Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Anson Burlingame
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
Burlingame, Anson
Quick Facts
Born:
November 14, 1820, New Berlin, New York, U.S.
Died:
February 23, 1870, St. Petersburg, Russia (aged 49)
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Burlingame, Anson
Burlingame, Anson Anson Burlingame.

Anson Burlingame

American diplomat
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

Anson Burlingame (born November 14, 1820, New Berlin, New York, U.S.—died February 23, 1870, St. Petersburg, Russia) was an American diplomatic minister to China (1861–67) who helped assure that country’s territorial integrity; he later represented China itself in international negotiations.

Burlingame entered public life as a Massachusetts state senator (1853–54) and member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1855–61). At first a member of the Know-Nothing Party, he helped found the Republican Party in the mid-1850s. When sent to China by President Abraham Lincoln, he found that country in a critical situation, with a weak central government, strong antiforeign feeling, and alien business interests vying for trade privileges. Burlingame fostered a policy of cooperation between the Western powers and China, intended to secure settlement of disputes by diplomacy rather than by force. He also persuaded the Western powers to relinquish claims for special privileges and further territorial cessions in China.

Burlingame so impressed the Chinese government that in November 1867, upon his resignation from his U.S. post, he was named imperial envoy charged with the conduct of China’s international relations. The following February, with two Chinese colleagues and an entourage of 30, he began a tour of Western capitals. The mission made a triumphal progress across the United States, in the course of which Burlingame—a brilliant orator—conveyed an optimistic impression of China’s receptivity to Western influence. In Washington, D.C., he negotiated with Secretary of State William H. Seward the Burlingame Treaty, guaranteeing most-favoured-nation treatment to each country’s residents or visitors in the other nation and putting on record the traditional U.S. policy of respect for China’s territorial integrity.

Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.
By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Burlingame’s mission was successful in London but less so on the European continent; he became ill in Russia and died there.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.