Horace MANN, Congress, MA (1796-1859)

MANN Horace , a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Franklin, Norfolk County, Mass., May 4, 1796; attended the public schools and prepared for college under a private teacher; was graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1819; tutored there 1819-1821; studied law in Litchfield, Conn.; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Dedham, Mass., in 1823; member of the State house of representatives 1827-1833; moved to Boston in 1833; commissioner for the revision of the Massachusetts statutes in 1835; member of the State senate 1833-1837 and served as president 1835-1837; secretary of the State board of education 1837-1848 and in this position reorganized the public-school system; elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Quincy Adams; reelected as a Whig to the Thirty-first Congress and as a Free-Soil candidate to the Thirty-second Congress, and served from April 3, 1848, to March 3, 1853; declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1852; declined the nomination for Governor in 1852 to accept the position of president of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, and served in that position from 1852 until his death at Yellow Springs, Ohio, August 2, 1859; interment in North Burial Ground, Providence, R.I.

Bibliography

Cassara, Ernest. ``Reformer as Politician: Horace Mann and the Anti-Slavery Struggle in Congress, 1848-1853.'' Journal of American Studies 5 (December 1971): 247-64; Messerli, Jonathan. Horace Mann: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1972.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present