Attorney, politician, diplomat, and U.S. Attorney General Caleb Cushing (1800-1879) was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, to John Newmarch Cushing and Lydia Dow. After graduating from Harvard University in 1817, he studied and practiced law in Newburyport. In 1824, Cushing married Caroline Elizabeth Wilde. A year later, he was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature and the U.S. Congress in 1834. Cushing was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to China in 1845, was as a colonel in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War, and became an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1852. During the presidency of Franklin Pierce, he served as the Attorney General of the United States from 1854 to 1857. After Cushing’s nomination to Chief Justice of the United States failed, he served as the Minister to Spain from 1874 to 1877.
Source: “Cushing, Caleb.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Accessed August 5, 2011.
The Caleb Cushing Letter, undated, from Cushing to T. H. Carter concerns the publication of a book on travels in France.
This collection is open for research use.
Caleb Cushing Letter, undated, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
This collection was processed by Evan Usler, August 2011.