Paul Dillingham Jr. (August 10, 1799 – July 26, 1891) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solici ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He served as a U.S. Representative 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 the ...

, the 24th

lieutenant governor of Vermont The lieutenant governor of Vermont is elected for a two-year term and chosen separately from the governor. The Vermont Lieutenant Governor's main responsibilities include acting as governor when the governor is out of state or incapacitated, pre ...

from 1862 to 1865, and the 29th

governor of Vermont The governor of Vermont is the head of government of Vermont. The officeholder is elected in even-numbered years by direct voting for a term of 2 years. Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold gubernatorial elections every ...

from 1865 to 1867.

Early life

Dillingham was born in

Shutesbury, Massachusetts Shutesbury is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,717 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History For at least 2,000 years, Nipmuc towns alo ...

, on August 10, 1799, a son of Paul Dillingham Sr. and Hannah (Smith) Dillingham. The Dillingham family moved to

Waterbury, Vermont Waterbury is a town in Washington County in central Vermont, United States. Although the town is still home to the Waterbury Village Historic District, the village sharing the name of the town officially dissolved as a municipality in 2018. As ...

in 1805, where Dillingham worked on the family farm and attended the district school in Waterbury and Montpelier's Washington County Grammar School. In 1820, he commenced studying law in the office of Judge Daniel Carpenter. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in March 1823, and in April he began to practice in Waterbury as Carpenter's partner. He gained a reputation throughout Vermont as a skilled trial lawyer with a superior ability to present oral arguments to judges and juries.

Early career

Entering politics as a Democrat, Dillingham served as a Waterbury justice of the peace from 1826 to 1844, and

town clerk A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a To ...

from 1829 to 1844. He served as Waterbury's member of the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4 ...

from 1833 to 1835, as

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 ...

of Washington County from 1835 to 1839, and again as Waterbury's member of the Vermont House from 1837 to 1840. Dillingham served as a delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1836, and a member of the

Vermont State Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members. Senate districting divides the 30 members into three single-member districts, six two-me ...

in 1841 and 1842.

Congressman

Dillingham was elected as a to the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1847). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1846. During Dillingham's House service, he served on the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Claims. The only Democrat in Vermont's Congressional delegation, he favored the annexation of Texas and supported US involvement in the

Mexican-American War Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexic ...

. Dillingham was a delegate to the 1857 State constitutional convention. In 1861, Dillingham served again in the Vermont Senate.

Lieutenant governor

Increasingly opposed to slavery and secession, Dillingham declined the Democratic Party's 1860 nomination for governor. When the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

started, he officially changed his allegiance from Democratic to Republican. He served as the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

from 1862 to 1865. Holding office at the height of the war, Dillingham's efforts were focused on aiding governors Frederick Holbrook and

J. Gregory Smith John Gregory Smith (July 22, 1818 – November 6, 1891) was a Vermont businessman and politician. He is most notable for serving as the 28th governor of Vermont from 1863 to 1865, the last of Vermont's American Civil War, Civil War chief execut ...

to obtain passage of laws for raising, paying, and equipping soldiers for the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

. In addition, he campaigned throughout Vermont for the Republican (Unionist) ticket of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

and

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a D ...

in the

1864 United States presidential election The 1864 United States presidential election was the 20th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1864. Near the end of the American Civil War, incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party easily ...

Governor

Dillingham served as the 29th

from 1865 to 1867. As governor, he created Vermont's first reform school and established Vermont's first

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

for teacher training (now Vermont Technical College). It also fell to Dillingham to appoint two members of the U.S. Senate to replace senators who had died. To succeed

Jacob Collamer Jacob Collamer (January 8, 1791 – November 9, 1865) was an American politician from Vermont. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives, as Postmaster General in the cabinet of President Zachary Taylor, and as a U.S. Senator. Born in Tr ...

, Dillingham selected Luke P. Poland. To replace Solomon Foot, Dillingham first offered the appointment to former governor

. When Smith declined, Dillingham selected George F. Edmunds.

Later life

He resumed the practice of law, and was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1870. He retired in 1875.

Death and burial

Dillingham died at his home in Waterbury on July 26, 1891. He is interred in the Village Cemetery in Waterbury.

Family

He married Sarah Partridge Carpenter, a daughter of Daniel Carpenter. She died on September 20, 1831, and on September 5, 1832, Dillingham married Sarah's sister Julia. He had seven children who lived to adulthood, including

William Paul Dillingham William Paul Dillingham (December 12, 1843July 12, 1923) was an American attorney and politician from the state of Vermont. A Republican and the son of Congressman and Governor Paul Dillingham, William P. Dillingham served as governor from 1888 ...

, who served as governor and U.S. Senator. Dillingham was also the father in law of Senator

Matthew H. Carpenter Matthew Hale Carpenter (born Decatur Merritt Hammond Carpenter; December 22, 1824 – February 24, 1881) was an American attorney and U.S. Senator representing the state of Wisconsin. He served in the Senate from 1869 to 1875 and again from 1879 ...

References

External links

Paul Dillingham
at The Political Graveyard
Paul Dillingham
at National Governors Association * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dillingham, Paul 1799 births 1891 deaths Members of the Vermont House of Representatives Vermont state senators Vermont Republicans Lieutenant Governors of Vermont Governors of Vermont Vermont lawyers People from Waterbury, Vermont Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont Republican Party governors of Vermont 19th-century American politicians People from Shutesbury, Massachusetts State's attorneys in Vermont 19th-century American lawyers