Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/382

 BOUVIER.

BOWDITCH.

the presiilency. In is")7 lie was elected a mem- ber of the American academy of arts and sciences, and in lt*Gl of the Phi Beta Kappa socievy. He was a delegate to the Republican convention at Chicago in 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, and the following year was a delegate to the "Washington peace congress. He was elected as a representa- tive to the 38th, 39th and 40th congresses. He favored the imiwachment of President John- son in speeches in Congress, and was made chair- man of the committee appointed to draw up articles of impeacliment. and was a manager of the trial. He was appointed, in 1869, as secre- tary of the treasury in the cabinet of President Grant. "While holding this office he proposed the plan which was adopted for refunding the na- tional debt. He resigned from the cabinet in 1873, having been chosen U. S. senator to suc- ceed Henry "Wilson, elected vice-president. In 1877 he was appointed by President Hayes a member of the commission to revise the statutes of the United States, finishing the work in the following year. Two years later he received an appointment from the president as government attorney in the claims of France against the United States, and succeeded in settling the matter by the paj-ment of §625,000 instead of S3.").00.000, the amount claimed. In 1884 Presi- dent Arthur named him as secretary of the treasury, to succeed Chas. J. Folger, deceased, but he declined the portfolio. He engaged in the practice of the law at "Washington, D. C, and later in Boston. Harvard college conferred on him the degree of LL.D. in 1851, and made him an overseer. He published "Thoughts on Edu- cational Topics and Institutions " (1859) ; " A Manual of the Direct and Excise Tax System of the United States" (1863); " The Tax-Payer's Manual •' (1866) ; " Speeches and Papers " (1867) ; ""VN'hy I am a Republican " (1884) ; " The Lawyer, the Statesman and the Soldier " (1887) ; " The Con.stitution of the United States at the End of the First Century ■' (1895), and " The "V^enezue- lan Question and the Monroe Doctrine " (1896). BOUVIER, John, jurist, was born at Codogno, Italy, in 1787. of Quaker parentage. Wlien a young man he came to America, and began work as a clerk in a Philadelphia book-store, but re- moving to Brownsville, Pa., he engaged in jour- nalism. For several years he was publisher of the American Telegraph, and at the same time stud- ied law. In 1818 he obtained admission to the bar, and in 1823 returned to Philadelphia, of which city he was appointed recorder in 1836, and associate judge of the court of criminal ses- sions in 1838. He was an eminent law-writer, and hi.s works received high commendation from many of the foremost jurists in America. He

l)repared, in his leisure hours, while .studying for admission to the bar, an abridgement of Black- stone's .Commentaries, and afterwards *' A Law Dictionary, adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America " (2 vols., 1839) ; a new edition of Bacon's Abridgment of the Law (10 vols. 1841-45), and "The Insti- tutes of American Law "' (4 vols., 1851). He dit-(l in ]'hil;i(leli)Iiia, Pa., Nov. 18, 1851.

BOW DEN, John, clergyman, was born in Ire- land, Jan. 7, 1751. When very young he accom- panied his father, who was a British soldier, to America. He was graduated from King's college in 1772, and, after pursuing a course of theo- logical study, went to England for ordination. Upon his return to New York he became a curate at Trinity church. He fled to Norwalk, Conn., at the outbreak of the revolution, and being there warned to leave, on account of his sup- posed loyalty to England, he crossed the Sound in a boat to Long Island and thence to New York city, then in the possession of the British. In 1784 he became rector of the church at Norwalk, Conn. In 1789 he vi.sited St. Croix, but gaining no benefit to his health he settled in Stratford, Conn., in 1791. He became the principal of the Episcopal academy at Cheshire, wliich position he held for six years. He received the degree of S.T.D. from Columbia in 1795. In 1796 he was chosen bishop of Connecticut, but liis infirm physical condition prevented his assuming the office. In 1802 he was elected to the chair of moral philosophy, belles-lettres, and logic in Columbia college, which professorship lie held until his death. He wrote two letters to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale college, on church gov- ernment, and published " Essentials of Ordina- tion," "Apostolic Origin of Episcopacy" (2 vols.); "Observations on the Catholic Con- troversy," and an address to the Episcopal church in Stratford, urging the use of the altered book of common prayer. He died July 31, 1817.

BOWDEN, Lemuel Jackson, senator, was born at Williamsburg, Va., Jan. 16, 1815. After his graduation from William and Maiy college he studied law, and practised at the "Virginia bar, becoming prominent in politics. He was elected to the state legislature for three terms, and twice served as delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention, and in 1860 was a presidential elector. In 1863. when the state government for eastern Virginia was organized, he was elected to the United States senate, and died in AVusliingtoii. D. ('.. Jan. 2. ]Mr.4.

BOWDITCH, Henry Ingersoll, physician, was born at Salem, Mass. , Aug. 9, 1808 ; son of Na- thaniel and Mary (Ingersoll) Bowditch. He was graduated at Harvard in 1828, and studied medi- cine a year in the Massachusetts general hospital,