a
presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...
on the Whig ticket in 1852. Afterwards, Winthrop became an independent, unsuccessfully supporting
Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and the last to be neither a De ...
, John Bell, and
George McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...
.


Later career

With his political career over at the young age of 43, Winthrop spent the remainder of his life in literary, historical, and philanthropic pursuits. He was a major early patron of the
Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse''), meaning all adult re ...
and president of the
Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street ...
from 1855 to 1885, during which time he wrote a biography of his ancestor John Winthrop. In 1880, he was elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
. He served as the president of the Massachusetts Bible Society for several years where he advocated that Christian
morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...
was the necessary condition of a free society. His most notable Christian philosophy for governing men, was as follows:
Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.
His most notable contributions came as permanent chairman and president of the Peabody Education Fund Trustees, which he served from 1867 to his death. As well as steering the contributions of the Peabody Trust, Winthrop gave his own money to various Southern
schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...
, the most long lasting of which was the $1,500 of
seed money Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' suggest ...
provided to a teacher's college that renamed itself
Winthrop University Winthrop University is a public university in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was founded in 1886 by David Bancroft Johnson, who served as the superintendent of Columbia, South Carolina schools. He received a grant from Robert Charles Winthrop, a ...
in gratitude. He became a noted
orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14 ...
, delivering two speeches in 1870: the eulogy for George Peabody and on the celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims. He also spoke at the
ceremony A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil ...
that opened the
Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, victorious commander-in-chief of the Continen ...
in 1848. Winthrop was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in October 1894. In 1892, in a celebration of his birth, it was noted that he had the distinction of having known every
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
except Washington and Jefferson.


Personal life

On March 12, 1832, he married Elizabeth Cabot Blanchard (1809–1842), the daughter of Francis Blanchard (1784–1813) and Mary Ann Cabot (1784–1809), and the adopted daughter of Samuel P. Gardner. Elizabeth's elder half-brother was banker John Clarke Lee, founder of Lee, Higginson & Co. Before her death, Robert and Elizabeth had three children: * Robert Charles Winthrop Jr. (1834–1905), who married Frances Pickering Adams (1836–1860). After her death, he married Elizabeth Mason (1844–1924), daughter of Robert Means Mason (1810–1879) and Sarah Ellen Francis (1819–1865) and granddaughter of Jeremiah Mason, on June 1, 1869. * Elizabeth "Eliza" Cabot Winthrop (1838–1921) * John Winthrop (b. 1841) After Elizabeth's death, he married his second wife, Laura (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Derby) Welles, widow of Arnold Francis Welles. Laura was the daughter of attorney John Derby and granddaughter of Elias Hasket Derby, on November 6, 1849. They remained married until her death in 1861. On November 15, 1865, he married for the third and final time, to Adele (née Granger) Thayer (1820–1892), the widow of John E. Thayer. She was the daughter of Francis Granger, the postmaster general under President
William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...
and Cornelia Rutsen Van Rensselaer. Winthrop died in Boston in 1894, and is interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery,
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
. In his will, he left bequests to the
Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street ...
, the Boston Provident Association, the Boston Children's Hospital, the Library of the
Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a Magnet school, magnet Latin schools, Latin Grammar schools, grammar State school, state school in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been in continuous operation since it was established on April 23, 1635. It is the old ...
, and the library of the Sunday school of Trinity Church, Boston.


Descendants

His granddaughter, Robert Jr.'s daughter Margaret Tyndal Winthrop (1880–1970), married James Grant Forbes on November 28, 1906. James and Margaret were the parents of Rosemary Isabel Forbes, who married Richard John Kerry and were the parents of John Forbes Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, U.S. senator and
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
presidential candidate. James and Margaret also are the parents of Fiona Diedre Forbes (1924–2010), who married Alain Gauthier Lalonde (1913–1974), the parents of Brice Lalonde, French Minister of the Environment and 1981 French presidential candidate.


See also

* 59th Massachusetts General Court (1838) * 60th Massachusetts General Court (1839) * 61st Massachusetts General Court (1840)


References


Sources

* * * *


External links

*
Winthrop's role as Chairman of the PEF

Robert Winthrop
''Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions'', Little, Brown and Company, 1852. 776 pages

* , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Winthrop, Robert Charles 1809 births 1894 deaths Politicians from Boston American people of English descent Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Speakers of the United States House of Representatives Whig Party United States senators from Massachusetts 1852 United States presidential electors Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Speakers of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Philanthropists from Massachusetts 19th-century American philanthropists Lawyers from Boston Harvard University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Winthrop family Boston Latin School alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society 19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court 19th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives