US Senator. He served in this position as a member of the Opposition Party, then the Republican Party, for two terms from March 1855 until March 1867, representing the state of Connecticut. He attended common schools as a child and in 1828 he graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He started out as a schoolteacher, then studied law, and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1830, then returned to Norwich and was admitted to the federal bar the following year. He then entered politics served in the Connecticut House of Representatives on three different occasions, serving as Speaker of the House for three years. He was the Whig nominee for Governor of Connecticut in 1850 and 1851 but lost both elections. From 1851 to 1852 he served as mayor of Norwich, Connecticut, before being elected as to the US Senate and served as chairman of the Committee on Pensions from 1861 to 1867. In 1865 he was elected President pro tempore of the Senate at the beginning of the 39th Congress in 1865 and held that title until the end of his term in 1867. He was defeated for reelection for a third term by Orris S. Ferry and returned home and became a professor of law at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1869. The following year, he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives and became Speaker of the House but resigned to take up a seat in the Connecticut Supreme Court. He was a Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives in 1874 but was unsuccessful and resigned from the court in 1876 and retired from public life. He died at the age of 73.
US Senator. He served in this position as a member of the Opposition Party, then the Republican Party, for two terms from March 1855 until March 1867, representing the state of Connecticut. He attended common schools as a child and in 1828 he graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He started out as a schoolteacher, then studied law, and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1830, then returned to Norwich and was admitted to the federal bar the following year. He then entered politics served in the Connecticut House of Representatives on three different occasions, serving as Speaker of the House for three years. He was the Whig nominee for Governor of Connecticut in 1850 and 1851 but lost both elections. From 1851 to 1852 he served as mayor of Norwich, Connecticut, before being elected as to the US Senate and served as chairman of the Committee on Pensions from 1861 to 1867. In 1865 he was elected President pro tempore of the Senate at the beginning of the 39th Congress in 1865 and held that title until the end of his term in 1867. He was defeated for reelection for a third term by Orris S. Ferry and returned home and became a professor of law at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1869. The following year, he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives and became Speaker of the House but resigned to take up a seat in the Connecticut Supreme Court. He was a Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives in 1874 but was unsuccessful and resigned from the court in 1876 and retired from public life. He died at the age of 73.
Bio by: William Bjornstad
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