William Maxwell Evarts served as attorney general of the United States from 1868 to 1869 under President Andrew Johnson. Evarts later served as secretary of state under President Rutherford B. Hayes and as a U.S. senator from New York.

Evarts was born on February 16, 1818 in Boston, Massachusetts. After earning a degree from Yale University, Evarts entered Harvard Law School. Following graduation in 1841, he moved to New York City to enter private practice. By the end of the decade Evarts had shifted to public service, working as an assistant U.S. district attorney.

It was not until the 1860s that Evarts became involved in national events. He performed diplomatic duties during the Civil War and traveled to Great Britain to negotiate an end to English military support of the Confederacy.

In 1868 Evarts entered the eye of a national political storm when he agreed to become part of President Andrew Johnson's...