Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar was a devoted public servant who served in many positions during his long career. Hoar served as U.S. attorney general from 1869 to 1870 under President Ulysses S. Grant and went on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Hoar was born on February 21, 1816, in Concord, Massachusetts, the son of a prominent Federalist politician. Hoar graduated from Harvard in 1835 and Harvard Law School in 1839. Admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840, Hoar practiced law in Concord and Boston, working on cases with many prominent attorneys including Daniel Webster.

However, Hoar did not concentrate only on law. In the early 1840s he was elected to the Massachusetts state and soon staked out an anti-slavery position that led to his becoming a prominent member of the Free-Soil Party. This party opposed the expansion of slavery in newly acquired western territories and was an important force in the...