Appletons' cyclopædia of American biography . conferredupon him by Bowdoin in 1846.—His son. WilliamPitt, senator, b. in Boscawen, N. 16 Oct.,1806; d. in Portland, Me., 8 Sept., 1869, was gradu-ated at Bowdoin in 1823, studied law. and wasadmitted to the bar in 1827. He practised lawfirst in Bridgeton, a year in Bangor, and afterwardin Portland, Me. He was a member of the legisla-ture of that state in 1832, and its leading refused nominations to congress in 1831 andin 1838, and served in the legislature again in chairman of the house committee to re-vise the statut
Appletons' cyclopædia of American biography . conferredupon him by Bowdoin in 1846.—His son. WilliamPitt, senator, b. in Boscawen, N. 16 Oct.,1806; d. in Portland, Me., 8 Sept., 1869, was gradu-ated at Bowdoin in 1823, studied law. and wasadmitted to the bar in 1827. He practised lawfirst in Bridgeton, a year in Bangor, and afterwardin Portland, Me. He was a member of the legisla-ture of that state in 1832, and its leading refused nominations to congress in 1831 andin 1838, and served in the legislature again in chairman of the house committee to re-vise the statutes of the state. He was elected tocongress as a Whig in 1840, serving one term, dur-ing which time he moved the repeal of the rulethat excluded anti-slavery petitions, and spoke uponthe loan and bankrupt bills, and the army. Hegave his attention wholly to his law business tillhe was again in the legislature in 1845-6. Heacquired a national reputation as a lawyer and ananti-slavery Whig, and in 1849 prosecuted before 444 FESSENDEN FESSENDEN. the supremo court an appeal from an adverse de-cision of Judge Story, and gained a reversal by an argument which Daniel Webster pronounced thebest he had heard in twenty years. He was againin i he Legislature in 1853 and 1854. when his stronganti-slavery principles caused his election to the U. S. senate by thevote of the Whigsand anti - slaveryDemocrats. Takinghis seat in Febru-ary. 1854, he made,a week afterward,an electric speechagainst the Kansas-Nebraska bill, whichplaced him in thefront rank of thesenate. He took aleading part in theformation of the Re-publican party, andfrom 1854 till 1860Ss^ f? z£ . , was one of the ablest ^ ^e^fxf^r^U^-. opponents of the pro-slavery measuresof the Democratic administrations. His speechon the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, in 1856, receivedthe highest praise, and in 1858 his speech on theLecompton constitution of Kansas, and his criti-cisms of the opinion of the supreme court in theDred Scott case, were
Size: 1360px × 1836px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidappletonscyc, bookyear1888
