Samuel Dexter Last updated November 07, 2025 American politician (1761–1816)
Samuel Dexter
In office –President John Adams Thomas Jefferson Preceded by Oliver Wolcott Succeeded by Albert Gallatin In office –President John Adams Preceded by James McHenry Succeeded by Henry Dearborn In office –Preceded by Theodore Sedgwick Succeeded by Dwight Foster In office –Preceded by Fisher Ames Succeeded by Theodore Sedgwick In office Born (1761-05-14 ) May 14,1761Died May 4,1816(1816-05-04) (aged 54) Resting place Mount Auburn Cemetery ,Cambridge,Massachusetts Political party Federalist (before 1812)Democratic-Republican (from 1812) Spouse Katharine Gordon (m. 1786) Children 4 Education Harvard University (BA ) Occupation Attorney Signature
Coat of Arms of Samuel Dexter Samuel Dexter (May 14,1761 – [ 1] was an early American statesman who served both in Congress and in the Presidential Cabinets of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson . A native of Boston ,Massachusetts ,Dexter was a 1781 graduate of Harvard College . After receiving his degree he studied law ,attained admission to the bar in 1784,and began to practice in Lunenburg,Massachusetts .
A Federalist ,Dexter served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1788 to 1790. In 1792 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives ,and he served in the 3rd United States Congress . The state legislature subsequently elected Dexter to the United States Senate ,and he served from March 1799 to May 1800. Dexter resigned his senate seat to accept appointment as the fourth United States Secretary of War ,and he served from 1800 to 1801. In January 1801,Dexter was appointed the third United States Secretary of the Treasury ,and he served until resigning on the day before his fortieth birthday.
After leaving office,Dexter practiced law in Washington,D.C. until he returned to Boston in 1805. Dexter joined the Democratic-Republican Party because of its support for the War of 1812 ,and he was a candidate for governor in 1814 and 1815. In 1815,Dexter declined President James Madison 's appointment as Minister to Spain . He was a candidate for governor again in 1816,but died on May 4,1816,aged 54,while visiting his son in Athens,New York . Dexter was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge,Massachusetts .
Congressional career Line engraving of Dexter from a US Treasury specimen book ,c. 1902 He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and served from 1788 to 1790. [ 1] He was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Federalist ,serving in the 3rd Congress . [ 3] He served in the United States Senate from March 4,1799,to May 30,1800 (the 6th Congress ). [ 4] Between his terms in Congress,he unsuccessfully ran in the 9th congressional district in 1796. [ 5]
During a House discussion on a Naturalization Bill in 1795,Virginia Representative William Branch Giles controversially suggested that all immigrants be forced to take an oath renouncing any titles of nobility they previously held. Dexter responded by questioning why Catholics were not required to denounce allegiance to the Pope,because priestcraft had initiated more problems throughout history than aristocracy. Dexter's points caused an infuriated James Madison to defend American Catholics,many of whom,such as Charles Carroll of Carrollton ,had been good citizens during the American Revolution,and to point out that hereditary titles were barred under the Constitution in any event. [ 6]
In December 1799,he wrote the Senate eulogy for George Washington . [ 7] Dexter served in the Senate for less than a year,and resigned in order to accept his appointment as United States Secretary of War in the administration of President John Adams . [ 8]
Tenures as Secretaries of War and the Treasury During his time at the War Department he urged congressional action to permit appointment and compensation of field officers for general staff duty.
When Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott Jr. resigned in December 1800,Adams appointed Dexter as interim secretary,and Dexter served from January to May 1801. [ 1] With incoming President Thomas Jefferson wanting to delay his choice for Secretary of the Treasury,Albert Gallatin ,for a recess appointment in May,Dexter agreed to retain his duties as Secretary of the Treasury for the first two months of Jefferson's term. [ 9] In a letter to his wife on March 5,1801,Gallatin said that Dexter had behaved "with great civility." [ 10]
References 1 2 3 4 "Samuel Dexter (1801)" . Miller Center . October 4, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2019 . 1 2 "Samuel Dexter" . history.army.mil . Archived from the original on June 8, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2019 . 1 2 "DEXTER, Samuel - Biographical Information" . bioguide.congress.gov . Retrieved December 3, 2019 . 1 2 History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “DEXTER, Samuel,” https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/D/DEXTER,-Samuel-(D000296)/ (December 3, 2019) ↑ "A New Nation Votes" . elections.lib.tufts.edu . Retrieved December 26, 2024 . ↑ Irving Brant, James Madison: Father of the constitution, 1787-1800 , Indianapolis, Ind. and New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1950, pp. 420–21. ↑ Johnson, Elizabeth Bryant (1895). George Washington Day by Day 188. Retrieved July 23, 2019 . ↑ "1787: From the Senate to the Cabinet, May 13, 1800" . United States Senate . Retrieved July 23, 2019 . ↑ Dumas Malone, Jefferson The President: First Term, 1801-1805 , Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970, pp. 34–36. ↑ Dumas Malone, Jefferson The President: First Term, 1801-1805 , Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970, p. 36n. ↑ Neiswander, Judith (2024). Mother Brook and the Mills of East Dedham . Damianos Publishing. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-941573-66-2 ↑ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter D" (PDF) . American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 28, 2014 . ↑ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States 105 . External links
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