Edward Everett

Edward Everett served as Secretary of State during the final months of Millard Fillmore’s administration, from November 1852 to March 1853. A Massachusetts scholar, pastor, and politician, he had studied at Harvard and Göttingen, taught Greek, served in Congress and as governor, and represented the United States in London from 1841 to 1845. His diplomatic experience and association with the Whig Party made him a successor to Daniel Webster after Webster’s death. ¹

Everett prepared the formal letter that Commodore Matthew Perry carried to Japan on his expedition to establish commercial relations. He also dealt with American claims to collect guano on Peru’s Lobos Islands, where disputes over ownership, fertilizer supplies, and commercial access had threatened relations. These questions placed the department within the growing movement of American shipping across the Pacific. ¹

In December 1852 Everett rejected a British and French proposal for a tripartite agreement guaranteeing Spain’s possession of Cuba. His response argued that the island’s proximity gave the United States interests different from those of the European powers and refused to restrict future American policy. The position preserved freedom of action without committing Fillmore to acquiring Cuba. Everett returned to the Senate after leaving the department and remained prominent as an orator and advocate of preserving the Union. ¹