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Theodore Lyman II (September 20, 1792 – July 18, 1849) was an American
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
, politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
, and author, born in Boston
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 ...
, the son of Theodore Lyman and Lydia Pickering Williams. He graduated from Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
in 1810, visited Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
(1812–14), studied law, and with Edward Everett
Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mas ...
, revisited Europe in 1817–19. From 1819 to 1822 he was an aide to John Brooks, 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 ...
. He became brigadier general of militia in 1823, and from 1820 to 1825 he served in the State Legislature
A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of ...
,
Mayor of Boston
In 1833 Lyman defeated William Sullivan, the Whig candidate, and was elected the first Democratic Mayor of Boston. He served for two years from January 1834 through January 1836. Lyman was such a popular mayor that when he ran for reelection he was nominated by the Whigs.Views on slavery and equality
As Mayor of Boston, Lyman had to keep the peace between radicalabolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world.
The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...
s, and industrialists who feared anti-slavery agitators would cause southern plantation owners to cut ties with the northern mills and merchants. In August 1835 he presided over an anti-abolition meeting in Boston itation??and then, a few weeks later, during an anti-Abolitionist riot
A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people.
Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...
, he rescued William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an Abolitionism in the United States, American abolitionist, journalist, and reformism (historical), social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper ''The ...
from the mob and confined him to jail to save his life.
He was a liberal benefactor of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and of the Farm School and was the founder of the State Reform School for Boys, a reform school
A reform school was a Prison, penal institution, generally for teenagers, mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies, reformatory, reformatories (commonly called reform schools) were set up from 1854 onward f ...
in Westborough
Westborough is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,567 at the 2020 census, in over 7,000 households. Incorporated in 1717, the town is governed under the New England open town meeting system, headed ...
to which he gave $72,000.
Writings
* ''Three Weeks in Paris'' (1814) * ''The Political State ofItaly
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
'' (1820)
* ''Account of the Hartford Convention
The Hartford Convention was a series of meetings from December 15, 1814, to January 5, 1815, in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, in which New England leaders of the Federalist Party met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War ...
'' (1823); in which he defended those who were concerned in that convention as an expression of harbored hatred for both Presidents, John Adams and J.Q. Adams. (SEE Essex Junto)
* ''The Diplomacy of the United States with Foreign Nations'' (1828); a work which is still valuable for the period covered.
See also
* 1830 Boston mayoral election –lost * 1831 Boston mayoral election –lost * 1832 Boston mayoral election –lost * 1833 Boston mayoral election –won * 1834 Boston mayoral election –won * 1837 Boston mayoral election –lost * Timeline of Boston, 1830sFootnotes
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyman (militiaman), Theodore Harvard University alumni Mayors of Boston 1792 births 1849 deaths Writers from Boston Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 19th century in Boston Historians from Massachusetts 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century mayors of places in Massachusetts 19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court