Theodore Dwight (lawyer)

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Theodore Dwight
Theodore Dwight.jpg
Born(1764-12-15)December 15, 1764
Northampton, Massachusetts
DiedJune 12, 1846(1846-06-12) (aged 81)
New York, New York
Burial placeGreen-Wood Cemetery
OccupationLawyer, journalist
Spouse(s)
Abigail Alsop
​
(m. 1792)​
Signature
Signature of Theodore Dwight (1764–1846).png

Theodore Dwight (December 15, 1764 – June 12, 1846) was an American lawyer and journalist. He was the brother of Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, and the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He was a distinguished lawyer, a leader of the Federalist Party, and a member of Congress in 1806–1807, and was secretary of the Hartford Convention in 1814–1815.

His talent as a writer made him a brilliant editor at the Hartford Mirror, the Albany Daily Advertiser, and the New York City Daily Advertiser, which he founded in 1817. Among his publications are Life and Character of Thomas Jefferson (1839) and History of the Hartford Convention (1833).

Biography[]

Theodore Dwight was born in Northampton, Massachusetts on December 15, 1764. He was a cousin of Aaron Burr.[1]

He was admitted to the bar in 1787 and began practice in Haddam, Connecticut. He moved to Hartford in 1791, and continued the practice of law.[1]

He married Abigail Alsop in 1792.[1]

He was a member of the State council from 1809 to 1815; elected as a Federalist to the Ninth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Cotton Smith, he served from December 1, 1806, to March 3, 1807. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1806. He was secretary of the Hartford Convention in 1814–1815, moved to Albany, New York in 1815, and published the Daily Advertiser from 1815 to 1816.[1]

He moved to New York City in 1817 and established the New York Daily Advertiser, with which he was connected until the great fire of 1835. He returned to Hartford and resided there until about three years before his death, when he returned to New York City, where he died on June 12, 1846, aged 81. He was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.[2]

In 1839, Dwight published The Character of Thomas Jefferson as Exhibited in His Own Writings,[3] which Abraham Lincoln's law partner and biographer, William Herndon, claimed made Lincoln "hate [Jefferson] as a man" for his duplicitous character and affair with Sally Hemings.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Johnson, Rossiter; Brown, John Howard, eds. (1906). The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Vol. III. Boston: American Biographical Society. Retrieved March 15, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ "Died". New-York Tribune. June 13, 1846. p. 3. Retrieved March 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ www.amazon.com
  4. ^ Guelzo, Allen C. (July 3, 2015). "What Did Lincoln Really Think of Jefferson?". The New York Times. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 15, 2022.

External links[]

wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Theodore Dwight". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document: "http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000582".

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Connecticut's 6th congressional district
December 1, 1806 – March 3, 1807 		Succeeded by
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