LYCOS RETRIEVER 
George Bancroft: American History
built 276 days ago
George Bancroft entered Harvard College in 1813. The Essex Junto, in absolute control over Harvard, had made John T. Kirkland its president in 1810. In 1812, Kirkland had stipended Aaron Burr, returning from British exile in disguise, out of Harvard funds. Kirkland's sponsor and future father-in-law, Junto boss George Cabot, then led the underground political efforts and intelligence activities to try to sabotage the U.S. military in America's second war against Britain, 1812-1815; Cabot chaired the notorious 1814 Hartford Convention, a futile attempt to break up the American Union.
Source:
Synopsis: Though he plays an Italian-American character in Ladies Love Brutes, George Bancroft refreshingly avoids the ethnic stereotype so prevalent in films of the early 1930s. Bancroft is cast as Joe Forziati, a rough-and-tumble building contractor who is suddenly thrust into great wealth. He tries toRead More
Source:
The best biography of Bancroft is Russel B. Nye, George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel (1944). Chapters on Bancroft appear in Michael Kraus, The Writing of American History (1953), and in William T. Hutchinson, ed., The Marcus W. Jernegan Essays in American Historiography, selection by Watt Stewart (1958). John S. Bassett, The Middle Group of American Historians (1917), and John F. Jameson, The History of Historical Writing in America (1891), are critical of Bancroft's work. An excellent analysis of Bancroft's writing is in David Levin, History as Romantic Art: Bancroft, Prescott, Motley and Parkman (1959).
Source:
Bancroft was an American historian, public official and diplomat. While serving as the secretary of the navy (1845-46), he established the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He ... sent the Pacific squadron to capture California ports at the start of the Mexican War. As acting secretary of war, he sent General Zachary Taylor into Mexico. Bancroft also served as the U.S. minister to England (184649) and Prussia (1867-1874). He delivered the official eulogy for Abraham Lincoln to the U.S. congress.
Source:
Bancroft had left the school in 1831, having been drawn to politics and history. To the dismay of fellow intellectuals he ardently supported Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. In 1837 he was named collector of the Port of Boston. Now high in the councils of the Democratic party, he was appointed secretary of the Navy by President James Polk. Bancroft instituted reforms in the service and founded the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.
Source:
Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger was born in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 15, 1917, the elder of the two sons of Arthur Meier Schlesinger and the former Elizabeth Bancroft. The younger Mr. Schlesinger wrote approvingly that Bancroft the historian, his mother's ancestor, was a presidential ghostwriter and bon vivant in addition to being called the father of American history.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
American History