Ambrose Spencer (December 13, 1765March 13, 1848) was an American lawyer and politician.

Early life

Ambrose Spencer was born on December 13, 1765 in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

in the Connecticut Colony. He was the son of Philip Spencer and Mary ( née Moore) Spencer. His brother was Philip Spencer. James B. Spencer (1781–1848), also a U.S Representative, was a distant cousin of his. He attended

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

from 1779–82, and graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1783. He studied law with John Canfield (ca.1740-1786) at

Sharon, Connecticut Sharon is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, in the northwest corner of the state. At the time of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 2,680. The ZIP code for Sharon is 06069. The urban center of the town is ...

, with John Bay at Claverack, New York, and with Ezekiel Gilbert at

Hudson, New York Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...

Career

He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in

, where he was city clerk from 1786 until 1793. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1793–95, and of the New York State Senate from 1795 to 1804. From 1796 to 1801, he was Assistant Attorney General for the Third District, comprising Columbia and Rensselaer counties. He was

New York Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...

from 1802 to 1804. From 1804 to 1819, he was an associate justice of the New York Supreme Court, and chief justice from 1819 until the end of 1822. He was legislated out of office by the State Constitution of 1821. Governor Joseph C. Yates nominated him to be re-appointed, but this was rejected by

Bucktails The Bucktails (1818–1826) were the faction of the Democratic-Republican Party in New York State opposed to Governor DeWitt Clinton. It was influenced by the Tammany Society. The name derives from a Tammany insignia, a deer's tail worn in the ha ...

majority in the

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

, Spencer having been the longtime leader of the Clintonians. Spencer was a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

1808 Events January–March * January 1 ** The importation of slaves into the United States is banned, as the 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves takes effect; African slaves continue to be imported into Cuba, and until the island ab ...

and a delegate to the

New York State Constitutional Convention The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

of 1821. On March 8, 1824, he was elected Mayor of Albany, over John Lansing, Jr., taking office on March 10, 1824. He was reelected on January 1, 1825 and served until January 1, 1826.

United States Congress

1825 Events January–March * January 4 – King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies dies in Naples and is succeeded by his son, Francis. * February 3 – Vendsyssel-Thy, once part of the Jutland peninsula forming westernmost Denmark, becomes a ...

, he was the Clintonian candidate for

U.S. Senator from New York Below is a list of U.S. senators who have represented the State of New York in the United States Senate since 1789. The date of the start of the tenure is either the first day of the legislative term (Senators who were elected regularly before th ...

, and received a majority in the State Assembly. The Bucktails majority in the State Senate did not nominate any candidate, thus preventing Spencer's election on joint ballot. The seat remained vacant until the election of Nathan Sanford in 1826. Afterwards Spencer resumed the practice of law in Albany. He was elected to the 21st United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1829, to March 3, 1831; during this Congress, he was a member of the Committee on Agriculture. He was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1830 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against Judge James H. Peck of the U.S. District Court for the District of Missouri.

Later life

In 1839, he moved to

Lyons, New York Lyons is a town in Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 5,682 at the 2010 census. It is named after Lyon, France.

, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He presided over the

1844 Whig National Convention The 1844 Whig National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held on May 1, 1844 at Universalist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. It nominated the Whig Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1844 election. The ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Personal life

On February 18, 1784, he married Laura Canfield (1768–1807), the daughter of John Canfield (1740–1786) and Dorcas ( née Buell) Canfield (1742–1812). Together, they were the parents of: *

John Canfield Spencer John Canfield Spencer (January 8, 1788May 17, 1855) was an American lawyer, politician, judge and United States Cabinet secretary in the administration of President John Tyler. Early life John Canfield Spencer was born on January 8, 1788, in H ...

(1788–1855), who was U.S. Secretary of War and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President

John Tyler John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig tick ...

. * Abigail "Abby" Spencer (1790–1839), who married Albany Mayor John Townsend. * William Augustus Spencer (1792–1854), who was married to Eleanora Eliza Lorillard (1801–1843), the daughter of Peter Abraham Lorillard * Ambrose Spencer, Jr. (1795–1814), who served as aide-de-camp to Major-General Jacob Jennings Brown during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. * Theodore Spencer (1800–), an attorney who became a Presbyterian minister who married Catharine Vosburgh, daughter of Myndert T. Vosburgh. * Laura Isabella Spencer (1803–1825), who married Robert Gilchrist, of New York. After the death of Ambrose's first wife in 1807, in 1808 he married Mary Clinton (1773–1808), the daughter of

James Clinton Major General James Clinton (August 9, 1736 – September 22, 1812) was an American Revolutionary War officer who, with John Sullivan, led in 1779 the Sullivan Expedition in what is now western New York to attack British-allied Seneca and ...

and sister of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, who had previously been married to Robert Burrage Norton. After Mary's early death, he married her sister Katherine Clinton (1778–1837), who had previously been married to Samuel Lake Norton. In 1848, he died in Lyons and was buried at the

Albany Rural Cemetery The Albany Rural Cemetery was established October 7, 1844, in Colonie, New York, United States, just outside the city of Albany, New York. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful, pastoral cemeteries in the U.S., at over . Many historical A ...

Menands, New York Menands is a village in Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 3,990 at the 2010 census. The village is named after Louis Menand. The village lies inside the town of Colonie and borders the northern city line of Albany. H ...

Legacy

The

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

awarded him the degree of

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

in 1819, and Harvard the same in 1821. The town of Spencer in New York is named after him.

Descendants

His grandson, Philip Spencer (1823–1842), was executed for mutiny in 1842. He was the grandfather of Lorrilard Spencer (1827–1888), great-grandfather of Lorrilard Spencer (1860–1912), who was married to Caroline Berryman Spencer, and 2x great-grandfather of Lorillard Spencer (1883–1939), who was president of Atlantic Aircraft and was married to Katherine Emmons Force (1891–1956), both of whom were prominent in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

society.

References

External links

* *
Clinton genealogy

at rootsweb

at Office of the Att. Gal. of NY
''The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1849''
(page 338, Charles C. Little & James Brown, Boston, 1848)
Canfield genealogy
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Ambrose 19th-century American politicians 1765 births 1848 deaths Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery County district attorneys in New York (state) Harvard University alumni Mayors of Albany, New York Members of the New York State Assembly National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) New York State Attorneys General New York (state) state senators New York Supreme Court Justices People from Lyons, New York People from Salisbury, Connecticut 1808 United States presidential electors Yale College alumni Spencer family of New York House impeachment managers