Ammi Giddings (c. 1822 – February 13, 1882) was an American lawyer and politician from

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, who was twice elected to the

Connecticut Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Se ...

. He served as President pro tempore of the Connecticut Senate. He was appointed to the Montana Territorial Supreme Court, but never served. Giddings was born in about 1822 in

Sherman, Connecticut Sherman is the northernmost and least populous town of Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,527 at the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. The town was formed in 1802 from t ...

. He graduated from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

, and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1849. That same year, he married Augusta Bays of Wethersfield. He subsequently practiced law at

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. In 1857, Giddings was elected to the Connecticut Senate from the state's 16th District, and served as the President ''

Pro Tempore ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to 'for the time being' in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a '' locum tenens'' ('placeholder'). The phrase is ...

.'' He was elected again in 1864. On June 15, 1864, President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

appointed him as an associate justice of the Supreme Court for the newly formed

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

; the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

unanimously confirmed him on June 22. Giddings resigned immediately due to poor health and never served on the court. However, his commission remained in force until he was replaced in 1865, and histories of the Montana Supreme Court still list him as one of the first justices of that court. In 1866, Giddings moved to

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. He returned to Connecticut in 1872 and died at Sherman in 1882.

Notes

Montana Territory judges Connecticut state senators Connecticut lawyers 1820s births 1882 deaths Presidents pro tempore of the Connecticut Senate People from Sherman, Connecticut People from Plymouth, Connecticut 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers Justices of the Montana Supreme Court 19th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly {{Law-bio-stub