Dana, Richard Henry

Dana, Richard Henry
born Aug. 1, 1815, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.
died Jan. 6, 1882, Rome, Italy

U.S. writer and lawyer.

Dana left Harvard College because of weakened eyesight and shipped out as a common sailor; after regaining his health, he returned and became a lawyer. He is remembered for his autobiographical Two Years Before the Mast (1840), which revealed the abuses endured by sailors. The Seaman's Friend (1841) became the authoritative guide to seamen's legal rights and duties. He also produced a scholarly edition of Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law (1866), provided free legal aid to fugitive slaves, and served as U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.

Richard Henry Dana

By courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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▪ American author

born Aug. 1, 1815, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.
died Jan. 6, 1882, Rome
 American lawyer and author of the popular autobiographical narrative Two Years Before the Mast.

      Dana withdrew from Harvard College when measles weakened his eyesight, and he shipped to California as a sailor in August 1834 to regain his health. After voyaging among California's ports and gathering hides ashore, he rounded Cape Horn, returned home in 1836, and reentered Harvard. His travel experiences cured him physically and evoked his sympathy for the oppressed.

      In 1840, the year of his admission to the bar, he published Two Years Before the Mast, a personal narrative presenting “the life of a common sailor at sea as it really is” and showing the abuses endured by his fellow sailors. The book was immediately popular, and its realistic descriptions made it an American classic. In 1841 he published The Seaman's Friend (also published as The Seaman's Manual), which became known as an authoritative guide to the legal rights and duties of seamen. Against vigorous opposition in Boston, Dana gave free legal aid to blacks captured under the Fugitive Slave Law. In 1863, while serving as U.S. attorney for Massachusetts (1861–66), he won before the U.S. Supreme Court the case of the Amy Warwick, securing the right of the Union to blockade southern ports without giving the Confederate states an international status as belligerents.

      His scholarly edition of Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law (1866) precipitated a lawsuit by an earlier editor. The charges of plagiarism that resulted from the suit contributed to Dana's defeat in a congressional election (1868) and caused the Senate to refuse his confirmation when President Ulysses S. Grant named him minister to Great Britain (1876). Among Dana's other works are To Cuba and Back (1859), Speeches in Stirring Times (1910), and An Autobiographical Sketch (1953).

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  • Dana, Richard Henry — (1 ago. 1815, Cambridge, Mass., EE.UU.–6 ene. 1882, Roma, Italia). Escritor y abogado estadounidense. Dana abandonó el Harvard College debido a una afección ocular, y se hizo a la mar como marinero raso. Luego de recobrar la salud, volvió a… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Dana,Richard Henry — Da·na (dāʹnə), Richard Henry. 1815 1882. American lawyer and writer best known for his Two Years Before the Mast (1840), an account of his voyage from Boston to California around Cape Horn. * * * …   Universalium

  • DANA, RICHARD HENRY —    1) an American poet and critic; editor of the North American Review, author of the Dying Raven, the Buccaneer, and other poems (1787 1879).    2) a son of the preceding, lawyer; author of Two Years before the Mast (1815 1882) …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Dana, Richard Henry — (1787 1879)    Novelist and critic, b. at Camb., Mass., was called to the Bar in 1817. Among his novels are Tom Thornton and Paul Felton, both somewhat violent and improbable tales, and his poems, which are better, include The Buccaneer (1827),… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Dana, Richard Henry, Jr. — (1815 1882)    Miscellaneous writer, s. of the above, ed. at Harvard, but on his eyesight giving way shipped as a common sailor, and gave his experiences in Two Years before the Mast (1840). Called to the Bar in 1840, he became an authority on… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Richard Henry Dana, jr. — Richard Henry Dana, Jr., 1842 Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (* 1. August 1815 in Cambridge, Massachusetts; † 6. Januar 1882 in Rom) war ein amerikanischer Jurist, Politiker und Schriftsteller …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Richard Henry Dana Middle School (Arcadia) — Infobox School2 name = Richard Henry Dana Middle School motto = Let Learning Be Our Compass and Our Light established = 1986 type = Middle School grades = 6 8 head name = Principal head = James Tarouilly city = Arcadia state = California country …   Wikipedia

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