Early Political Career
In 1824, Everett was elected U.S. Representative from Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District. The Federalist Party had collapsed, and the victorious Democratic-Republican Party had become diffuse, so no formal party affiliations existed at this time. Everett was associated with the "National Republican" faction of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. He supported Clay's "National System" and the interests of Massachusetts' propertied class. Everett was re-elected to four additional terms as a National Republican, serving until 1835. The National Republicans became the Whig Party in 1834.
Everett resigned his professorship in 1826, but remained associated with Harvard as a member of the Board of Overseers, serving until 1847.
Everett retired from Congress in 1835. Instead he ran for Governor of Massachusetts as a Whig. He was elected, taking office in January 1836. He was re-elected in 1836, 1837, and 1838, but was narrowly defeated in 1839.
Implementation of the Prussian education system (of which he himself was a graduate) was to become a goal of Everett's. From 1837-1840, he collaborated with Horace Mann to develop public education in Massachusetts along the lines of the Prussian model.
Shortly after the adoption of the Prussian system in Massachusetts, the Governor of New York set up the same method in twelve different New York schools on a trial basis.
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