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{{Infobox officeholder
| name               = John Appleton
| image              = File:John Appleton before 1864.jpg
| imagesize          = 200
| alt                = 
| caption            = John Appleton, before 1864
| order5             = 18th
| office5            = Chief Clerk (United States Department of State){{!}}Chief Clerk of the United States Department of State
| term_start5        = January 26, 1848
| term_end5          = April 15, 1848
| predecessor5       = [[William S. Derrick]]
| successor5         = William S. Derrick
| order4             = 1st
| office4            = United States Ambassador to Bolivia
| term_start4        = January 3, 1849
| term_end4          = May 4, 1849
| successor4         = [[Alexander Keith McClung]]
| order3             = Member of [[US House of Representatives]] from [[Maine]]'s [[Maine's 2nd congressional district|2nd]] district
| term_start3        = March 4, 1851
| term_end3          = March 3, 1853
| predecessor3       = [[Nathaniel Littlefield]]
| successor3         = [[Samuel Mayall]]
| order2             = 4th
| office2            = United States Assistant Secretary of State
| term_start2        = April 4, 1857
| term_end2          = June 10, 1860
| predecessor2       = [[John Addison Thomas]]
| successor2         = [[William H. Trescot]]
| order              = 21st
| office             = United States Ambassador to Russia
| term_start         = September 9, 1860
| term_end           = June 8, 1861
| predecessor        = [[Francis Wilkinson Pickens]]
| successor          = [[Cassius Marcellus Clay (politician)|Cassius Marcellus Clay]]
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1815|02|11}}
| birth_place        = [[Beverly, Massachusetts]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1864|08|22|1815|02|11}}
| death_place        = [[Portland, Maine]]
| restingplace       = [[Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine)|Evergreen Cemetery]]
| restingplacecoordinates = {{Coord|43|40|54|N|70|18|4|W}}
| citizenship        = United States
| nationality        = American
| party              = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]
| spouse             = Susan Lovering Dodge ({{Tooltip|m.|married}}&nbsp;1840–64)
| relations          = [[James Appleton]] (uncle)
| children           = Eben Dodge Appleton ({{Tooltip|b.|born}}&nbsp;1843)
| parents            = John W. Appleton (1780–1862)<br />Sophia Williams (1786–1860)
| alma_mater         = [[Bowdoin College]] (1834)
| occupation         = Politician, lawyer
| cabinet            = 
| committees         = 
| portfolio          = 
| signature          = JohnAppletonSignature.png
| signature_alt      = Signature of John Appleton
| website            = 
| footnotes          = 
}}

'''John Appleton''' (February 11, 1815&nbsp;– August 22, 1864) was an American lawyer, [[politician]] and [[diplomat]] who served as the  United States' first ''[[chargé d'affaires]]'' to Bolivia, and later as special envoy to Great Britain and Russia. Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Appleton graduated from [[Bowdoin College]] in 1834 and attended [[Harvard Law School]] from 1835 to 1836. On leaving Harvard, he became a barrister and newspaper editor while maintaining a vigorous involvement in Democratic politics. In 1840 he was appointed as registrar of [[probate]]s for [[Cumberland County, Maine]], and in 1845 became Chief Clerk for the [[United States Department of the Navy]].

In January 1848 Appleton was promoted to Chief Clerk of the [[United States Department of State|State Department]], but resigned in March when he was named as the United States' first ''[[chargé d'affaires]]'' to [[Bolivia]]. The posting was unsuccessful, and Appleton resigned after six months service and returned to the United States to pursue his personal political interests. In 1851 he was narrowly elected to Congress, representing Maine's 2nd congressional district. As a Congressman he became noted for his oratorical skills, and was selected to give the obituary address for former Senator and Secretary of State [[Daniel Webster]] in 1852.

In 1855 Appleton was sent as diplomatic envoy to [[London, England]] to promote United States interests in negotiations to end the [[Crimean War]]. He returned to the United States in 1857 and was appointed as the fourth [[United States Assistant Secretary of State|Assistant Secretary of State]], a post he held for the following three years. As Assistant Secretary he opened discussions with Russia regarding a prospective [[Alaska Purchase]], leading to the United States acquiring that territory in 1867. Concurrently, he was editor of a pro-Democratic newspaper ''The Washington Union'', but his career was marred by allegations that he misused this position for personal gain. He was the United States' envoy to Russia from 1860 until his retirement in 1861. Appleton died on August 22, 1864, and is buried in Portland's Evergreen Cemetery.

== Early life: 1815–44 ==
John Appleton was born in [[Beverly, Massachusetts]] on February 11, 1815.<ref name="acls329" /> His father, John White Appleton (1780–1862), was a resident of [[Portland, Maine]]; his mother, Sophia Appleton (''[[Name at birth|nee]]'' Williams) (1786–1860) was from [[Connecticut]]. Appleton was the third child of nine of his parents and spent most of his childhood in Portland.<ref>{{Harvnb|Appleton|1873|p=26}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Emery|1891|p=337}}</ref>

Appleton studied law at [[Bowdoin College]] in the 1830s, graduating as a [[Legum Doctor]] in 1834 and pursuing further studies at [[Harvard Law School]] in the summers of 1835 and 1836.<ref>{{Harvnb|United States Congress|2005|p=574}}</ref> Throughout the 1830s he worked in [[New England]] legal firms. On 20 June 1837 he passed his [[bar examination]] in [[Cumberland County, Maine]] and subsequently opened his own legal practice in Portland.<ref>{{Harvnb|Emery|1891|p=338}}</ref> In 1838 Appleton was appointed as lead editor of the ''Eastern Argus'', a now-defunct newspaper serving the Portland area,<ref>{{Harvnb|Emery|1891|p=339}}</ref> and in 1840 and from 1842 to 1844 he served as registrar of [[probate]]s for [[Cumberland County, Maine|Cumberland County]].<ref name="encyc">{{Cite web | url=http://maineanencyclopedia.com/john-appleton | title=Appleton, John | date=10 August 2011 | publisher=Maine An Encyclopedia | access-date=September 13, 2014}}</ref>  He married Susan Lovering Dodge in 1840, and their only child, Eben Dodge Appleton, was born in Portland in 1843.<ref name="acls329">{{Harvnb|American Council of Learned Societies|1943|p=329}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Appleton|1873|p=33}}</ref>

== Political career: 1845–64 ==

=== Chief Clerk ===
[[File:JAppletonpic.jpg|thumb|left|upright|John Appleton as a young man.]]
In addition to his legal practice, Appleton's abiding interest was in [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] politics. In the 1840s he became associated with [[Tennessee]] Governor [[James K. Polk]], who would be elected [[President of the United States|President]] in a close-fought race in 1844. Following Polk's inauguration, Appleton accepted an offer from [[United States Secretary of the Navy|United States Navy Secretary]] [[George Bancroft]] to join the administration as the Navy's Chief Clerk.<ref name="emery340" /> His closeness to Polk continued while in this role, culminating in an invitation to act as the President's personal diarist for a goodwill tour of the northeastern states. Appleton's record of this visit was later published as a 135-page volume entitled ''North for Union''.<ref>{{cite journal | last =Schroeder | first =John H.  | title =Review: North for Union, John Appleton's Journal of a Tour to New England Made by President Polk in June and July 1847 | journal =Presidential Studies Quarterly | volume =17 | issue =3 | pages =600–01 | date =July 1987 | jstor =27550454 }}</ref> The book includes Appleton's endorsement of northeastern arts and industry, alongside a studied disapproval of its urban culture. [[Boston]] is described as having a "greatness" bestowed by its role in the [[American Revolutionary War]], which permitted Appleton to "almost forget its meanness" today.<ref name="Dearmont">{{cite journal | last =Dearmont | first =Nelson S. | title =Review: North by Union, John Appleton's Journal of a Tour to New England Made by President Polk in June and July 1847 | journal =Journal of the Early Republic | volume =7 | issue =2 | pages =202–03 | date =July 1987 | jstor =3123473 | doi = 10.2307/3123473 }}</ref> Industrialized [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]] is criticized for commercialism, as "not in such places are republican spirits and Spartan hearts best educated."<ref name="Dearmont" /> Describing the region's largest city, Appleton wrote:

<blockquote>New York ... has the social faults which belong to an eminently business place, and to a shifting, moneymaking people. Everything there is confused, and every man there is busily pursuing some selfish aim. One who walks slowly in the streets is in danger of being run over, and everybody is so much in a hurry there that, in such a case, no resident would probably stop to pick him up.<ref name="Dearmont" /></blockquote>

On January 26, 1848, Appleton was promoted to the role of [[Chief Clerk (United States Department of State)|Chief Clerk for the Department of State]].<ref name="office">{{Cite web | url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/appleton-john | title=John Appleton (1815–1864) | publisher=[[United States Department of State]] | access-date=September 13, 2014}}</ref> In this position, Appleton was the second-ranking officer of the department.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/principalofficers/chief-clerk| title=Chief Clerk | publisher=[[United States Department of State]] | access-date=September 13, 2014}}</ref>

=== ''Chargé d'affaires'' to Bolivia ===
On March 30, 1848, then-Secretary of State [[James Buchanan]] appointed Appleton as United States ''[[chargé d'affaires]]'' to [[Bolivia]], which had recently declared independence from [[Peru]].<ref>{{cite journal | last =Robertson | first =William Spence  | title =The Recognition of the Hispanic American Nations by the United States | journal =The Hispanic American Historical Review | volume =1 | issue =3 | pages =239–269  | date =August 1918 | jstor =2505669  | doi =10.2307/2505669  | hdl =2027/uiug.30112063586637 | hdl-access =free }}</ref> His primary instructions were to open economic relations with Bolivia, assure them of United States' goodwill and help secure a cross-border treaty that would transfer the port of [[Arica]] from Peruvian to Bolivian control.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lehmen|1999|page=29}}</ref> Buchanan further urged Appleton to use his influence as chargé d'affaires to encourage Bolivia towards democracy, by "presenting to them the example of our own country, where all controversies are decided at the ballot box."<ref>Letter from James Buchanan to John Appleton, June 1, 1848, cited in {{Harvnb|Lehmen|1999|page=30}}</ref>

Appleton set out for his Bolivian post in the summer of 1848. However his arrival was delayed first by the shipwreck of the [[USS Onkahye (1843)|USS ''Onkahye'']], which had been carrying him to South America, and then by slow progress through the [[Andes Mountains]] ''en route'' to [[La Paz]].<ref name="emery340">{{Harvnb|Emery|1891|p=340}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://slaveshiptrouvadore.org/antipiracy-antislavery-patrols/us-schooner-onkahye/ | title=History of the US Schooner Onkahye | publisher=Turks and Caicos National Museum | access-date=October 8, 2014 | archive-date=October 13, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013064359/http://slaveshiptrouvadore.org/antipiracy-antislavery-patrols/us-schooner-onkahye/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> In October he reached the Bolivian capital to discover that the government of [[President of Bolivia|President]] [[José Miguel de Velasco Franco]] was besieged by soldiers under the command of former Minister for War [[Manuel Isidoro Belzu]]. Both de Velasco and Belzu claimed to be head of state, but neither would receive Appleton in order that he might present his diplomatic credentials and assume office. Belzu's forces seized national control eight weeks later, and  Appleton was able to take up his position as ''chargé'' in December.<ref name="office" /><ref>{{cite journal | last =Dunkerley | first =James  | title =Reassessing Caudillismo in Bolivia, 1825–79 | journal =Bulletin of Latin American Research | volume =1 | issue =1 | pages =13–25  | date =October 1981 | jstor =3338617 | doi = 10.2307/3338617}}</ref>

Having finally taken office, Appleton found his posting a challenging one. In correspondence with the United States Government he noted that the country seemed to have a difficult climate, few North Americans and no roads.<ref name="Lehman31">{{Harvnb|Lehmen|1999|page=31}}</ref> Attempts to deliver on Buchanan's instructions for a cross-border treaty with Peru were also rebuffed, as the Peruvian Government had not been advised that Appleton would be undertaking this task and declined to negotiate with him.<ref>{{Harvnb|Granier|1997|loc=Chapter 3}}</ref> Discontented and in poor health, Appleton requested that he be recalled to the United States.<ref name="Lehman31"/> He resigned on May 4, 1849, less than six months after assuming his post.<ref name="acls330" />

=== Election to Congress ===
{{quote box
 |title = 
 |quote = When God shall send his angel to ''us'', Mr. Speaker, bearing the scroll of death, may we be able to bow our heads to his mission with as much gentleness and resignation as marked by the last hours of Daniel Webster.
 |source = —John Appleton, on the death of Daniel Webster<ref>{{Harvnb|Appleton|1853|pages=48–49}}</ref>
 |align = right
 | width = 25%
}}

Appleton returned to Maine in late 1849 and resumed his interests in a political career. On March 4, 1851, he was elected to the [[32nd United States Congress]] as the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] candidate in Maine's 2nd congressional district, defeating Whig candidate William Ferguson by 40 votes.

Despite the failures of his Bolivian post, Appleton continued his interest in international relations by taking up a position on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.<ref>{{cite journal | title =U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates| journal =Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States | volume =47 | page =49 | date =December 9, 1851 | url =http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llhj&fileName=047/llhj047.db&recNum=48&itemLink=D?hlaw:13:./temp/~ammem_yOXo::%230470049&linkText=1 | access-date =October 5, 2014 }}</ref> His focus was now on European affairs, taking a conservative line against international republicanism and political reform which he felt was motivated by emotion rather than reason. For Appleton, European republican sentiment was "like the fabled Phaeton, [who] seizes the reins with passion, drives madly off the course, and nearly engulfs the world in darkness."<ref>Appleton, John: Congressional Record, 32nd Congress, 1st session, 24 app.,441,318. Cited in {{cite journal | last =Morrison | first =Michael A. | title =American Reaction to European Revolutions, 1848–1852: Sectionalism, Memory, and the Revolutionary Heritage | journal =Civil War History | volume =49 | issue =2 | page =129 |  date =June 2003 | doi=10.1353/cwh.2003.0042| s2cid =143780364 }}</ref> The new Congressman also demonstrated a talent for oratory, delivering a series of speeches noted for their graceful, impressive delivery. His speaking skills were recognized in December 1852 when he was chosen by Congress to read the [[obituary]] address for former Senator and Secretary of State [[Daniel Webster]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Emery|1891|p=341}}</ref>

=== Envoy to London ===
Appleton declined to run for re-election to Congress in 1852.<ref name="encyc"/> Instead he returned to Maine, and in February 1855 was appointed as diplomatic envoy to [[London, England]], with instructions to lead United States engagement in negotiations to end the [[Crimean War]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Croft|Albrecht|Cluff|Resmer|2010|pages=28–29}}</ref> He resigned his position on November 16, 1855, having held it for {{Duration in days|1855|02|19|1855|11|16}} days.<ref name="encyc" /> Appleton was subsequently nominated as United States ''chargé d'affaires'' in London, but declined the position and returned home to assist James Buchanan's Presidential campaign.<ref>{{Harvnb|Emery|1891|p=342}}</ref>

=== Assistant Secretary of State, Envoy to Russia ===
[[File:AlaskaMap1867.jpg|thumb|left|The Department of Alaska, which John Appleton was trying to purchase for the United States]]
After Buchanan's inauguration in 1857, Appleton was nominated by Edmund Burke to run a pro-Buchanan newspaper, the ''Washington Union''.<ref>{{Cite news | title=The Washington Correspondent | url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85026031/1857-04-23/ed-1/seq-2.pdf | page=2 | volume=13 | issue=16 | newspaper=Preble County Democrat | date=April 23, 1857 | access-date=October 6, 2014}}</ref> After a few months, Appleton resigned due to ill health.<ref name="acls330" /> On April 4, 1857, he was nominated as [[United States Assistant Secretary of State]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Emery|1891|pp=342–343}}</ref> Appleton superseded the Chief Clerk as the second-ranking officer of the department. In 1858, Appleton was charged with corruption from his involvement in the "public printing plunder", in which he used his influence and his position as editor to make around $10,000 (${{Inflation|US|10,000|1858|fmt=c|r=-3}} in {{Currentyear}}). Appleton did not deny the charges.<ref>{{Cite news | date=July 31, 1858 | url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86079096/1858-07-31/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1836&index=0&rows=20&words=Appleton+APPLEToN+JoHN+John&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1865&proxtext=john+appleton&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 | title=Corruption in High Places | newspaper=The Sugar Planter | access-date=October 6, 2014 | volume=3 | issue=31 | page=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1858/07/23/78857615.pdf | title=From Washington: The States and Mr. John Appleton | newspaper=New York Times | date=July 23, 1858 | access-date=October 6, 2014}}</ref>

While in office he was involved in preliminary discussions with Tsarist Russia over the prospective [[Alaska Purchase]]. Talks were held in Washington between Appleton, Russian representative [[Eduard de Stoeckl]] and chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services#Chairmen|U.S. Senate Committee on Naval Affairs]] [[William M. Gwin]]. Appleton and Gwin offered $5 million (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|5000000|1859|r=-7}}}} in {{currentyear}}) in 1859, but de Stoeck wanted more money.<ref>{{Harvnb|Danver|2013|p=164}}</ref> No decision had been made before the 1860 Presidential election, and discussion was then indefinitely postponed upon the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Bolkhovitinov | first=Nikolay N. | title =The Sale of Alaska: A Russian Perspective | journal =Polar Geography | volume =27 | issue =3 | page =255 | date =March 2011 | doi=10.1080/789610181 | s2cid=129806694 }}</ref>

Appleton resigned as Assistant Secretary of State on June 10, 1860.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/principalofficers/assistant-secretary | title=Assistant Secretary of State | publisher=[[United States Department of State]] | access-date=September 15, 2014}}</ref> On September 9 he was appointed as diplomatic envoy to Russia. Appleton showed impatience with the rise of [[Congress Poland]]. When he commented back to the United States, not much was done, since the rise of the [[Confederate States]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Wandycz|1980|p=79}}</ref> During meetings with Prince Gortchacow in April 1861, Appleton and Gortchacow concluded Russia would not recognize the Confederacy, however, trade between the two would still remain.<ref>{{Harvnb|Manning|Wyatt|2011|p=333}}</ref> Appleton retired for health reasons on June 8, 1861.<ref name="acls330">{{Harvnb|American Council of Learned Societies|1943|p=330}}</ref>

== Death ==
Appleton died on August 22, 1864. He is buried in Portland's [[Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine)|Evergreen Cemetery]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A000268 |title=Appleton, John, (1815–1864) |work=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]] |publisher=[[United States Congress]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913193101/http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A000268 |archive-date=September 13, 2014 |access-date=September 13, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== References ==
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
*{{Cite book | author=American Council of Learned Societies | author-link=American Council of Learned Societies | year=1943 | url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer01ilamer | title=Dictionary of American Biography | volume=1: Abbe&nbsp;– Barrymore | publisher=Charles Scribner's Son | editor-last=Johnson | editor-first=Allen | oclc=4171403}}
*{{Cite book | last=Appleton | first=John | year=1838 | url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002035236216;view=1up;seq=1 | title=Oration Delivered Before the Democratic Republicans of Portland and Vicinity, July 4, 1838 | publisher=Argus Office | oclc=85797815}}
*{{Cite book | last=Appleton | first=John | year=1853 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/obituaryaddresse00wash | title=Obituary Addresses on the Occasion of the Death of the Hon. Daniel Webster | chapter=Mr. Appleton, of Maine | publisher=Robert Armstrong | oclc=760579}}
*{{Cite book | last=Appleton | first=William | year=1873 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9tYUAAAAYAAJ | title=A Rough Sketch of the Appleton Genealogy | publisher=T.R. Marvin & Son | oclc=18717502}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Croft |first1=Laura |last2=Albrecht |first2=Ashleigh |last3=Cluff |first3=Emily |last4=Resmer |first4=Erica | year=2010 | title=The Ambassadors: U.S.-To-Russia/Russia-To-U.S | publisher=Lulu.com | isbn=9780557264698 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrkhAgAAQBAJ&q=john+appleton+russia&pg=PA28 }}
*{{Cite book | editor-last=Danver | editor-first=Steven | year=2013 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCRzAwAAQBAJ | title=Encyclopedia of Politics of the American West | publisher=CQ Press | isbn=9781452276069}}
*{{Cite book | last=Emery | first=George | year=1891 | title=Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bU5IAAAAYAAJ | publisher=[[Maine Historical Society]] | chapter=John Appleton | oclc=17931320}}
*{{Cite book | last=Granier | first=Jorge | year=1997 | url=http://www.boliviaweb.com/mar/main.htm | title=Estados Unidos y el Mar Boliviano: Testimonios para la Historia |trans-title=United States and the Sea Bolivia: Testimonies throughout History | publisher=Jorge Gumucio Granier | isbn=9789990563092 | language=es}}
*{{Cite book | last=Lehmen | first=Kenneth | year=1999 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATv_VPFez5EC | title=Bolivia and the United States: A Limited Partnership | publisher=[[University of Georgia Press]] | isbn=9780820321165 }}
*{{Cite book | last1=Manning | first1=Martin | last2=Wyatt | first2=Clarence | year=2011 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c4D1VD4x9M4C | title=Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America | volume=1 | publisher=ABC-CLIO | isbn=9781598842272 }}
*{{Cite book | author=United States Congress | author-link=United States Congress | title=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9MBIctdjjkC&q=john+appleton+born+feb+11+1815&pg=PA574 | publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] | year=2005 | isbn=9780160731761 }}
*{{Cite book | last=Wandycz | first=Piotr | year=1980 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XaFaNshCrkC | title=The United States and Poland | publisher=Harvard University Press | isbn=9780674926851 }}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Cite web | url=http://moscow.usembassy.gov/john_appleton.html | title=John Appleton | work=United States Embassy to Russia | publisher=United States Department of State | access-date=September 24, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306222428/http://moscow.usembassy.gov/john_appleton.html | archive-date=March 6, 2014 | url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Appleton, John}}
* {{cite BDA1906 |wstitle= Appleton, John (diplomatist) |volume= 1 |page= 131 |short=}}

{{s-start-collapsible|header={{s-par|us-hs}}}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Maine
| district=2
| before=[[Nathaniel Littlefield]]
| after=[[Samuel Mayall]]
| years=March 4, 1853&nbsp;– March 3, 1855
}}
{{s-dip}}
{{s-break}}
 {{s-new}}
 {{s-ttl | title=[[United States Ambassador to Bolivia]] | years=March 30, 1848&nbsp;– May 4, 1849}}
 {{s-aft|after=[[Alexander Keith McClung]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[wikt:envoy|United States Secretary of Legation to England]] | years=February 1855&nbsp;– November 16, 1855 |before=Unknown |after=Unknown}}
{{succession box |
  title=[[United States Ambassador to Russia]] |
  before=[[Francis Wilkinson Pickens]] |
  after=[[Cassius Marcellus Clay (abolitionist)|Cassius Marcellus Clay]] |
  years=June 8, 1860&nbsp;– June 8, 1861
}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | title=Chief Clerk of the United States Department of the Navy | years=1844–1848 | before=Unknown | after=Unknown}}
{{succession box |
  title=[[Chief Clerk (United States Department of State)|Chief Clerk of the United States State Department]] |
  before =[[William S. Derrick]] |
  after=[[William S. Derrick]] |
  years=January 26, 1848&nbsp;– April 25, 1848
}}
{{succession box |
  title=[[United States Assistant Secretary of State]] |
  before =[[John Addison Thomas]] |
  after=[[William Henry Trescot]] |
  years=April 4, 1857&nbsp;– June 10, 1860
}}
{{s-media}}
 {{succession box | title=Lead editor of ''The Eastern Argus'' | before=Unknown | after=Unknown | years=1838&nbsp;– {{tooltip|c.|circa}} 1842–43}}
 {{succession box | title=Lead editor of ''The Washington Union'' | before=Unknown | after=Unknown | years=1857&nbsp;– before 1860}}
{{s-end}}

{{US Ambassadors to Russia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Short description|19th-century American politician}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, John}}
[[Category:1815 births]]
[[Category:1864 deaths]]
[[Category:Appleton family]]
[[Category:United States assistant secretaries of state]]
[[Category:Bowdoin College alumni]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Bolivia]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Politicians from Portland, Maine]]
[[Category:Maine lawyers]]
[[Category:People from Beverly, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Politicians from Essex County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine)]]
[[Category:19th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine]]
[[Category:Chief Clerks of the United States Department of State]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]