John Lothrop Motley Historian

• Gender: Male
• Citizenship: United States
• Born: Apr 15, 1814
• Died: May 29, 1877

John Lothrop Motley (Dorchester, near Boston, Massachusetts, April 15, 1814 - near Dorchester, England, May 29, 1877) was an American historian and diplomat.

The son of Thomas Motley, he was born at Dorchester (now a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts), attended the Round Hill School, Boston Latin School, and graduated from Harvard in 1831. His boyhood was in Dedham, near the site of the present day Noble and Greenough School. His education included training in German language and literature, and he went to Germany to complete these studies Göttingen, during 1832-1833. during which time he became a lifelong friend of Otto von Bismarck. After this, Motley and Bismarck went study the civil law together at Frederick William University, Berlin. After a period of European travel he returned in 1834 to America, where he continued his legal studies.