Political Figures
Portrait of Joel Barlow
Joel Barlow (1754-1812) was born in Redding and graduated from Yale College in 1778, after which he served as a chaplain during the Revolutionary War. In the 1780s, as one of the “Hartford Wits,” he composed poetry and wrote conservative political essays. Barlow then went to Europe, where he became a strong Jeffersonian Republican and a defender of the French Revolution. He was appointed US consul to Algiers, 1795 to 1797, freeing American seamen and negotiating a treaty with Tripoli in the years before the First Barbary War. Barlow returned to Washington, DC, in 1805. In 1811 President Madison appointed Barlow as American minister to France. He attempted to negotiate a commercial treaty with Napoleon and determine France’s position on neutral trade. During the Russian Campaign, Napoleon summoned Barlow for an interview, but Barlow died of illness and exposure in Poland in December 1812 before meeting with Napoleon.
Epaphroditus Champion
Epaphroditus Champion (1756-1834) was born in Colchester. During the Revolutionary War he helped his father drive a herd of 300 cattle from Connecticut to Pennsylvania to feed the Continental Army. After the Revolution, Champion became a merchant and also a militia officer. After 15 years in the Connecticut legislature, he was elected to Congress as a loyal Federalist in 1807 and served until 1817. Like the state’s other representatives, he voted against the declaration of war.
Martin Chittenden
Martin Chittenden (1763-1840) was born in Salisbury and moved with his family to Vermont at age 12. He attended Dartmouth College, served in the Vermont General Assembly, and represented Vermont in Congress as a Federalist, 1803 to 1810. He was elected governor of Vermont in 1813. His predecessor, Republican Jonas Galusha, had sent the Vermont militia into New York State as part of an unsuccessful invasion of Canada. Federalist Governor Chittenden recalled the militia, an act that Republicans considered unpatriotic and Federalists considered Constitutionally mandated. When British forces approached Plattsburg, New York, on the opposite side of Lake Champlain, in 1814, Chittenden asked for militia volunteers to cross into New York to contest the invasion. This approach was accepted by both Republicans and Federalists. Chittenden left politics after losing the governorship in 1815.
Samuel W. Dana (1760-1830) was born in Wallingford and graduated from Yale College in 1775. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in Middletown. After serving in the Connecticut General Assembly for seven years, he was elected to Congress and served from 1797 to 1810. He was then elected to the Senate to fill a vacancy, and as a Federalist he voted against war in 1812. He was reelected in 1814 and remained in the Senate until 1821. Back home, he served as mayor of Middletown until his death.
John Davenport (1752-1830) was born in Stamford and graduated from Yale College in 1770. Admitted to the bar in 1773, he practiced law in Stamford and served in the Connecticut House of Representatives, 1776 to 1796. During the Revolutionary War he was a commissary officer in the Continental Army. Elected to Congress as a Federalist in 1799, he served until 1817. Like the state’s other representatives, he voted against the declaration of war.
Theodore Dwight (1764-1846), the brother of Yale President Timothy Dwight and grandson of Rev. Jonathan Edwards, was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, studied law after a private education, and began to practice at Haddam in 1787. After moving his law practice to Hartford in 1791 he began to edit the Hartford Courant and the Connecticut Mirror. In 1806 he was elected to Congress to fill the seat vacated by John Cotton Smith but returned to Hartford at the end of the term in 1807 and resumed newspaper editing. He served on the Connecticut Governor’s Council, 1809 to 1815. A strong Federalist, he was appointed to attend the Hartford Convention and served as convention secretary. Dwight moved on to edit newspapers at Albany in 1815 and New York City in 1817.
Chauncey Goodrich
Chauncey Goodrich (1759-1815) was born in Durham and graduated from Yale College in 1776. He taught school and then taught at Yale before being admitted to the bar in 1781 and settling in Hartford. After a term in the Connecticut House he was elected to Congress, 1795 to 1801. Back in Connecticut, he served on the Governor’s Council, 1802 to 1807, before the General Assembly elected him to fill a vacant US Senate seat. Goodrich served as a Federalist Senator, 1807 to 1813, voting against the declaration of war. In 1813 he resigned to become lieutenant governor of Connecticut, and at the end of 1814 he was one of the state’s representatives to the Hartford Convention. Chauncey Goodrich died in August 1815.
Roger Griswold (1762-1812) was born in Lyme and graduated from Yale College in 1780. Admitted to the bar in 1783, he practiced in Norwich and then Lyme before being elected to Congress in 1795. In 1798, while supporting President Adams’s preparations for war with France, the Federalist Roger Griswold gained notoriety by fighting with Democratic-Republican Matthew Lyon of Vermont on the House floor. When Lyon ignored him, Griswold called him a scoundrel, which caused Lyon to spit in his face. Griswold later attached Lyon with a cane, and Lyon fought him off with fire tongs. Despite the unseemly behavior, Griswold was offered the position of secretary of war by President John Adams, which he declined. In 1803 Griswold proposed the idea of secession by Federalist states as the Republican Party grew stronger, and he resigned from Congress in 1805. Elected lieutenant governor in 1809, he was elected governor in 1811 and firmly opposed the war and the contribution of Connecticut militia for national service rather than defense of the state. Governor Griswold died suddenly at Norwich in October 1812.
Jedediah Huntington
Jedediah Huntington (1743-1818) was born in Norwich, the son of a prosperous merchant from a prominent eastern Connecticut family. Huntington attended Harvard College, graduating in 1763, and followed his father into business. A militia officer and prominent patriot, Huntington led his militia regiment to Massachusetts in April 1775 and served with distinction under General Washington through the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of general. In 1789 President Washington appointed Huntington as collector of customs for the district of New London. He served through the difficult years of impressment of American seamen, neutral trade, embargo, and war—which severely reduced business at the customhouse, except for the issuance of letters of marque to privateers. Huntington resigned in 1817 and died at New London in 1818.
Lyman Law (1770-1840) was born in New London and graduated from Yale College in 1791. After studying law he was admitted to the bar in 1793. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives for most terms between 1801 and 1810 and was then elected to the US Congress, 1811 to 1817. Like the state’s other representatives, he voted against the declaration of war. To defend Connecticut’s honor after the blue-lights incident at New London in 1814, Law proposed a Congressional investigation, but his proposal was rejected.
Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr.
Return Jonathan Meigs Jr. (1764-1825) was born in Middletown, son of a Revolutionary War hero. Meigs graduated from Yale College in 1785 and studied law. In 1788 he followed his father to Ohio, establishing a farm, a store, and a law practice in Marietta. Beginning in 1788 he served as court clerk, postmaster, judge, and legislator and then territorial judge in Louisiana and Michigan. After brief service as a US Senator, 1808 to 1810, he was elected governor of Ohio. As a Republican-Democrat, he supported the war. Already concerned about Native American attacks after the Battle of Tippecanoe, Meigs made great efforts to mobilize the militia. He resigned as governor in 1814 when President Madison appointed him postmaster general. He retired in 1823 due to poor health and died at home in Marietta in 1825.
Jonathan O. Mosely (1762-1838) was born at East Haddam and graduated from Yale College in 1780. After studying law he established his practice in East Haddam and also served as a militia officer. Elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, 1794 to 1804, he was sent to the US Congress as a Federalist, 1805 to 1821. Like the state’s other representatives, he voted against the declaration of war. After his Congressional service he moved to Saginaw, Michigan.
Timothy Pitkin Jr. (1766-1847) was born in Farmington and graduated from Yale College in 1785. After a year of teaching, he studied law and went into practice in 1788. Pitkin spent 15 years in the Connecticut Legislature, including several as Speaker, before he was elected a Federalist member of Congress, 1805 to 1819. As the number of Federalist representatives declined, Pitkin was House minority leader from 1808 to 1818. Like the state’s other representatives, he voted against the declaration of war.
John Cotton Smith
John Cotton Smith (1765-1845) was born in Sharon and graduated from Yale College in 1783. After studying law he was admitted to the bar in 1786. He was elected to the Connecticut House of Representative, 1793 to 1800, and served as Speaker of the House in 1800. He was then elected to Congress as a Federalist and acted as the minority leader, 1802 to 1806, but represented only 28 Federalists, as opposed to 114 Democratic-Republicans after the 1804 election. After resigning from Congress in 1806 he served as a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court and was elected lieutenant governor in 1810. With the death of Governor Roger Griswold, he served as Connecticut governor, 1813 to 1818, but was then defeated as the Federalist Party lost its influence. Proud of his family’s Puritan religious roots, and a devout Congregationalist, Smith later served as president of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the American Bible Society.
James Stewart (1764-ca. 1835), of Scottish descent, was probably born in Ireland. By 1798 he was a merchant on the Island of Grenada, but moved to New London when he married Elizabeth Coles, daughter of merchant John Coles. Stewart was a successful New London merchant in the West Indies trade through the period of neutral trade and became a very popular figure in New London. In 1811 he was appointed British vice consul at New London. After the declaration of war he became controversial for issuing trading licenses to British-controlled ports. He then served as agent for British prisoners of war at New London, but was in such frequent communication with the British blockading squadron that he was confined as a resident alien at Stafford Springs in July 1813. Expelled in the fall of 1813, he returned to New London waters in the summer of 1814 to manage a smuggling operation but was kidnapped by Mystic raiders in September 1814. After the war Stewart again served as British vice consul at New London, 1815 to 1832, and then went to England, where he died.
Lewis B. Sturges (1763-1844) was born in Fairfield and graduated from Yale College in 1782. He served in the Connecticut Legislature from 1794 to 1803 and was then elected as a Federalist member of Congress, 1805 to 1817. Like the state’s other representatives, he voted against the declaration of war.
Benjamin Tallmadge, by Ezra Ames
Benjamin Tallmadge (1754-1835) was born at Brookhaven, Long Island, and graduated from Yale College in 1773. During the Revolutionary War he was a very active and brave dragoon officer and managed a spy ring in New York City for General Washington. After the war he settled in Litchfield and went into business. He was elected as a Federalist member of Congress, 1801 to 1817. In his admiration for George Washington he advocated Washington’s call to prevent war by preparing for it and was distressed at the Congressional “war hawks’” rush to war. Like the state’s other representatives, he voted against the declaration of war. Tallmadge retired from Congress in 1817 and returned to Litchfield.
