Edward Everett (April 11, 1794-January 15, 1865) was an American diplomat, educator, orator and clergyman. He was Governor of Massachusetts, 1836-40; U.S. Minister to Britain, 1841-45; Secretary of State under President Fillmore, 1852-53; and U.S. Senator, 1853-54.
He was the president of Harvard, 1846-49, and dedicated the national cemetery at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863, with President Abraham Lincoln. Edward Everett stated:
<All the distinctive features and superiority of our republican institutions are derived from the teachings of Scripture.> 1794EE001
In an address at the opening of the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, Edward Everett remarked:
<I do not wonder at the superstition of the ancient magicians, who, in the morning of the world, went up to the hilltops of Central Asia, and, ignorant of the true God, adored the most glorious work of his hand.
But I am filled with amazement, when I am told, that, in this enlightened age and in the heart of the Christian world, there are persons who can witness this daily manifestation of the power and wisdom of the Creator, and yet say in their hearts, There is no God.> 1794EE002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1794EE001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Edward Everett. Tryon Edwards, D.D., The New Dictionary of Thoughts-A Cyclopedia of Quotations (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1852; revised and enlarged by C.H. Catrevas, Ralph Emerson Browns and Jonathan Edwards [descendent, along with Tryon, of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), president of Princeton], 1891; The Standard Book Company, 1955, 1963), p. 46.
1794EE002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Edward Everett, in a speech at the opening of the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York titled "Uses of Astronomy," William H. McGuffey, McGuffey's Eclectic Sixth Reader (NY: American Book Company, 1907, revised 1920), p. 69.