Edward Everett – Statesman, 1860 Vice President candidate, Mass. Governor. Autograph letter signed, Boston, December 24, 186(?), 1st and 2nd pages of a folded 4 page 8vo sheet. Everett asks the Hon. A. Fearing to accompany a Judge Russell [probably Superior Court Judge Thomas] on a visit to Everett’s home in Winchester “when the Pond is at full height.” Everett owned some undeveloped land in Winchester in what is now known as the Sheffield Road Historic District and the pond was likely on of the Mystic Lakes north of Boston. This is generally routine content arranging a meeting but with some nice association and local content for Everett collectors. (No, I am not aware of such a group of collectors.) The letter is in very condition with dark writing and some stitch holes in the left margin where it was inserted in a book or album.
Everett was one of the leading orators in America in the mid 1800’s when public oratory was in high gear as a combination of entertainment and intellectual pursuit. For all of his contemporary fame, power and success he is perhaps best remembered today as a man who twice played a minor supporting role in Abraham Lincoln’s political life. In 1860 Everett was the unsuccessful candidate for Vice President with John Bell as the Presidential nominee on the Constitutional Union ticket. One of four parties on the ballot that year, the Bell-Everett ticket came in third winning only 39 of the 303 electoral votes. In 1863 Everett delivered the main address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. The dedication was moved back from a planned September date to November to allow Everett the extra time to prepare his important address. Although Everett’s speech lasted for more than two hours, the world took little note nor long remembered what he said there.
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