Choate was born in Salem, Massachusetts on January 24, 1832. He was the son of Margaret Manning His father's first cousin was Rufus Choate, a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. His paternal grandparents were George Choate and Susanna Choate, and his maternal grandparents were Gamaliel Hodges and Sarah Hodges. Choate graduated from Harvard College in 1852 and Harvard Law School in 1854.
Career
After graduation from law school, Choate was admitted first to the Massachusetts in 1855, followed by admission to the New York bar in 1856, after which he entered the law office of Scudder & Carter in New York City. His success in his profession was immediate, and in 1860 he became junior partner in the firm of Evarts, Southmayd & Choate, the senior partner in which was William M. Evarts. This firm and its successor, that of Evarts, Choate & Beaman, remained for many years among the leading law firms of New York and of the country, the activities of both being national rather than local. During these busy years, Choate was associated with many of the most famous legal cases in American legal history, including the Tilden, Alexander Turney Stewart, and Jane Stanford will cases, the Kansas prohibition cases, the Chinese exclusion cases, the Isaac H. Maynard election returns case, and the Income Tax Suit. In 1871, be became a member of the Committee of Seventy in New York City, which was instrumental in breaking up the Tweed Ring, and later assisted in the prosecution of the indicted officials. He served as president of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the New York City Bar Association. In the retrial of the General Fitz-John Porter case, he obtained a reversal of the decision of the original court-martial. His greatest reputation was won perhaps in cross-examination. In politics, he allied himself with the Republican Party on its organization, being a frequent speaker in presidential campaigns, beginning with that of 1856. He never held political office, although he was a candidate for the Republican U.S. senatorial nomination for New York against Senator Thomas C. Platt in 1897. In 1894, he was president of the New York state constitutional convention.
He was appointed, by President McKinley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom to succeed John Hay in 1899, and remained in this position after Theodore Roosevelt's ascendancy to the presidency until the spring of 1905. In England, he won great personal popularity, and accomplished much in fostering the good relations of the two great English-speaking powers. He was one of the representatives of the United States at the second Peace Congress at the Hague in 1907.
Later life
Upon the outbreak of the World War I, he ardently supported the cause of the Allies. He severely criticized President Wilson's hesitation to recommend America's immediate cooperation, but shortly before his death retracted his criticism. He was chairman of the mayor's committee in New York for entertaining the British and French commissions in 1917. His death was hastened by the physical strain of his constant activities in this connection.
Personal life
On October 16, 1861, he married , who had been born in Salisbury, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Caroline Mary Sterling and Frederick Augustine Sterling and a distant relative of Frederick A. Sterling. Caroline was an artist and an advocate for women's education, helping to establish both of Brearley School and Barnard College. Joseph and Caroline were the parents of five children, two of whom predeceased their parents:
Ruluff Sterling Choate
George Choate
Josephine Choate
, who did not marry and became a gardener and philanthropist.
Joseph Hodges Choate Jr., who married Cora Lyman Oliver, daughter of General Robert Shaw Oliver, in 1903.
Through his granddaughter, Helen Choate Platt, he is the great-grandfather of diplomat Nicholas Platt, the former U.S. Ambassador to Zambia, the Philippines, and Pakistan; and the great-great-grandfather of actor Oliver Platt.
