La Fayette S. Foster | |
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| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office March 7, 1865 – March 2, 1867 | |
| Preceded by | Daniel Clark |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Wade |
| United States Senator fromConnecticut | |
| In office March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1867 | |
| Preceded by | Francis Gillette |
| Succeeded by | Orris S. Ferry |
| Mayor ofNorwich | |
| In office 1851–1852 | |
| Preceded by | William Alfred Buckingham |
| Succeeded by | William Alfred Buckingham |
| Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives | |
| In office 1847–1848, 1854, 1870 | |
| Preceded by | Cyrus Hall Beardslee |
| Succeeded by | Alfred A. Burnham |
| Member of theConnecticut House of Representatives fromNorwich | |
| In office May 5, 1870 – July 22, 1870 | |
| In office 1854 – June 8, 1854 | |
| In office May 6, 1846 – June 28, 1848 | |
| In office 1839–1840 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | La Fayette Sabine Foster (1806-11-22)November 22, 1806 Franklin, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | September 19, 1880(1880-09-19) (aged 73) Norwich, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Political party | Whig (Before 1854) Opposition (1854–1860) Republican (1860–1866) Democratic (1866–1880) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Brown University (BA,LL.D.) |
| Signature | .png) |
La Fayette Sabine Foster[note 1] (November 22, 1806 – September 19, 1880) was an American politician and jurist fromConnecticut. He served in theUnited States Senate from 1855 to 1867 and was a judge on theConnecticut Supreme Court from 1870 to 1876. He wasPresident pro tempore of the United States Senate from 1865 to 1867, and was first in thepresidential line of succession for most of his tenure, following theassassination of Abraham Lincoln.
La Fayette Sabine Foster was born inFranklin, Connecticut, on November 22, 1806, to Daniel Foster and his second wife, Welthea Ladd. His father Daniel was a captain in theContinental Army and fought in several battles including the battles ofWhite Plains,Stillwater, andSaratoga. Daniel Foster was a lieutenant inLatimer's Regiment of Militia during the Battle of Saratoga. While on the field of battle, he received a warrant of promotion to the post ofadjutant.[2]: 5
Foster began his education in the common schools around Franklin. He entered his college preparatory studies under the tuition of theRev. Abel Flint ofHartford, Connecticut, who he studied under for five months. Foster taught school in Franklin for two subsequent winters. He completed his preparatory studies under the Rev. Cornelius B. Everest ofWindham, Connecticut, in 1824, and in February 1825 enrolled atBrown University inProvidence, Rhode Island.[2]: 7 He graduated from Brown University in 1828.[3] He was an assistant in the school of Roswell C. Smith in Providence for the winter after his graduation. In the following spring, he began to study law back inNorwich, Connecticut, in the office ofCalvin Goddard. He took charge of an academy inCenterville, Maryland, where he was admitted to theMaryland bar in 1830, then returned to Connecticut and was admitted to the bar ofNew London County in 1831. He opened a law office inHampton, Connecticut in 1833, but then moved back to Norwich a year later, which became his home for the rest of his life.[2]: 7, 8
On October 2, 1837, Foster married Joanna Boylston Lanman, the daughter of the former U.S. Senator, Connecticut judge, and mayor of Norwich,James Lanman. Foster was the editor of theNorwich Republican, aWhig newspaper, and relinquished the position after his legal business greatly increased. He was first elected as one of the representatives of the town of Norwich to theConnecticut House of Representatives in 1839. He was elected to the House again in 1840, 1846, 1847, 1848, 1854, and in 1870.[2]: 8, 9
In 1846, Foster took his first journey to Europe, sailing forLiverpool on thepacket shipHenry Clay, under captain Ezra Nye, on October 7, 1846. He visited the law courts inLondon and also visitedParis. He recorded his observations and appreciations in his journal.[2]: 11, 12
He was elected as theSpeaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1847 and re-elected in 1848. In 1848, he was considered by theWhig Party in theUnited States Senate elections of that year and received several votes in the nomination, but was ultimately unsuccessful.[2]: 10 Foster was also appointed as the State Director of the Merchants Bank of Norwich.[4] He was theWhig nominee for theGovernor of Connecticut in1850 and1851, but lost both elections. At this time the governor was elected by the members of theConnecticut General Assembly. In 1851, in the gubernatorial election against his opponent,Thomas H. Seymour, the Whigs had a slight majority in the House. However, there was division amongst the party, and Seymour was elected by one vote in a vote of 122–121.[2]: 12 [5] Foster was appointed as the State Director for the Merchants' Bank, Norwich, for the year after he was nominated by Philo M. Judson and a successful vote.[6] In the same year, in the deliberations for theUnited States Senate election in Connecticut, after the Whig Party had vainly attempted to electRoger S. Baldwin to the Senate, they attempted unsuccessfully to unite under Foster.[2]: 12 After 22 attempts of the session's election for United States Senate, the voting was indefinitely postponed.[7] He was conferred aLegum Doctor degree in 1851 by Brown University.[2]: 12 Foster was the mayor of Norwich from 1851 to 1852.[8]
He was again re-elected as the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1854. On May 19, 1854, Foster was elected to a full six-year term in the United States Senate by the votes of the Whigs andFree Soilers.[2]: 13 He was anOppositionist in his first term in the Senate.[9] Two days after theKansas–Nebraska Act was passed by the House in May 1854, he addressed a public meeting inNew Haven, Connecticut, saying that the time for speechmaking was over, and the time for action againstslavery had come. He resigned his seat in the Connecticut House of Representatives on June 8, 1854.[2]: 11, 13
Foster's first notable speech in the Senate was given on June 25, 1856, in which he eulogized and defended the participants of a public meeting in New Haven to extend aid to departing emigrantFree-Staters, and analyzed the arguments ofStephen A. Douglas, the author of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. In 1858, during the deliberations regarding the admission of the state ofKansas under the proposedLecompton Constitution, he said the repeal of theMissouri Compromise "was a violation of plighted faith. I believe it was an outrage upon the moral sense of the nation, and it ought not to have been done." He also said he would never vote for the admission of aslave state formed from territory north of the36°30′ parallel. Foster's wife, Joanna Boylston Lanman, died on April 11, 1859.[2]: 8, 15, 16
On January 4, 1860, Foster addressed the Senate regarding a resolution to print the annual message to the Senate given by PresidentJames Buchanan. Buchanan's message included a recommendation that he be authorized "to employ a sufficient military force to enter Mexico, for the purpose of obtaining indemnity for the past and security for the future." Foster opposed Buchanan's recommendation in a speech condemning it as unconstitutional, against international law, and with intent to conquest Mexico, which he considered undesirable for many reasons. He asked the question, "Is the life, liberty, or property of an American citizen, within the slaveholding States of this confederacy today, who entertains opinions obnoxious to those communities on the subject of slavery, any more safe than the liberty or property of our citizens within theRepublic of Mexico?" He referred to the advertisements in Southern journals setting prices on the heads of Northern abolitionists, to the outrages committed by the polygamistMormons in theUtah Territory,[note 2] and to the bad faith of the U.S. government to theNative Americans.[2]: 17, 18 Foster defeatedWilliam W. Eaton, aDemocrat, in his re-election for United States Senate in 1860.[10] There, he served as chairman of theCommittee on Pensions from the37th to the39th Congress.[11] On October 2, 1860, Foster married Martha Prince Lyman.[2]: 9
Foster was electedPresident pro tempore of the Senate on March 6, 1865, and held the title until he resigned the office on March 2, 1867.[2]: 40, 52 Six weeks into his tenure,PresidentAbraham Lincoln was assassinated, andVice PresidentAndrew Johnson succeeded to the presidency. Consequently, Foster becamefirst in the line of presidential succession. From 1865 to 1867, Foster was described as "acting vice president" by many, even though no such position is defined in the Constitution.
In 1866 Foster was elected as a Companion of the Third Class (i.e. an honorary member) of the Pennsylvania Commandery of theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States – a military society of officers who served in the Union armed forces during theAmerican Civil War and their descendants.
Foster sought reelection to a third term in1866, but was defeated byOrris S. Ferry; his Senate career ended on March 3, 1867. He became a professor of law atYale College in 1869 and returned to theConnecticut House of Representatives in 1870. He was once again elected Speaker of the House, but resigned to take a seat on theConnecticut Supreme Court. Foster was aDemocratic candidate for theUnited States House of Representatives in1874 forConnecticut's 3rd congressional district. but was unsuccessful and retired from the court in 1876 when he reached themandatory retirement age of 70 and was disqualified by statutory limitation.[2]: 58, 62 During his retirement he helped tutor young lawyers likeCharles W. Comstock. Foster delivered a course of lectures on "Parliamentary Law and the Science of Legislation" at Yale from 1875 to 1880.[8] Foster died in Norwich, on September 19, 1880, and was interred there in Yantic Cemetery.[12]
Foster willed his personal library to the town of Norwich and his residence for the use of the Norwich Free Academy. He also endowed two academic endeavors, the Lafayette Sabine Foster Prize in Greek atBrown University[13] and the Lafayette S. Foster Professorship of English Common Law at Yale University.[8][14] Charles Calverley, an American sculptor, created a marblebust of Foster that was presented to the Senate by Foster's second wife Martha Prince Lyman Foster in 1885. She gaveBrown University a portrait of Foster in 1895 that was made by the portraitistRobert Cutler Hinckley.[15][16]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromBiographical Directory of the United States Congress.Federal government of the United States.| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Whig nominee forGovernor of Connecticut 1850,1851 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Connecticut 1855–1867 Served alongside:Isaac Toucey,James Dixon | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Pensions Committee 1861–1865 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | President pro tempore of the United States Senate 1865–1867 | Succeeded by |
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