When only two years old he was taken by his father to St. Petersburg, Russia. At the age of eight, he traveled to Paris, France with his mother.
When his father was minster to England, he was placed in a boarding school. He later studied at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1825. He then studied law with Daniel Webster.
He was twice elected to the United States Congress (1858 and 1860), and was minister to England from 1861 to 1868, when he resigned.
His children included: