BANCROFT, GEORGE ( 1800-91). An Ameri can historian. lie was born at Woreester, Mass.. October 3, BOO. and as the son of the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, a Unitarian clergyman, the author of a Life of Washington, he inherited the blended qualities of the historian and the ecclesiastic. Ile was trained at Exeter, N. H.; entered Harvard College at 13, and on his gradu ation in 1817 went to (fttingen, where he took the degree of Ph.D. in history, being among the first of Americans to study there. His studies were in German, French. and Italian literature, in the classics, Arabic. Hebrew, history, and natural sciences. To an American classmate in Germany he was 'Little Bancroft,' but vet "a most inter esting youth, with the promise of greatness." Leaving Gottingen in 1820, Bancroft vent to Berlin, enjoying the society of Sehleiermacher, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Varnhagen von Ense, and other distinguished scholars. He studied also at Heidelberg, and on a visit to Jena met the venerable Goalie at Weimar. Returning in 1832 to America, he became tutor in Greek at Harvard. and, essaying his father's profession, preached occasionally with moderate approval. But literature soon claimed him. In 1823 he published a volume of verse, and with Dr. Joseph G. Cogswell opened a school at North ampton. in the next year he published a trans lation of his former teacher, Heeren's Polities of Ancient Greece, and in ISM an Oration, advo cating universal suffrage as the foundation of true democracy. He might now have entered upon a political career. In 1830 he was elected. without his knowledge. to the Legislature. but he declined to serve, and in the next year re fused a nomination. Already he was absorbed in his great historical work, The History of the United States, of which the first volume ap peared in 1834, and the tenth 40 years later. In this form the book was published in 6 volumes (1870-76), 2 concluding volumes (XL and X1I.) were published (1882) as a History of the of the Constitution of the United States, and the whole appeared in a final re vision in 6 volumes (1884-85). as the History of the United States, from the Diseorery of America to the Inauguration of Washington.
But though this bulky history occupied thus the central position in the labors of a lifetime, it did not engross Bancroft's scholarly activ ities. In 1830-35 he wrote a Political Address to the people of his State, at the request of the Young Men's Democratic Convention, and, giv ing np 'his school, moved to Springfield, where he gave himself wholly to historical studies, till, in 18:38, he was made collector of the port of Boston by President Van Buren. The Demo cratic party nominated him for governor in 1844. Ile failed of election by a small margin, and was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Poll:. llis management was marked by the establishment of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, which was devised and organized on his sole initiative by an ingenious strain ing of executive authority. He also fostered
the work of the Washington Observatory, and raised the standard of professorial instruetiou.
He showed diplomatic foresight and decision in constantly renewed orders to the American Pa cific Squadron to seize California in ease hostil ities should break out with Mexico—orders exe cuted with far-reaching results. Acting tempo rarily as Secretary of War, it fell to him to give the command to march troops into Texas. His services at Washington led to his appointment as Minister to Great Britain (1846-49). where he procured modification in the laws of naviga tion and allegiance. On his return in 1849, Ban croft lived in New York, devoting himself to historical studies, interrupted by diplomatic services as Minister to l'russia in 1867, to the North German Confederation (1868), 'and to the new German Empire in 1871. From this post he was recalled at his own request in 1874. While Minister at Berlin he assisted in the settlement of the Northwest Boundary dispute between the I.Tnited States and Great Britain. Oxford made him a D.C.L. in 1849, and Bonn a J.U.D. in 1868. His miscellaneous publica tions are very numerous. Among the more im portant may be named an oration at Spring field (July 4, 1836) ; History of the Colonization. of the United States (1841); and an Oration hi commemoration of Andrew Jackson (1845); The Necessity, The Reality, and the Promise of the Progress of the Human Race (1850-54) ; Neinoria/ Address on Abraham Lincoln (1866) ; A Plea for the Constitution of the United States (1886) ; and Martin Van Buren (1889). His last address was at the opening of the third meeting of the American Historical Association, April, 1886. His old age was spent in Washing ton and at his summer home at Newport in charming domesticity. Baneroft was twice mar ried. He died at Washington, D. C., January 17, 1891.
As an historian Bancroft was a democratic idealist. Be had more faith in mankind than in the individual, more belief in universal than in personal equality. His zeal for justice was deep, but occasionally misdirected; his patience in gathering materials indefatigable; his literary composition labored and frequently over-elabo rated. There is a tendency to ponderous ex pression and to philosophic discursiveness; but, though somewhat out of tune with the historic spirit and the literary taste of our own day, his work exercised a very great influence on the generation of the Civil War in stirring and maintaining in the American people the inspir ing conception of a continent dedicated to lib erty.
Consult: Davis, "George Bancroft," in Ameri can Academy of Arts and Science, Vol. XXVI. (Boston. 1846-1900) ; Green, George Bancroft (Worcester, 1891) ; Rives, Memorial of George Bancroft (New York, 1867) ; Schuyler, epondenec and Remarks upon. Bancroft's His tory of the Northern Campaign of 1777 (New York. 1867) ; Wallis, Mr. Bancroft as an torian (Baltimore, 1896) ; West, George Bancroft (New York, 1900).