Editing Caleb Cushing (section)

{{Short description|American politician and diplomat}}
{{redirect|Attorney General Cushing|the New York state attorney general|Stephen B. Cushing}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Caleb Cushing
| image               = Caleb Cushing.jpg
| office              = 20th [[United States Ambassador to Spain|United States Minister to Spain]]
| president           = [[Ulysses S. Grant]]<br />[[Rutherford B. Hayes]]
| term_start          = May 30, 1874
| term_end            = April 9, 1877
| predecessor         = [[Daniel Sickles]]
| successor           = [[James Russell Lowell]]
| office1             = 23rd [[United States Attorney General]]
| president1          = [[Franklin Pierce]]
| term_start1         = March 7, 1853
| term_end1           = March 4, 1857
| predecessor1        = [[John J. Crittenden|John Crittenden]]
| successor1          = [[Jeremiah S. Black|Jeremiah Black]]
| office2             = [[United States Ambassador to China|United States Minister to China]]
| president2          = [[John Tyler]]
| term_start2         = June 12, 1844
| term_end2           = August 27, 1844
| predecessor2        = Position established
| successor2          = [[Alexander Hill Everett|Alexander Everett]]
| state3              = [[Massachusetts]]
| district3           = {{ushr|Massachusetts|3|3rd}}
| term_start3         = March 4, 1835
| term_end3           = March 3, 1843
| predecessor3        = [[Gayton P. Osgood|Gayton Osgood]]
| successor3          = [[Amos Abbott]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1800|1|17}}
| birth_place         = [[Salisbury, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1879|1|2|1800|1|17}}
| death_place         = [[Newburyport, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic-Republican Party|Democratic-Republican]] (Before 1825)<br />[[National Republican Party|National Republican]] (1825–1833)<br />[[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (1833–1847)<br />[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (1847–1879)
| spouse              = {{Marriage|Caroline Wilde|1824}}
| education           = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]])
| signature           = Appletons' Cushing Caleb signature.png
}}
'''Caleb Cushing''' (January 17, 1800 – January 2, 1879) was an American [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] politician and diplomat who served as a [[U.S. House Of Representatives|Member of the U.S. House of Representatives]] from [[Massachusetts]] and the 23rd [[United States Attorney General]] under President [[Franklin Pierce]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-23 |title=Office of the Attorney General {{!}} Attorney General: Caleb Cushing {{!}} United States Department of Justice |url=https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/cushing-caleb |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=www.justice.gov |language=en}}</ref> From 1874 until 1877, he was the [[United States Minister to Spain]].

Cushing was an eager proponent of territorial and commercial expansion, especially regarding the acquisition of [[Texas]], [[Oregon]] and [[Cuba]]. He believed that enlarging the American sphere would fulfill "the great destiny reserved for this exemplar American Republic."<ref>{{cite book|author=Caleb Cushing|title=Speech ... on the Continuation of the Cumberland Road. Delivered in the House of Representatives, April 19, 1838|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yq9VAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA15|year=1838|publisher=Gales & Seaton|page=15 }}</ref> Cushing secured the first American treaty with China, the [[Treaty of Wangxia]] of 1844; it gave American merchants trading rights in five Chinese ports.<ref name="b1">{{cite book |author=Yeewan Koon|editor-last=Johnson |editor-first=Kendall|title=Narratives of Free Trade: The Commercial Cultures of Early US-China Relations |publisher=Hong Kong University Press  |date=2012 |pages=131–148 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/8340388 |chapter=The Face of Diplomacy in 19th-Century China: Qiying's Portrait Gifts }}</ref> After the Civil War, Cushing negotiated a treaty with Colombia to give the United States a right-of-way for a trans-oceanic Canal. He helped obtain a favorable settlement of the [[Alabama Claims|''Alabama'' Claims]], and as the ambassador to Spain in 1870s defused the troublesome [[Virginius Affair|''Virginius'' Affair]].