Samuel Huntington (October 4, 1765 – June 8, 1817) was an American jurist who was the third

governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

from 1808 to 1810.

Biography

Huntington was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

in the

Colony of Connecticut The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...

. He was the nephew (and, later, the adopted son) of Samuel Huntington, the fourth President of the Continental Congress and first President of the United States in Congress Assembled under the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...

. Huntington studied at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

until the end of his junior year. He then transferred to

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 which he was graduated in 1785. He was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. In 1801, he moved to Ohio with his wife, Hannah, and their young sons, settling in the tiny village of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

Career

After serving as a Trumbull county delegate to the State's first constitutional convention, Huntington was selected as an associate justice of the

Ohio Supreme Court The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...

and succeeded Return J. Meigs, Jr. as Chief Justice a year later. He served until being elected Governor in 1808. His tenure was stormy, with much controversy over the impeachment of two judges for upholding the principle of judicial review (Huntington would have been impeached as well had it not been being elected governor), the move of the state capital from Zanesville to Chillicothe, and the

Tiffin Resolution Tiffin is an Indian English word for a type of meal. It refers to a light breakfast or a light tea-time meal at about 3 p.m., consisting of typical tea-time foods. In certain parts of India, it can also refer to the midday luncheon or, in s ...

, which terminated the terms of all sitting judges. Huntington did not stand for re-election, but instead ran for the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, losing to Thomas Worthington. Huntington was also an active Freemason, and served as the second Grand Master of the Grand Lodge F.&A.M. of Ohio in 1809.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Huntington, Samuel 1765 births 1817 deaths Governors of Ohio Ohio state senators Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court Politicians from Cleveland Ohio Democratic-Republicans Ohio Constitutional Convention (1802) Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States Yale University alumni Masonic Grand Masters 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges 18th-century American lawyers 19th-century American lawyers People from Coventry, Connecticut Lawyers from Cleveland