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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

and opened a glass factory in 1804 in

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, New York, Kingston. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The popula ...

. 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 Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...

in the west, and then settled in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. In 1822, he was a member of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

. Afterwards he removed to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, 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 houses 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-numbe ...

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

New York County Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

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 The lieutenant governor of New York is a Constitution of New York, constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governo ...

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 opp ...

, but they were defeated. He was an alderman in New York City in 1835, and chosen chairman of the

Board of Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands ( wethouder) and Belgium ( schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking mem ...

. 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 destroyi ...

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 in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the United States federal judi ...

for the

Southern District of New York The Southern District of New York is a federal judicial district that encompasses the counties of New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Federal offices or agencies operating in the distri ...

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 of the United States, vice president in 1841. He was elected ...

'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 chartered at the federal level, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged developmen ...

in 1863. He wrote on questions of finance, many of his articles appeared in the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

'' 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 Law enforcement officials from New York (state) Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Members of the New York State Assembly Politicians from New York City People from Tazewell County, Virginia United States Marshals Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Lawyers from New York City 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature 19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly 19th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly