Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar

Hoar, Ebenezer Rockwood

(1816–95) judge, public official; born in Concord, Mass. (Son of Samuel Hoar). He graduated from Harvard in 1835 and studied law with his father, a prominent attorney. Active in the antislavery movement, he coined the term "Conscience Whig" for his wing of the party. He was a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court from 1859–69, and served a brief term as Grant's attorney general (1869–70). In 1870 the Senate rejected his nomination for a U.S. Supreme Court seat because his views offended some senators. He left public service after a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives (Rep., Mass.; 1873–75) and devoted his later years to Harvard alumni affairs.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.