Appleton, John
b. 1815
d. 1864
John Appleton, an American lawyer, politician, and statesman, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, 11 February 1815. He became a lawyer and editor before becoming chief clerk in the United States Navy Department. In 1848, he was transferred to the State Department, headed by James Buchanan, and a few weeks later President James K. Polk appointed him US chargé d'affaires in Bolivia.1
Appleton served one term in Congress (1851-53) and in 1855 was appointed secretary of the US legation at London under Buchanan and returned to the US the following year to assist in Buchanan's successful campaign for the presidency. Appleton served as assistant secretary in the State Department from 1857 to 1860, when he was appointed ambassador to Russia. He died in Portland, Maine, on 22 August 1864.2
  • 1. Dumas Malone, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, (New York: Scribner's, 1964), 329-330.
  • 2. Ibid.
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Buchanan, James

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