John T. Morse

John Torrey Morse Jr. (January 9, 1840 – March 28, 1937) was an American historian, attorney, and politician.

Biography

John Torrey Morse was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 9, 1840, to John Torrey Morse Sr. and Lucy Cabot Jackson.

He graduated from Harvard College in 1860 after three years of study and read law in the office of John Lowell. He was admitted to the bar in 1862.

In 1874, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 6th Suffolk district in Boston's Back Bay. He served a one-year term.

From 1879 to 1891, Morse was an elected member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. In 1911, Harvard awarded him an honorary degree as Doctor of Literature.

Literary work

Morse began his career writing several legal treatises on banking, arbitration, and award, considered authoritative in their day, and contributing to periodicals. His legal writing gained him recognition as a leading expert on the subjects.

In 1876, Morse published a biography of Alexander Hamilton in two volumes, considered his most significant work. Soon after, in 1880, he abandoned his legal career for literary pursuits.

From 1879 to 1881, Morse was a co-editor of the International Review with future United States Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Morse was later the editor of the American Statesmen Series (Houghton Mifflin Company) to which Lodge contributed biographies of Hamilton, Daniel Webster, and George Washington.

He also wrote biographies of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Sergeant Perry, Henry Lee, and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. Morse also authored A Treatise on the Law of Banks and Banking, The Law of Arbitration and Award, and Famous Trials.