Silas Moore Stilwell, Sr. (June 6, 1800 – May 16, 1881) was an American lawyer and politician.

Biography

He was born on June 6, 1800 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to Stephen Stilwell, who had fought in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and opened a glass factory in 1804 in

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 20 ...

. Silas was educated at Woodstock Free Academy until 1812, then, after his father's bankruptcy, he went to New York City and began to work. In 1814, he engaged in surveying in the west, and then settled in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. In 1822, he was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Afterwards he removed to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and was Clerk of Tazewell County and a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1824. He returned to New York in 1828, and was a member from

New York County Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

of the New York State Assembly from 1830 to 1833. In 1830, he proposed "An act to abolish imprisonment for debt and to punish fraudulent debtors" in the Assembly, which was enacted on April 26, 1831, and became known as the Stilwell Act. In 1834, he ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Whig ticket with

William H. Seward William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. A determined oppon ...

, but they were defeated. He was an alderman in New York City in 1835, and chosen chairman of the Board of Aldermen. In this year, the political parties were equally divided, and as he had the casting vote on all appointments he became popularly known as "King Caucus". He was acting mayor at the time of the

Great Fire of New York The 1835 Great Fire of New York was one of three fires that rendered extensive damage to New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fire occurred in the middle of an economic boom, covering 17 city blocks, killing two people, and destroyin ...

in 1835. He was married Caroline Norseworthy (1820-?) around 1840, and one of their children was Silas Moore Stilwell, Jr. (1854–1891), a lawyer in New York City. He was

United States Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforc ...

for the

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

during 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 ...

's administration from 1841 to 1845. At this time he was sent on a special mission to

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to negotiate a loan for the U.S. government. At the end of his term he resumed the practice of law. He was the author of the

National Banking Act The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal banking acts that established a system of national banks, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged development of a national currency backed by ...

in 1863. He wrote on questions of finance, many of his articles appeared in the '' New York Herald'' from 1860 to 1872, under the pen-name of "Jonathan Oldbuck". He died on May 16, 1881 in New York City.

Works

*''A System of Credit for a Republic and Plan of a Bank for the State of New York'' (1838). *''A System of National Finance - Notes Explanatory of Mr. Chase's Plan of National Finance'' (Washington, D.C, 1861) *''National Finances: a Philosophical Examination of Credit'' (1866)

References

Political Graveyard
(name given as Stillwell)
His son's death notice
in ''NYT'' on December 23, 1891
Cover view of ''A System of National Finance''''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (page 307; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) (name given as Stillwell) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stilwell, Silas Moore 1800 births 1881 deaths Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Members of the New York State Assembly New York (state) lawyers Politicians from New York City People from Tazewell County, Virginia United States Marshals Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery 19th-century American politicians Lawyers from New York City 19th-century American lawyers