Alexander Everett

Alexander Hill Everett (1790-1847) was born on March 19, 1790, in Boston, Massachusetts. Everett was an astute learner, and would enter Harvard at the young age of twelve. Although he was the youngest in his class, he would graduate first in his class at the age of sixteen. After a short stint as a teaching assistant at Phillips Exeter College, he would then study law at the office of John Quincy Adams. For some time, Everett would be joined at the hip with Adams. In 1809, when President Madison appointed Adams as the Ambassador to Russia, Everett would accompany Adams and would serve as his private secretary. Everett would reside in St. Petersburg for two years, before proceeding to London, where he would reside for a further year. With the return of hostilities between the United Kingdom and the United States accompanying the commencement of the War of 1812, Everett returned to Boston. There, he would be admitted into the bar, and would establish a law office. Not long after, however, Everett would return to foreign affairs. In 1814, he would be appointed as Secretary of the Legation to the Netherlands, eventually becoming chargé ď affaires in 1818. Everett would retain this position until 1824, when he returned to the United States on a leave of absence. In 1825, President Adams would then appoint Everett as Minister to Spain.

Everett would return to Boston in 1829. The same year, he would purchase a stake and would subsequently become editor of the North American Review. Under Everett, the North American Review would take on a more protectionist orientation. Everett’s involvement in party politics would also begin around the same time. In 1830, Everett would be elected as a Whig to the Massachusetts State Legislature, a position he would retain until 1835. He would also be selected as a delegate to the 1831 Whig National Convention, where he would endorse Henry Clay’s presidential nomination. Everett would, however, eventually join the Democratic Party, after being impressed by President Jackson’s handling of the nullification crisis.
 

Everett wrote numerous works on political economy. The most important of these is his New Principles on Population with Remarks on the Theories of Malthus, which appeared in 1823. The work is essentially a refutation of Malthus, which argues that population growth tends to produce abundance, as opposed to scarcity. Later, Everett would prepare the Memorial for the 1833 New York Friends of Domestic Industry Convention, which was designed as a reply to Albert Gallatin’s 1831 Memorial of the Free Trade Convention. Everett’s Memorial would be published as part of Hezekiah Niles’ Journal of the Proceedings of the Friends of Domestic Industry. The bulk of Everett’s other economic writings would appear as articles in The North American Review. The most important of these articles being “British Opinions on the Protecting System” and “The American System.” Later, between 1844 and 1845, Everett would enter into a debate on the topic of population with the economist George Tucker of the University of Virginia. This debate was undertaken through a series of letters which were published in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review.
 

Everett would return to foreign affairs in 1840, having been appointed as a confidential agent in Cuba. Upon the completion of this assignment, he would be appointed as President of Jefferson College in Louisiana. He would serve in this position for a brief period of time, before returning to Boston due to ill health. In 1845, Everrett would then be appointed to another diplomatic post, this time as Commissioner to China. En route to China, Everett would fall ill during a stoppage at Rio de Janeiro, which compelled him to return to Boston. He reattempted the trip in 1846 but was once again overcome by illness. Everett passed away on June 28, 1847, shortly after arriving in Canton, China.