James Burrill Angell | |
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3rd President of the University of Michigan | |
In office 1871–1909 Serving with acting presidents
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Preceded by | Erastus Otis Haven |
Succeeded by | Harry Burns Hutchins |
United States Minister to China | |
In office August 16, 1880 – October 4, 1881 | |
President | Rutherford B. Hayes |
Preceded by | George Seward |
Succeeded by | John Russell Young |
United States Minister to Turkey | |
In office September 3, 1897 – August 13, 1898 | |
President | William McKinley |
Preceded by | Alexander W. Terrell |
Succeeded by | Oscar S. Straus |
Personal details | |
Born | Scituate, Rhode Island, U.S. | January 7, 1829
Died | April 1, 1916 Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. | (aged 87)
Resting place | Forest Hill Cemetery 42°16′42″N 83°43′41″W / 42.278226°N 83.728147°W |
Spouse | Sarah Swoope Caswell |
Children | James Rowland Angell, Alexis C. Angell, Lois Thompson Angell |
Alma mater | Brown University (AB) |
Signature | ![]() |
James Burrill Angell (January 7, 1829 – April 1, 1916) was an American educator and diplomat. He is best known for being the longest-serving president of the University of Michigan, from 1871 to 1909. He represented the transition from small college life to nationally oriented universities. Under his energetic leadership, Michigan gained prominence as an elite public university.[1] Angell is often cited by school administrators for providing the vision that the university should provide "an uncommon education for the common man." Angell was also president of the University of Vermont from 1866 to 1871 and helped that small school recover from its financial difficulties brought on by the Civil War. Throughout the war, he was the editor of The Providence Journal and was a consistent vocal supporter of Abraham Lincoln.
Angell served in diplomatic posts as America's minister to China from 1880 to 1881 and then to the Ottoman Empire from 1897 to 1898. On his mission to China, he was the primary American negotiator of the Angell Treaty of 1880 that curtailed the emigration of laborers to the United States, as well as a second treaty restricting the trade in opium. In the Ottoman Empire, he was responsible for the protection of American missionaries during the unrest following the massacre of Armenians. Angell was a member of a prominent Yankee family in Rhode Island, and many of his descendants became senior academics.