Editing George Bancroft (section)

==Political and diplomatic career==
[[File:George Bancroft by Plumbe, 1846.jpg|thumb|180px|Bancroft in 1846]]

===Collector of Boston===
In 1837, Bancroft entered active politics by accepting an appointment as Collector of Customs of the Port of Boston by President [[Martin Van Buren]]. Two of his own appointees in the office were [[Orestes Brownson]] and author [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]].

In 1844, Bancroft was the Democratic candidate for [[governor of Massachusetts]] but he was defeated. He called for the [[annexation of Texas]] as extending "the area of freedom" and opposed slavery.

===Secretary of the Navy===
In 1845, in recognition for his support at the previous Democratic convention, Bancroft was appointed to [[James Polk]]'s cabinet as [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]], serving until 1846, when, for a month, he was acting [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]].

During his short period in the cabinet, Bancroft established the [[United States Naval Academy]] at [[Annapolis]], creating a legacy of education and leadership.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/bancroft_george.htm|title= George Bancroft Secretary of the Navy 1800–1891|publisher= Naval History and Heritage Command|access-date= December 10, 2013|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131002001011/http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/bancroft_george.htm|archive-date= October 2, 2013|df= mdy-all}}</ref> He ordered naval action that resulted in the occupation of California and, as secretary of War, sent [[Zachary Taylor]] into the contested land between Texas and Mexico. That catalyzed the [[Mexican–American War|Mexican War]], resulting in the United States greatly increasing its territory in the Southwest.

Bancroft designed and developed the Naval Academy; he received all the appropriations for which he asked. Congress had never been willing to establish a naval academy, but Bancroft studied the law to assess the powers of the Secretary of the Navy. He found that he could order "a place where midshipmen should wait for orders." He could also direct instructors to give lessons to them at sea, and by law, instructors could follow the midshipmen to the place of their common residence on shore. The appropriation of the year for the naval service met the expense, and the Secretary of War ceded an abandoned military post to the navy.

Therefore, when Congress came together, it learned that the midshipmen not at sea were housed at Annapolis. Thus, they were protected from the dangers of idleness and city life and busy at a regular course of study. Congress accepted the school, which was in full operation, and granted money for the repairs of the buildings.

Bancroft introduced some new respected professors into the corps of instructors, and he suggested a system of promotion, related to experience and achievements as well as age. The merit system was not fully developed or applied at the time. Bancroft was influential also in obtaining additional appropriations for the [[United States Naval Observatory]].

===Minister to the United Kingdom===
Similarly, Bancroft studied so deeply the [[Oregon boundary dispute]] that in 1846, he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to London to work with the British government on the issue. There, he roomed with the historian [[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay]] and the poet [[Arthur Hallam|Hallam]]. With the election of Whig [[Zachary Taylor]] as president, Bancroft's political appointment ended. On his return to the United States in 1849, he withdrew from public life and moved to New York, where he focused on writing history.

===Return to private life===
[[File:George-Bancroft-at-desk.jpg|thumb|George Bancroft in his office ({{circa}}&nbsp;1889)]]
As a private citizen, Bancroft initially expressed skepticism towards [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s election, describing him as, "without brains," and "ignorant, self-willed, and... surrounded by men some of whom are almost as ignorant as himself."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leeman |first1=William P. |title=George Bancroft's Civil War: Slavery, Abraham Lincoln, and the Course of History |journal=The New England Quarterly |date=2008 |volume=81 |issue=3 |page=472 |doi=10.1162/tneq.2008.81.3.462 |jstor=20474656 |s2cid=57567583 |doi-access=free }}</ref> However, Bancroft softened to the wartime president after initiating correspondence with Lincoln in 1861, and used the communication to argue for the case of abolishing slavery.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bancroft |first1=George |title=Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833–1916: George Bancroft to Abraham Lincoln, Friday, November 15, 1861 (Support) |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mal1299000/ |website=Library of Congress |access-date=24 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leeman |first1=William P. |title=George Bancroft's Civil War: Slavery, Abraham Lincoln, and the Course of History |journal=The New England Quarterly |date=2008 |volume=81 |issue=3 |page=472 |doi=10.1162/tneq.2008.81.3.462 |jstor=20474656 |s2cid=57567583 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In April 1864, at Bancroft's request, President [[Abraham Lincoln]] wrote out what would become the fourth of five known manuscripts of the [[Gettysburg Address]]. Bancroft planned to include the copy in ''Autograph Leaves of Our Country's Authors'', which he planned to sell at a Soldiers' and Sailors' [[Sanitary Fair]], in Baltimore, to raise money to care for the Union Army.

In 1866, he was chosen by Congress to deliver the special eulogy on Lincoln.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bancroft |first1=George |title=Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Abraham Lincoln |date=1866 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=4–16}}</ref>

===Minister to Prussia and Germany===
In 1867, President [[Andrew Johnson]] offered Bancroft the post of US minister to Prussia, enabling him to return to Germany. Bancroft remained in Berlin for seven years, throughout the [[Franco-Prussian War]] and [[German unification]].

President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] appointed him minister to the German Empire in 1871. During his tenure in Berlin, Bancroft spent much time negotiating agreements with [[Prussia]] and the other north German states relating to naturalization and citizenship issues; they became known as the [[Bancroft Treaties]] in his honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0413|title=George Bancroft papers|website=www.masshist.org|access-date=26 February 2018}}</ref> The treaties were the first international recognition of the right of [[expatriate|expatriation]]. The principle has since incorporated in the [[law of nations]].

===San Juan Islands arbitration===
His last official achievements were his participation in the 1872 arbitration on the status of the [[San Juan Islands]], stemming from the [[Pig War (1859)|Pig War]] of 1859.  The United States maintained that the disputed channel was intended to be the [[Haro Strait]], while Great Britain believed that it was the [[Rosario Strait]]. In the San Juan arbitration Bancroft displayed great versatility and skill and won the case, which was decided by a commission (three eminent German Judges) appointed by the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm.  The final ruling was issued on October 21, 1872, and British troops withdrew from San Juan Island on November 22, 1872, after 26 years of maintaining an amicable, yet tense relationship.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Melissa |title=Arbitration Explained |url=https://islandhistories.com/items/show/181 |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=Island Histories |language=en}}</ref>