Charles Allen

Free Soil Representative of Massachusetts's 5th district

Congresses Served

House Terms

August 9, 1797 (71 years old)

Birthday

August 6, 1869

Death

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1797.
Attended Leicester Academy and Yale College, studying law.
Admitted to the bar in 1821 and began practicing law in New Braintree, later returning to Worcester.
Elected to the American Antiquarian Society in 1827.
Served multiple terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts State Senate.
Participated in the Maine-New Brunswick boundary commission as part of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty.
Served as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1842 to 1845.
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Free-Soil Party candidate, serving from 1849 to 1853.
Edited the Boston Whig, which later became the Republican.
Resumed law practice after leaving Congress and was involved in the state’s constitutional convention in 1853.
Served as chief justice of the Suffolk County Superior Court from 1858 to 1867.
Received honorary degrees from Yale and Harvard.
Attended the Peace Conference of 1861 in an effort to prevent the Civil War.
Died in 1869 and was interred in the Rural Cemetery in Worcester.