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George Lunt (31 December 1803 Newburyport, Massachusetts

Newburyport, Massachusetts

Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles northeast of Boston. The population was 21,189 at the 2000 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island...

 - 17 May 1885 Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

) was an American editor

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

, lawyer, author, and politician. George's ancestor, Henry Lunt, was one of the original settlers of Newbury (1635)

Newbury, Massachusetts

Newbury is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,666 at the 2010 census. Newbury includes the villages of Old Town , Plum Island and Byfield, home of The Governor's Academy , a private preparatory school.- History :Newbury Plantation was settled and incorporated...

. His grandfather's exploits with John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...

 were chronicled by James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...

.

Life

He attended Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

. He was graduated at Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 in 1824, with special distinction in Greek, studied law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, and began practice in Newburyport in 1827.

In earlier life Mr. Lunt was an active member of the Whig party

Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...

, and in its interests was distinguished as a public speaker. On the dissolution of that party he became a Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

.
He was elected successively representative for Newburyport and senator from Essex County

Essex County, Massachusetts

-National protected areas:* Parker River National Wildlife Refuge* Salem Maritime National Historic Site* Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site* Thacher Island National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:...

 in the legislature, was an active member of the convention that nominated General Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...

 for the presidency, and was appointed United States District Attorney for Massachusetts under Taylor's administration. He eventually resumed the private practice of his profession, devoting his leisure to literary pursuits. When the Whigs dissolved, he joined the Democrats.

Prior to and during the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 he was editor of the Boston Courier in conjunction with George S. Hillard. He opposed policies which would estrange the South and defended slavery. When he returned to the practice of his profession, he appeared frequently in the state courts, and was counsel before congressional committees in reference to French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 claims, preparing a bill and efficiently pressing it for the action of congress. Mr. Lunt's later years were marked by labors in behalf of harbors of refuge, notably at Scituate

Scituate

Scituate is the name of some communities in New England in the United States:*Brunswick, Maine, formerly named Scituate*Scituate , Massachusetts*Scituate, Massachusetts*Scituate, Rhode Island, named after the town in Massachusetts...

, on the south shore of Boston bay. By persevering effort he succeeded in securing very considerable appropriations from congress to this end. He was a man of firm convictions in both political and religious matters, and fearless and manly in their expression. As a writer his style was marked by strength, dignity, and grace.

Works

• "Poems" (New York, 1839)
• The Age of Gold (Boston, 1843)
• The Dove and the Eagle (1851)
• Lyric Poems (1854)
• Julia (1855)
• Eastford, or Household Sketches (1855)
• "Radicalism in Religion, Philosophy, and Social Life" (1858)
• The Union, a Poem (1860)
• Origin of the Late War (New York, 1866)
• Poems (1884).