(April 11, 1794–January 15, 1865), was an American diplomat, educator, orator and clergyman. He was Governor of Massachusetts, 1836–40; U.S. Minister to Britain, 1841–45; Secretary of State under President Fillmore, 1852–53; and U.S. Senator, 1853–54. He was the president of Harvard, 1846–49, and dedicated the national cemetery at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863, with President Abraham Lincoln. Edward Everett stated:
All the distinctive features and superiority of our republican institutions are derived from the teachings of Scripture.2081
In an address at the opening of the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, Edward Everett remarked:
I do not wonder at the superstition of the ancient magicians, who, in the morning of the world, went up to the hilltops of Central Asia, and, ignorant of the true God, adored the most glorious work of his hand.
But I am filled with amazement, when I am told, that, in this enlightened age and in the heart of the Christian world, there are persons who can witness this daily manifestation of the power and wisdom of the Creator, and yet say in their hearts, There is no God.2082