William Bradford Reed (June 30, 1806–February 18, 1876) was an American attorney, politician, diplomat, academic, and journalist from Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1834 to 1835. He was elected Pennsylvania State Attorney General in 1838 and served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 1st district in 1841. He served as U.S. Minister to China in 1857. His pro-Confederacy views put him in conflict with other Pennsylvania politicians. He was the published author of multiple books, including the biographies of his grandfather, General Joseph Reed, and grandmother, Esther de Berdt.
William Bradford Reed | |
|---|---|
 Harper's Weekly sketch | |
| Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives | |
| In office 1834–1835 | |
| Pennsylvania Attorney General | |
| In office April 2, 1838 – January 15, 1839 | |
| Governor | Joseph Ritner |
| Preceded by | James Todd |
| Succeeded by | Ovid F. Johnson |
| Member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 1st district | |
| In office 1841–1842 | |
| Preceded by | Jacob Gratz |
| Succeeded by | William A. Crabb |
| 2nd District Attorney of Philadelphia | |
| In office 1851–1856 | |
| Preceded by | Horn R. Kneass |
| Succeeded by | William B. Mann |
| Envoy to Qing Empire | |
| In office April 18, 1857 – November 11, 1858 | |
| Preceded by | Peter Parker |
| Succeeded by | John Elliott Ward |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 30, 1806 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US |
| Died | February 18, 1876 (aged 69) New York City, US |
| Spouses |
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| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
Early life and education
editReed was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Joseph Reed and Maria Ellis Watmough. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1825, went to Mexico as a private secretary for Joel R. Poinsett, and studied law.
His brother was educator Henry Hope Reed.
Career
editReed began his political career as an anti-Mason but switched to the Whig Party. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and served from 1834 to 1835. He was elected Pennsylvania Attorney General in 1838. He served as vice president of the Law Academy of Philadelphia from 1840 to 1841. He was elected a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 1st district in 1841. He worked as a professor of American history at the University of Pennsylvania in 1850.[1]
Between 1851 and 1856, Reed served as the District Attorney of Philadelphia. In 1856, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[2]
Reed served as Minister to China from 1857 to 1858[3] In China, the U.S. had been neutral in the Second Opium War of 1856–58. Buchanan appointed Reed as Minister to China because Reed helped Buchanan win in 1856 by persuading old-line Whigs to support a Democrat. Reed's goal in China was to negotiate a new treaty that would win for the United States the privileges Britain and France had forced on China in the war. Reed did well. The Treaty of Tientsin (1858) granted American diplomats the right to reside in Peking, reduced tariff levels for American goods, and guaranteed the free exercise of religion by foreigners in China. The treaty helped set the roots of what later became Washington's Open Door policy.[4]
After his return to the U.S. in 1860, he was active in Democratic Party politics and in New York journalism. For a time, he was an American correspondent for The Times of London. Reed published many controversial and historical pamphlets and contributed essays, chiefly to the American Quarterly and the North American Review. He wrote about his grandfather Joseph Reed in the book Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed in 1847 and his grandmother Esther Reed in the book Life of Esther de Berdt in 1853.[1]
He joined the Democratic Party in 1856 and was ostracized due to his pro-Confederacy views during the U.S. Civil War.[5]
He was hired to defend Confederate President Jefferson Davis in court after the U.S. Civil War was over; however, Davis never went to trial.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b "William Bradford Reed". www.legis.state.pa.us. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
- ^ "William Bradford Reed (1806-1876)". www.history.state.gov. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- ^ Foster M. Farley, "William B. Reed: President Buchanan's Minister to China 1857-1858." Pennsylvania History 37.3 (1970): 269-280. Online
- ^ Cowden, Joanna D. (2001). Heaven Will Frown on Such a Cause as This: Six Democrats Who Opposed Lincoln's War. Lanham - New York - Oxford: University Press of America, Inc. pp. 95–117. ISBN 0-7618-1997-5. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- ^ Manber, Jeffrey (2005). Lincoln's Warth: Fierce Mobs, Brilliant Scoundrels and a President's Mission to Destroy the Press. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-4022-0398-5. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
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