Nathan Smith (January 8, 1770December 6, 1835) was a
United States senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and po ...
from
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
.
Biography
Nathan Smith was born in
Woodbury, Connecticut, son of Richard and Annis (Hurd) Smith; brother of
Nathaniel Smith and uncle of
Truman Smith
Truman Smith (November 27, 1791 – May 3, 1884) was a Whig member of the United States Senate from Connecticut from 1849 to 1854 and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th and 5th congressional districts ...
. He received a modest education. He studied law with his brother and at
Litchfield Law School
The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut, was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietary school was unaffiliated with any college or university. (Wh ...
in 1790; was admitted to the
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar ( ...
in 1792, and commenced the practice of his profession in
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
. In 1808 Smith received an honorary master's from Yale. He was also an incorporator of Washington College, later known as
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
.
Career
Smith was
prosecuting attorney
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
for New Haven County from 1817 until his death in 1835. He was also a
delegate to the State
constitutional convention in 1818. In 1825, he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Connecticut, but was appointed
United States Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for the district of Connecticut, serving in 1828 and 1829.
Elected as a
National Republican
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 ...
to the United States Senate, Smith served from March 4, 1833, until his death. He was 63 when he took his seat in the US Senate, one of the oldest serving members of that body and his only time in elected office.
Death
Smith died in
Washington, D.C., on December 6, 1835 (age 65 years, 332 days). President Jackson and his Cabinet attended Smith's funeral in the Senate Chamber and there was also a large funeral service held in New Haven. He is interred at the
Grove Street Cemetery
Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace the ...
,
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
. There is a cenotaph at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Nathan
1770 births
1835 deaths
People from Woodbury, Connecticut
People of colonial Connecticut
Connecticut Federalists
National Republican Party United States senators from Connecticut
United States Attorneys for the District of Connecticut
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Burials at Grove Street Cemetery