John Sloss Hobart was an American jurist and politician. He served as a United States Senator from New York and Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New York.
Background
John Sloss Hobart was born on May 6, 1738 in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of Reverend Noah and Ellen (Sloss) Hobart, was of New England stock. Descended from Edmund Hobart and his son, Reverend Peter Hobart, emigrants from Hingham, England, who settled in 1635 at Hingham, Massachussets.
His father had a lifelong career in Connecticut as settled minister. From his mother's family he inherited Eaton's (now Gardiner's) Neck in the town of Huntington, Long Island, and his public career was connected with the province and state of New York.
Education
In 1757 Hobart graduated from Yale College.
Career
Hobart was prominent in revolutionary activities in Suffolk County, serving as a member of the Committee of Correspondence in 1774. He was also deputy from that county to the provincial convention of 1775 and to the four provincial congresses of 1775-1777. In the fourth congress (July 1776 - May 1777), which assumed the style of "Convention of Representatives of the State of New York, " he was a member of the committees to prepare a form of government and to report a plan for organizing that government. He was also a member of the first Council of Safety, and in May 1777 was appointed justice of the supreme court, an office which he held for nearly twenty-one years.
His experience with the peculiarly difficult conditions in Revolutionary New York, together with his unquestioned devotion to the patriot cause, his absolute integrity, and a reputation for sound common sense, made a combination of public qualities which caused his services to be much in demand. He was a delegate to the interstate convention at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1780, called "to give Vigour to the governing Powers, equal to the present Crisis, " and to the Poughkeepsie convention in 1788, called to act on the draft of the new Constitution for the United States. These same traits of public character, considered in connection with the fact that under the new constitution of the state of New York the judiciary had great political power, may help to account for the apparent anomaly of a justice of the supreme court who, according to his own statement, had not been bred to the profession of law.
The age-limit set by this constitution would have compelled his retirement shortly, when, on January 11, 1798, he was elected United States senator. This office he held only until April 12 of that year, when he was appointed United States district judge for the district of New York, in which capacity he served until his death in 1805.
Achievements
Hobart is best remembered for his service as a United States Senator, Justice of the New York Supreme Court, and Judge of the United States District Court for New York. Though not a lawyer, Hobart is said to have been partly responsible, during twenty years, for giving the decisions of the New York supreme court such strength and character as they had before the days of Chancellor Kent.
An elementary school in Shirley, New York is named after him.
Politics
Hobart was a member of the Federalist party.
Personality
James Kent himself said of Hobart that he was a "faithful, diligent and discerning judge. "
Connections
In June 1764, Hobart married Mary Greenill (or Grinnell), a resident of New York.
