CHOATE, RuFus (1799-1859). One of the most famous of .alineriean lawyers. He was born in Ipswich, Mass., on October I, 1799. As a child he was remarkable for preeo•ity, beginning to read while still ahnost an infant. and being able before his sixth year to repeat large por tions of the Bible and of Pilgrim's Progress. In 1815 he entered Dartmouth College, where lie soon attracted attention by his scholarly habits and unusual abilities, and evinced an apti tude for classical and historical studies which characterized him through life. Ile graduated in 1819 as valedictorian of his class, was a tutor at Dartmouth during the following year. and then, under the inspiration of great speech in the Dartmouth College ease. which he had lienrd in 1818, he took up the study of law. entering the Cambridge Law School in 1821 and subsequently removing to the office (in Washington) of William Wirt (q.v.), then At torney-General of the United States. Ire re turned to Massachusetts in 1822, continued his studies in Ipswich and Salem, was admitted to the bar in the following year, and began practice in Danvers. He married, in 1825, Miss Helen Oleott. lle remained in Danvers until 1828, when he removed to Salem. In 1830 he entered Con gress as a Whig, and immediately attracted gen eral attention by a brilliant speech in favor of a protective tariff. Ile was reelected in 1832, but resigned in 18:34 before the expiration of his term, and opened an office in Boston, where lie soon became the acknowledged leader, first of the local. of the State, and finally of the New England bar, In 1841, Daniel Webster hav ing become Secretary of State, Choate was elected to serve out his term in the United States Sen ate, and represented Massachusetts until 1845, taking a conspicuous part in the debates on the Oregon boundary, the tariff, and the annexation of Texas. Weakened by overwork, he spent the
summer of 1850 in Europe. In 1852, as a mem ber of the Whig Convention in Baltimore, lie led the faction which advocated the nomination of Webster, delivering on this occasion one of his most eloquent addresses; and in 1856, along wall a section of the conservative 1\ he sup ported Buchanan in opposition to FKinont. In 1859 his health failed him, and under the advice of his physician he sailed for Europe, but, feeling unable to complete the voyage, lie landed at Halifax. where in a few days—on July 13—he died. Throughout his life he was a thorough student not only of law, but also of the classics, English literature, and his tory, reading with avidity and remembering m outhing that he read. His eloquence and re markable facility in the use of the English lan guage, his intuitive knowledge of human nature, and the acuteness and vigor of his intellect com bined to make him preeminently successful as a lawyer---especially as a jury lawyer—anti in the course of a long career he seldom lost a ease. Consult : Brown, Life of Rufus Choate (Boston, 1870) : The Works of Rufus Charlie, icith a Memoir (2 vols.. Boston. 1855) : .Iddresses and Orations of Rufus Choate (6th ed., Boston, 1891) : Neilson, Memories of Rufus Choate (Bos ton, 1884) ; and Whipple, Recollections of Emi nent Men (Boston, 1886).