John Morse

1840 (age 97)

Boston

He wrote several legal treatises. Nevertheless, as he approached the age of forty, boredom led him to seek the escape his fortune permitted. The way was pointed by the new generation at his alma mater, which he served as a member of the Board of Overseers from 1879 to 1891. , were putting new energy into the study of history; and Morse decided to try his own hand at it. His two-volume Alexander Hamilton (1876) was well received; he wrote articles for the North American Review and, with Lodge, edited for several years the International Review. In 1880 he finally left the law. The predominant style of the multi-volume "life and times, " however, was not particularly attractive. Its thirty-four titles (1882 - 1916) were distinctly successful. The reasons for that success are more difficult to explain. Morse himself adopted a rather cavalier attitude toward his obligations as editor. Often the assignments were made casually and without reflection. With some of his authors, like A. B. Hart and Carl Schurz [q. v. ], who came from outside the circle of his own friends, Morse carried on long, acrimonious controversies. Conscious that he was himself a member of the "aristocratic upper crust, " he did not refrain from taking sides. "Let the Jeffersonians and the Jacksonians beware!" he wrote to Lodge in 1881. "I will poison the popular mind!!" Most important of all, Morse began without a clear view of the scope of the series. At first he conceived of history as a succession of the lives of great men; and he indignantly rejected the notion that there might be a place for Aaron Burr in such a gallery. After the first volumes appeared, however, he began to work toward a more fruitful conception of history and of his task as editor. He devoted a volume to Lewis Cass not because he regarded him as really a statesman but because his life supplied a useful peg upon which to hang the history of the Old Northwest. He never actually accepted this view. The core of the series consisted of Morse's own contributions, his lives of Lincoln, Jefferson, Franklin, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams, and of the volumes produced by his Harvard friends Lodge, Henry Adams, and Theodore Roosevelt. They were lively and well written, and their authors had something to say. With this task complete, Morse's ambitions were satisfied. Now and again, at the solicitation of friends, he turned out another biography. He was buried in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge. [John T. Morse, Jr. , "Incidents Connected with the American Statesmen Series, " Proc. Massachussets Hist. Soc. , LXIV (1930 - 32), 370-88; Am. Hist. Rev. , July 1937; H. C. Durrell in New England Hist. and Geneal. Reg. , Oct. 1937; N. Y. Times, Mar. 28, 1937; Who Was Who in America, vol. I (1942); John A. Garraty, Henry Cabot Lodge, A Biog. (1953); Morse Papers, in Massachussets Hist. Lib. ]

John Morse

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Background

His mother was a daughter of Charles Jackson [q. v. ], justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

His father was engaged in the East India trade.

Education

He received a good schooling and was duly graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1860.

Career

He wrote several legal treatises.

Nevertheless, as he approached the age of forty, boredom led him to seek the escape his fortune permitted.

The way was pointed by the new generation at his alma mater, which he served as a member of the Board of Overseers from 1879 to 1891.

, were putting new energy into the study of history; and Morse decided to try his own hand at it.

His two-volume Alexander Hamilton (1876) was well received; he wrote articles for the North American Review and, with Lodge, edited for several years the International Review.

In 1880 he finally left the law.

The predominant style of the multi-volume "life and times, " however, was not particularly attractive.

Its thirty-four titles (1882 - 1916) were distinctly successful.

The reasons for that success are more difficult to explain.

Morse himself adopted a rather cavalier attitude toward his obligations as editor.

Often the assignments were made casually and without reflection.

With some of his authors, like A. B. Hart and Carl Schurz [q. v. ], who came from outside the circle of his own friends, Morse carried on long, acrimonious controversies.

Conscious that he was himself a member of the "aristocratic upper crust, " he did not refrain from taking sides.

"Let the Jeffersonians and the Jacksonians beware!"

he wrote to Lodge in 1881.

"I will poison the popular mind!!"

Most important of all, Morse began without a clear view of the scope of the series.

At first he conceived of history as a succession of the lives of great men; and he indignantly rejected the notion that there might be a place for Aaron Burr in such a gallery.

After the first volumes appeared, however, he began to work toward a more fruitful conception of history and of his task as editor.

He devoted a volume to Lewis Cass not because he regarded him as really a statesman but because his life supplied a useful peg upon which to hang the history of the Old Northwest.

He never actually accepted this view.

The core of the series consisted of Morse's own contributions, his lives of Lincoln, Jefferson, Franklin, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams, and of the volumes produced by his Harvard friends Lodge, Henry Adams, and Theodore Roosevelt.

They were lively and well written, and their authors had something to say.

With this task complete, Morse's ambitions were satisfied.

Now and again, at the solicitation of friends, he turned out another biography.

He was buried in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.

[John T. Morse, Jr. , "Incidents Connected with the American Statesmen Series, " Proc.

Massachussets Hist.

Soc. , LXIV (1930 - 32), 370-88; Am.

Hist.

Rev. , July 1937; H. C. Durrell in New England Hist.

and Geneal.

Reg. , Oct. 1937; N. Y. Times, Mar. 28, 1937; Who Was Who in America, vol.

I (1942); John A. Garraty, Henry Cabot Lodge, A Biog.

(1953); Morse Papers, in Massachussets Hist.

Lib. ]

Religion

Endowed with a secure place in society and with the means to live a leisurely life, Morse inherited also, from his community, then at the high point of its flowering, a literary tradition that remained with him through life.

Furthermore, he was handicapped by a thoroughly conservative bias.

Personality

In the case of one volume, he was willing, for sentimental reasons, to tolerate outright plagiarism.

Connections

Both parents came of distinguished families.

married:: Fanny
Daughter:: Fanny
Cousin:: Lodge

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John Morse

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