Cushing, Caleb

(born Jan. 17, 1800, Salisbury, Mass., U.S.—died Jan. 2, 1879, Newburyport, Mass.) U.S. lawyer and diplomat. After serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1835–43), he was appointed U.S. commissioner to China (1843–45). In that office he negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia (1844), which opened five Chinese ports to U.S. trade and established the principle of extraterritoriality. He later served as U.S. attorney general (1853–57), U.S. counsel at the Geneva Conference (1871–72) for the settlement of the Alabama claims, and minister to Spain (1874–77).

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica