James Lanman | |
|---|---|
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| United States Senator fromConnecticut | |
| In office March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1825 | |
| Preceded by | David Daggett |
| Succeeded by | Calvin Willey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1767-06-14)June 14, 1767 Norwich, Connecticut |
| Died | August 7, 1841(1841-08-07) (aged 74) Norwich,Connecticut |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican,Crawford Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Relations | Charles Lanman (grandson) |
| Children | 12, includingCharles |
| Alma mater | Yale College |
| Profession | Lawyer |
James Lanman (June 14, 1767 – August 7, 1841) was an American lawyer and politician fromConnecticut who served in theUnited States Senate from 1819 to 1825.[1] He was a cousin of PresidentsJohn Adams andJohn Quincy Adams.[2]
James Lanman was the eldest of the seven children of shipping magnatePeter Lanman ofNorwich, Connecticut and Sarah Spaulding (née Coit) Lanman. The first of many generations of Lanmans who attended what is now known asYale University,[3] James Lanman pursued classical studies, debated as a member ofBrothers in Unity and graduatedPhi Beta Kappa fromYale College in 1788.[4]
When his father died in 1804, James inherited and moved into his childhood home, the now historic "Peter Lanman House" on Main Street, for the rest of his life.[5] A nearby tavern (now the Norwich Savings Society) at "Peter Lanman's Corner", at Main and Broadway in Norwich, is of interest becauseGeorge Washington stayed there in 1775.
Lanman studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1791, beginning his practice in his hometown ofNorwich "where he acquired great local distinction for his eloquence and general ability".[4] We get an interesting glimpse of James Lanman as a young man of 20 through the diary ofJohn Quincy Adams, who was two years his senior and rode with him on a stage from Boston to Providence on September 8, 1789: "I had two companions; one a Mr. Wright fromNorth Carolina, and the other a young man fromConnecticut by the name of Lanman. We were tolerably sociable. Lanman sung a number of songs of his own accord, and sung very well. But, upon being requested by Mr. Wright to continue, he altogether denied that he could sing at all."[6]
He was elected to the State house of representatives in 1817, as a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1818, then to the State senate in 1819. Lanman was elected to the United States Senate as aDemocratic-Republican (laterCrawford Republican) and served from March 4, 1819, to March 3, 1825. As a Senator he chaired the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Seventeenth Congress), The Committee on Engrossed Bills (Seventeenth and Eighteenth Congresses), and the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Eighteenth Congress). Lanman was a judge of the State superior and supreme courts from 1826 to 1829 and the mayor of Norwich from 1831 to 1834 (to which his sonCharles succeeded in 1838).[7]
Lanman was known as the last Senator to wear a powdered wig, ruffled shirts and knee breeches. His grandson,Charles Lanman, private secretary toDaniel Webster, said that, "My grandfather, James Lanman, voted with the South on theMissouri Compromise and was burned in effigy in his native town,Norwich, but his broad patriotism won from him the warmest friendship ofHenry Clay andThomas H. Benton."[8]
Lanman published a notable Fourth of July address to the citizens of Norwich on the 22nd anniversary ofUnited States independence in 1798.[9] While Mayor of Norwich, Lanman gave a speech commemorating the centennial anniversary ofGeorge Washington's birthday on March 1, 1832 entitled "A Discourse, Addressed to the Citizens of Norwich",[10] which reviews Washington's military and civic contributions to the founding of theUnited States.
On May 18, 1794, Lanman was married to Marian Griswold Chandler (1774–1817), a daughter of the late Charles Church Chandler and Marian Griswold (a daughter of GovernorMatthew Griswold). After her father's death, her mother remarried twice and among her half-siblings wereChief JusticeEbenezer Lane. Together, they had four sons and eight daughters, including:[11]
Widowed in 1817, Lanman married his second wife, Mary Judith (née Gall) Benjamin (1778–1848), on October 26, 1826. He had no children by his second marriage. From her first marriage to Parke Benjamin, she was mother to four, includingPark Benjamin, who was a well known American poet, editor and founder of several newspapers.[14]
Lanman died inNorwich, Connecticut on August 7, 1841, at age 75, and is interred in the City Cemetery.
This speech by James Lanman, preserved by theLibrary of Congress, provides a sense of American patriotism and pride in the early nineteenth century.
| U.S. Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 3) from Connecticut 1819–1825 Served alongside:Samuel W. Dana,Elijah Boardman,Henry W. Edwards | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
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| Class 3 | ||
| Post Office and Post Roads (1816–1947) | | |
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| Civil Service and Retrenchment (1873–1921) | ||
| Civil Service (1921–1947) | ||
| Post Office and Civil Service (1947–1977) | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
