Charles Cutts (January 31, 1769January 25, 1846) was an attorney and politician from

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. Among the offices in which he served were Speaker of the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral State legislature (United States), legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members com ...

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

and

Secretary of the United States Senate The secretary of the United States Senate is an officer of the United States Senate. The secretary supervises an extensive array of offices and services to expedite the day-to-day operations of that body. The office is somewhat analogous to that o ...

Early life

Cutts was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on January 31, 1769, the son of

Samuel Cutts Samuel Cutts (December 8, 1726May 29, 1801) was an American merchant and politician. Cutts was the son of Richard and Eunice (Curtis) Cutts of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he was born in 1726. His entire life was passed in his native town w ...

and Anna Holyoke. He was educated in Portsmouth and

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

, Andover, MA, and attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, from which he graduated in 1789. During his college years, Cutts was selected for membership in

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

. After graduating, Cutts studied law with attorney John Pickering, 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 1795, and practiced in Portsmouth. Active in politics as a

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters call themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of deep ...

, Cutts was a member of the

from 1803 to 1811. He served as

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

from 1807 to 1809, and again from 1810 to 1811.

U.S. Senator

In 1810, Cutts was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nahum Parker, and he served from June 21, 1810, to March 3, 1813. Because Congressional sessions began in December, when the state legislature was not in session, Cutts completed his final New Hampshire House term and term as Speaker, which ended in early 1811. The

New Hampshire General Court The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members, and the upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 me ...

failed to elect a successor for the term that began on March 4, 1813, so Governor

William Plumer William Plumer (June 25, 1759December 22, 1850) was an American lawyer, Baptist lay preacher, and politician from Epping, New Hampshire. He is most notable for his service as a Federalist in the United States Senate (1802–1807), and the sevent ...

appointed Cutts, who served from April 2, 1813, to June 10, 1813, when a successor was elected. While Cutts served in the Senate, the federal government was concerned with prosecuting the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

and then beginning the post-war recovery. Cutts was appointed to several select committees concerned with the finance and the economy, foreign trade, and military defense, and frequently served as chairman.

Later life

Cutts remained in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

after leaving office. In 1814 he was elected to serve as

, and he held the position from October 12, 1814, to December 12, 1825. As Secretary, Cutts oversaw preparations for the Senate's move from its temporary downtown quarters in the Patent Office, which had been necessitated by the burning of the US Capitol during the

to the hastily erected "Brick Capitol", a building which was located on the site of the current US Supreme Court Building. Following that move, Cutts planned the move of the Senate back into the Capitol, which took place in 1819. In retirement, Cutts moved to

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most p ...

, and eventually settled in Lewinsville. He died in Lewinsville on January 25, 1846, and was buried in a private cemetery near Lewinsville.

Family

Cutts' mother was the daughter of Edward Holyoke and the sister of Edward Augustus Holyoke. In 1812, Cutts married Lucy Henry Southall (d. 1868), a descendant of

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. May 18, 1736une 6, 1799) was an American politician, planter and orator who declared to the Virginia Conventions, Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty or give m ...

and the niece of

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

's wife

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...

. Their children included Stephen (b. 1813), Samuel (b. 1815), and Martha (b. 1817). Another daughter, Priscilla Olive, died as an infant. Charles Cutts was the cousin of

Richard Cutts Richard Cutts (June 28, 1771 – April 7, 1845) was an American merchant and politician. A Democratic-Republican, he was most notable for his service as Second Comptroller of the United States Treasury from 1817 to 1829 and a United States rep ...

, who served in Congress from the portion of Massachusetts that later became the state of Maine. Richard Cutts was the husband of

Dolley Madison Dolley Todd Madison (née Payne; May 20, 1768 – July 12, 1849) was the wife of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. She was noted for holding Washington social functions in which she invited members of b ...

's sister Anna.

Attempts to locate portrait

Cutts is one of approximately 50 former senators for whom the U.S. Senate's photo historian has no likeness on file. Attempts to locate one have proved unsuccessful.

References

Sources

Books

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Internet

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Newspapers

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cutts, Charles 1769 births 1846 deaths Harvard University alumni Members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives United States senators from New Hampshire Speakers of the New Hampshire House of Representatives Secretaries of the United States Senate New Hampshire Democratic-Republicans New Hampshire Federalists Democratic-Republican Party United States senators People from colonial New Hampshire People from Portsmouth, New Hampshire 19th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the New Hampshire General Court