Theodore Sedgwick | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byGilbert Stuart,c. 1808 | |
| Associate Justice of theMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court | |
| In office 1802 – January 24, 1813 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Dawes |
| Succeeded by | Charles Jackson |
| 4th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives | |
| In office December 2, 1799 – March 3, 1801 | |
| Preceded by | Jonathan Dayton |
| Succeeded by | Nathaniel Macon |
| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office June 27, 1798 – December 5, 1798 | |
| Preceded by | Jacob Read |
| Succeeded by | John Laurance |
| United States Senator fromMassachusetts | |
| In office June 11, 1796 – March 3, 1799 | |
| Preceded by | Caleb Strong |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Dexter |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts | |
| In office March 4, 1789 – June 11, 1796 | |
| Preceded by | new seat |
| Succeeded by | Thomson J. Skinner |
| In office March 4, 1799 – March 3, 1801 | |
| Preceded by | Thomson J. Skinner |
| Succeeded by | John Bacon |
| Constituency | 4th district (1789–93) 2nd district (1793–95) 1st district (1795–96) |
| Constituency | 1st district |
| Member of theMassachusetts Senate | |
| In office 1784-1785 | |
| Speaker of theMassachusetts House of Representatives | |
| In office 1788-1789 | |
| Member of theMassachusetts House of Representatives | |
| In office 1780 | |
| In office 1782-1783 | |
| In office 1787-1788 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1746-05-09)May 9, 1746 |
| Died | January 24, 1813(1813-01-24) (aged 66) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Federalist (1795–1813) Pro-Administration (before 1795) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 10 |
| Alma mater | Yale College |
| Occupation | Attorney, politician, and jurist |
| Profession | Law |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | Continental Army |
| Rank | Major |
| Battles/wars | American Revolutionary War |
Theodore Sedgwick (May 9, 1746 – January 24, 1813) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served in elected state government and as adelegate to theContinental Congress, aU.S. representative, and asenator fromMassachusetts. He served asPresident pro tempore of the United States Senate from June to December 1798. He also served as the fourthspeaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was appointed to theMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1802 and served there for the rest of his life.
Born inWest Hartford in theConnecticut Colony, Sedgwick was the son of Benjamin Sedgwick (1716–1755). His paternal immigrant ancestor Major GeneralRobert Sedgwick arrived in 1636 in theMassachusetts Bay Colony, as part of theGreat Migration.[1]
Sedgwick attendedYale College,[2] where he studiedtheology andlaw. He did not graduate, but continued in his study of law (toread law) under the attorney Mark Hopkins of Great Barrington. Hopkins was the grandfather of theMark Hopkins who later became president ofWilliams College.
Sedgwick was admitted to the bar in 1766 and commenced practice inGreat Barrington, Massachusetts. Among the prospective attorneys who learned the law in his office wasStephen Jacob, who later served on theVermont Supreme Court.[3] He moved toSheffield. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, he served in theContinental Army as a major, and took part in theexpedition to Canada and theBattle of White Plains in 1776.[4]
As a relatively young lawyer, Sedgwick andTapping Reeve pleaded the case ofBrom and Bett vs. Ashley (1781), an early "freedom suit", in county court for the slavesElizabeth Freeman (known as Bett) and Brom. Bett was a black slave who had escaped from her master, Colonel John Ashley ofSheffield, Massachusetts, because of cruel treatment by his wife. Brom joined her in suing for freedom from the Ashleys. The attorneys challenged their enslavement under the new state constitution of 1780, which held that "all men are born free and equal." The jury agreed and ruled that Bett and Brom were free. The decision was upheld on appeal by thestate Supreme Court.
Bett marked her freedom by taking the name of Elizabeth Freeman, and she chose to work for wages at the Sedgwick household, where she helped rear their several children. She worked there for much of the rest of her life, buying a separate house for her and her daughter after the Sedgwick children were grown. After Freeman's death, the Sedgwicks buried her at Stockbridge Cemetery in theSedgwick Pie, the family plot. The family marked Freeman's grave with an inscribed monument, and it is beside that of their fourth child, writerCatharine Maria.[5]
AFederalist, Sedgwick began his political career in 1780 as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was elected as representative to the state house, and then as state senator. He was a charter member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1780.[6]
In 1789 Sedgwick was elected as Representative to Congress fromMassachusetts' first congressional district, and also unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate that year.[7][8] Over time also representedMassachusetts' second district, serving until 1796. That year he was elected to theUnited States Senate, and served until 1799. In 1799 he was re-elected as a Representative, this time from thefourth district, and was elected the fifthSpeaker of the House, serving until March 1801.
In 1802, Sedgwick was appointed a justice of theSupreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He held the position until his death.
Sedgwick was nine years younger thanJohn Adams, a 1780 delegate to theSecond Continental Congress, attorney and state and federal politician. Sedgwick greatly admired Adams and worked for his election to the presidency in 1796.[9] He was present at Adams' swearing-in as President on March 4, 1797, then serving as a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts. Sedgwick called Adams' inauguration "the most august and sublime" event that he ever attended.[10] However, certain policy disputes arose during Adams' administration, including Adams' efforts to avoid an escalation of war with France that included sending a group of emissaries toParis in order to negotiate a lasting peace treaty to end the undeclaredQuasi-War between the two countries from 1798 to 1800. When Sedgwick learned of the appointment and mission of the emissaries, "he wrote of the 'vain, jealous, and half frantic mind' of John Adams, a man ruled 'by caprice alone.'"[9]
Despite the differences between them, starting on the morning of March 4, 1801, the last day of Adams' term as President and the day after Sedgwick's retirement as Speaker of the U.S. House, Sedgwick and Adams rode together on the carriage trip from Washington, D.C. to Massachusetts.[11]
Around 1767, Sedgwick married Elizabeth "Eliza" Mason, the daughter of a deacon fromFranklin, Connecticut. In 1771, Sedgwick contractedsmallpox which he passed on to his wife who was then pregnant with the couple's first child.[12] She died of the disease on April 12, 1771 while eight months pregnant.[2]
Sedgwick married a second time on April 17, 1774 to Pamela Dwight of theNew England Dwight family. She was the daughter ofBrigadier GeneralJoseph Dwight of Great Barrington and his second wife, the widow Abigail Williams Sargent. Abigail was the daughter ofColonel Ephraim Williams, and half-sister ofEphraim Williams, Jr., the founder of Williams College.[1]
The Sedgwicks had ten children, three of which died within a year of birth, reflecting the high infant mortality rate of the time. They were:[1][13]
During the marriage, Sedgwick frequently left his wife and children at their home inStockbridge, Massachusetts while he focused on building his political career. His frequent absences, coupled with the death of three children and the strain of caring for numerous children (albeit with the help of her mother and many servants and slaves), caused Pamela's physical and mental health to decline.[14] After Pamela's mother died in February 1791, she developed depression and began exhibiting signs ofhypomania.[15] She was institutionalized for a time in December 1795, but her physical and mental health continued to decline in the years following her release. She committed suicide by consuming poison on September 20, 1807.[16][17]
Approximately eight months after Pamela's death, Sedgwick announced his intention to marry Penelope Russell.[18] Russell was the eldest of ten children (six of whom died) of Dr. Charles and Elizabeth (née Vassall) Russell. Charles Russell was aHarvard University educated doctor who, in 1771, was appointed asregistrar to theVice Admiralty Court.[19] Elizabeth Vassall's father Henry had been a prominent planter in Jamaica and had left his children a sizable inheritance. The Russells and Vassalls were staunchLoyalists who sought asylum inEngland andAntigua during theRevolutionary War.[19] Sedgwick and Russell met when he represented her uncle, William Vassall, in anequity case he brought against the state of Massachusetts to win back homes and land the state confiscated during the war.[20]
Sedgwick's children were horrified and hurt that their father planned to marry so quickly after the death of their mother, Pamela. They also did not approve of “Miss Russell” whom they considered aspendthrift who was only interested in the Sedgwick fortune.[21] Against his children's wishes, Sedgwick married Russell on November 7, 1808 atKing's Chapel in Boston.[13] None of Sedgwick's children were informed of the wedding and did not attend.[18]Theodore Sedgwick and Penelope Russell remained married until Sedgwick's death in January 1813.[22]
According to research conducted byThe Washington Post in 2022 and the Massachusetts Historical Society, Sedgwick owned at least oneslave. A July 1, 1777bill of sale shows GeneralJohn Fellows sold a woman by the name of Ton to the 30-year old Sedgwick.[23][24]
While on his death bed, Sedgwick converted toUnitarianism with his daughter Catharine Maria andWilliam Ellery Channing in attendance.[25] On January 24, 1813, Sedgwick died inBoston, Massachusetts at the age of 66. He was buried inStockbridge, Massachusetts. His grave is at the center of the "Sedgwick Pie".[5]
Theodore Sedgwick was the great-grandfather ofEllery Sedgwick, owner and publisher of theAtlantic Monthly 1908–1938; third great-grandfather ofEdie Sedgwick, 1965superstar inAndy Warhol's celebrity world; is the same to present authorJohn Sedgwick;[26] and is fourth great-grandfather toKyra Sedgwick andRobert Sedgwick, actors.[27][28]
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