Dudley Chase (December 30, 1771February 23, 1846) was a U.S. Senator from

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

who served from 1813 to 1817 and again from 1825 to 1831. He was born in

Cornish, New Hampshire Cornish is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,616 at the 2020 census. Cornish has four covered bridges. Each August, it is home to the Cornish Fair. History The town was granted in 1763 and contained a ...

Career

After graduating from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in 1791, he studied law under

Lot Hall Lot Hall (April 2, 1757 – May 17, 1809) was a Vermont attorney, politician, and judge. A veteran of the American Revolution, Hall served as a justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1794 to 1800. His name sometimes appears in written record ...

Westminster, Vermont Westminster is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,016 at the 2020 census. It is also the first capital of the Republic of Vermont. It borders the state of New Hampshire. History Westminster is Vermont's olde ...

. In 1793, he was admitted to the Vermont bar. Chase lived, farmed, and practiced law in

Randolph, Vermont Randolph is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,774 at the 2020 census, making Randolph the largest town in Orange County. The town is a commercial center for many of the smaller, rural farming communities that s ...

. He was

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

State's Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

from 1803 to 1812. He was a member of the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...

from 1805 to 1812, serving as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

from 1808 to 1812. He was elected to the state constitutional conventions in 1814 and 1822. Chase was elected to the U.S. Senate as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

in 1812 and served from 1813 to 1817, when he resigned. He was the first ever Chairman of the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...

, serving from 1816 to 1817. After resigning in 1817, he returned to Vermont, where he was chief justice of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The Court ...

until 1821. He served as a member of the

from 1823 to 1824. He returned to national politics in 1825 when he was elected as an

Anti-Jacksonian The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States that evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Qu ...

to the U.S. Senate, serving until 1831. Dudley Chase died in Randolph on February 23, 1846. He was buried in Randolph Center Cemetery.

Family

Dudley Chase was the son of Dudley & Alice (Corbett) Chase, an uncle of Salmon P. Chase (

Treasury Secretary The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

, 1861–1864 and Chief Justice of the United States, 1864–1873) and

Dudley Chase Denison Dudley Chase Denison (September 13, 1819 – February 10, 1905) was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from Vermont. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives two terms, and was also a member of the Vermont Ho ...

(a U.S. Representative from Vermont). He was the brother of

Philander Chase Philander Chase (December 14, 1775 – September 20, 1852) was an Episcopal Church bishop, educator, and pioneer of the United States western frontier, especially in Ohio and Illinois. Early life and family Born in Cornish, New Hampshire to o ...

Home

Dudley Chase's Randolph Center home still stands and is a private residence.

Attempts to locate portrait

Chase is one of between 40 and 50 U.S. Senators for whom the Senate historian has no portrait, photograph, or other likeness on file. According to Randolph historian and Chase descendant Harriet M. Chase, no portrait of Dudley Chase was ever painted. Other efforts to locate a likeness of Dudley Chase have also proved unsuccessful.Vermont Bar Association
Annual Meeting Proceedings, 1935, page 90

References

External resources

Dartmouth Alumni Bio from 1867
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Dudley 1771 births 1846 deaths People from Cornish, New Hampshire People of colonial New Hampshire American people of English descent Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Vermont National Republican Party United States senators from Vermont Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives Members of the Vermont House of Representatives Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court State's attorneys in Vermont Vermont lawyers People from Randolph, Vermont 19th-century American lawyers Dartmouth College alumni Burials in Vermont