12 Facts About Rufus Choate

Rufus Choate was an American lawyer, orator, and Senator who represented Massachusetts as a member of the Whig Party.

Rufus Choate is regarded as one of the greatest American lawyers of the 19th century, arguing over a thousand cases in a lifetime practice extending to virtually every branch of the law then recognized.

Rufus Choate was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, the son of Miriam and David Choate, a teacher and Revolutionary War veteran.

Rufus Choate was a descendant of an English family which settled in Massachusetts in 1643.

Rufus Choate was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1823 and practiced at what was later South Danvers for five years, during which time he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and in the Massachusetts Senate.

Rufus Choate's skill was so great that when he argued cases at the Norfolk County Courthouse, students from the nearby Dedham High School would be dismissed to listen to his orations.

On Webster's re-election to the Senate in 1845, Rufus Choate resumed his law practice.

In 1846, Rufus Choate convinced a jury that the accused, Albert Tirrell, did not cut the throat of his lover, or, if he did so, he did it while sleepwalking, under the 'insanity of sleep'.

Rufus Choate was a faithful supporter of Webster's policy as declared in the latter's Seventh of March Speech of 1850 and labored to secure for him the presidential nomination at the Whig National Convention in 1852.

In 1850 Rufus Choate traveled Europe for three months to improve his health.

Rufus Choate was accompanied by his old friend and well-known lawyer, the Hon.

Rufus Choate was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston.