Bassett, John Spencer

Related Category: Historians, U.S.: Biographies

1867–1928, American historian, b. Tarboro, N.C. He was professor of history at Trinity College (now Duke Univ.) from 1893 to 1906 and then at Smith from 1906 to 1928. Bassett founded (1902) the South Atlantic Quarterly. Chief among his writings are The Federalist System, 1789–1801 (1906, repr. 1968; Vol. II in the “American Nation” series), The Life of Andrew Jackson (1911, repr. 1967), and The Middle Group of American Historians (1917). He also edited much original material, including The Writings of “Colonel William Byrd …” (1901) and The Correspondence of Andrew Jackson (7 vol., 1926–35).