| Notes |
- !SOURCE: "Descendants of Abner Angell," email from N. Combs to Weldon Whipple, 11 Jun 2006. Cites/notes the following:
- Rossiter Johnson, Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, (1904), II
- Burial: Aft. February 23, 1870, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA (Source: United States Government Printing Office, Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949, (1950), 920.)
- Misc. Fact: Burlingame, CA named for him (also Burlingame, KS) (Source: Donna Burlingame Giveden email, "Electronic," 10/5/2000.)
- Probate: 1870, Administration of estate (Source: James Flint, Comp., Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Probate Index 1648 - 1870, v.2, (2000), #28499.)
!BIOGRAPHY: "Anson Burlingame (1820-1870) US congressman and diplomat was born in New Berlin, NY on Nov 14, 1820. In 1823 his parents moved to Ohio and in 1833 to Michigan. In 1841 he was graduated from the Detroit branch of the University of Michigan and in 1846 from Harvard law school. He soon entered Mass. politics and in 1853-54 served in the state senate. From 1855 to 1861 he was a member of the national house of representatives, being elected for his first term on the Know-Nothing ticket and thereafter for the Republican party, of which he was one of the founders in Mass. Burlingame's speech (June 21, 1856) of sharp reproof to Preston S. Brooks for attacking Sen. Charles Sumner led Brooks to challenge Burlingame to a duel, but the duel never took place. In 1860 Burlingame was defeated for re-election and in 1861 Pres. Abraham Lincoln named him minister to Vienna. The Austrian government found him unacceptable because of his pro-Kossuth speeches and he was then appointed minister to China. Burlingame found China in a critical situation. The T'ai Ping rebellion had not yet been suppressed: the unequal treaties had unfringed China's sovereignty: the central government was weak, antiforeign feeling was strong: and the foreign mercantile community desired vigorous treaty enforcement and more treaty rights. Burlingame quickly became the leader of the diplomatic corps in a policy of co-operation among the western powers and China to secure settlement of disputes by diplomacy rather than force and to further the modernization of China. Burlingame's charm, good counsel and sympathy for China so impressed the Chinese government that in Nov 1867, upon his resignation as US minister to China, he was named Imperial envoy charged with the conduct of Chinas'international relations. In Feb 1863, with two Chinese colleagues and a suite of 30, Burlingame began a tour of western capitals. The mission made a triumphal progress across the US, in the course of which Burlingame, a brilliant orator, conveyed an optimistic idea of China's receptivity to western influence. In Washington Burlingame negotiated with Secretary of State William Seward the so-called "Burlingame Treaty" consisting of eight articles supplementary to the Reed treaty of 1858. While several of the articles were simply amplifications of rights secured in 1858, the first two put on record the traditional American policy of respect for China's territorial integrity and the fifth provide for reciprocal immigraion. In London, Burlingame secured a declaration that China was entitled to the forbearance of foreign nations. On the European continent the mission was less sucessful. Burlingame died of pneumonia in St. Petersburg, Russia on Feb. 23, 1870." --N.A. Combs, citing transcription by Donna Burlingame Giveden.
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1820 - 1870 (49 years)
