John Appleton

John Appleton

John Appleton (born February 11, 1815 in Beverly , Essex County , Massachusetts , †  August 22, 1864 in Portland , Maine ) was an American politician . Between 1851 and 1853 he represented the state of Maine in the US House of Representatives . He was also the United States Ambassador to Bolivia and Russia .

Career

John Appleton attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick until 1834 . After a subsequent law degree at Cambridge Law School and his admission as a lawyer in 1837, he began to work in Portland in his new profession. At the same time he also worked as a newspaper publisher. In 1840 and again from 1842 to 1844, Appleton was employed as a registrar in the probate court in Cumberland County . Politically, he was a member of the Democratic Party . Between 1845 and 1848 he was under President James K. Polk executive officer ( Chief Clerk ) in the Department of the Navy. In 1848 he held this office for a short time in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . He then served as the US ambassador to Bolivia between 1848 and 1849.

In 1850 , Appleton was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in Maine's Second Constituency . There he took over from Nathaniel Littlefield on March 4, 1851 . Since he renounced another candidacy in 1852, he could only complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1853 . This time was marked by increasing tensions in the run-up to the civil war , with fierce discussions between supporters and opponents of this institution, mainly because of the question of slavery .

After the end of his time in the US House of Representatives, John Appleton initially worked again as an attorney. Between February and November 1855 he was an American counselor at the embassy in London . From 1857 to 1860 he held office under President James Buchanan as Assistant Secretary of State and as deputy to Secretary of State Lewis Cass ; from June 1860 to June 1861 he was US ambassador to Russia. After the change of government in 1861, the inauguration of the first federal republican government under President Abraham Lincoln, and the ensuing outbreak of the civil war, Appleton resigned. He spent the last three years of his life in retirement. He died in Portland in August 1864, where he was also buried.

Web links

• John Appleton in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John Appleton in the database of Find a Grave (English)