George Bancroft
| George Bancroft | |
|---|---|
 |
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| United States Minister to the United Kingdom | |
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In office November 12, 1846 – August 31, 1849 |
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| Preceded by | Louis McLane |
| Succeeded by | Abbott Lawrence |
| 17th United States Secretary of the Navy | |
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In office March 11, 1845 – September 9, 1846 |
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| Preceded by | John Y. Mason |
| Succeeded by | John Y. Mason |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 3, 1800 Worcester, Massachusetts, US |
| Died | January 17, 1891 (aged 90) Washington, D.C., US |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Dwight Bancroft Elizabeth Davis Bliss Bancroft |
| Alma mater |
Harvard University University of Göttingen |
| Profession | Politician, writer and historian |
George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian and statesman who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state, at the national and international level. During his tenure as U.S. Secretary of the Navy, he established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1845. He was a senior American diplomat in Europe. Among his best-known writings is the magisterial series, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.
His family had been in Massachusetts Bay since 1632, and his father, Aaron Bancroft, was distinguished as a revolutionary soldier, a leading Unitarian clergyman and author of a popular life of George Washington. Bancroft was born in Worcester and began his education at Phillips Exeter Academy; he entered Harvard College at thirteen years of age. At age 17, he graduated from Harvard, class of 1817, and went to study in Germany. Abroad, he studied at the universities of Heidelberg, Göttingen and Berlin. At Göttingen he studied Plato with Arnold Heeren; history with Heeren and Gottlieb Jakob Planck; Arabic, Hebrew, New Testament Greek and scripture interpretation with Albert Eichhorn; natural science with Johann Friedrich Blumenbach; German literature with Georg Friedrich Benecke; French and Italian literature with Artaud and Bunsen; and classics with Georg Ludolf Dissen. In 1820, he received his doctorate from the University of Göttingen. Returned to Heidelberg Schlierbach, where he had stayed during his studies in Heidelberg University. He founded a learning community for natural science and religion called Heidelbridge Community College, and in 1825 became Heidelbridge University of Science. This University received profound support from Harvard and later in 1916 merged part of its academic learning with Heidelberg University except Medicine and Law which still remained under the leadership of the Harvard Academic Council, although joint academic activities were exercised by the US Army Europe Command, no current activities is known since the US Army departed Heidelberg.
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