Samuel Holten was an American physician and politician. He served as a representative of Massachusetts at the Continental Congress, and was a member of the United States House of Representatives.
Background
Samuel Holten was born on June 9, 1738 in Salem Village, shortly to become Danvers, Massachusetts, United States. His parents, Samuel and Hannah (Gardner) Holten, were both descended from early settlers of the region, the father from Joseph Holten, freeman of Salem Village in 1690. His parents at first planned to give the boy a collegiate education, but the work of preparation proved too great a strain upon his health and he was accordingly dedicated to the supposedly less arduous profession of medicine.
Education
Doctor Jonathan Prince, a local practitioner, became his mentor and gave him, apparently, all his professional training. In 1756, or thereabouts, he began the practice of medicine in Gloucester, Massachussets.
Career
Holten's position as the rising physician of Danvers enabled him to impress his amiable personality on his neighbors. They sent him in 1768 to the General Court and kept him in public office until the year just preceding his death. The practice of his profession grew ever more sporadic until in 1775 he abandoned it completely. His medical knowledge enabled him, however, to serve usefully on committees of the Provincial and Continental Congresses which dealt with medical and surgical affairs of the Revolutionary armies. His continued interest in medicine is also shown by his inclusion among those who incorporated the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1781. His major interests lay, however, in the excitement of the Revolutionary movement. He worked on committees of correspondence, represented his town in the General Court, in the Essex County Convention of 1774, and in the Provincial Congress of 1774-1775. This latter body by appointing him to a place on the Committee of Safety in 1775 gave him his first position of prominence.
In 1778 he was chosen to represent Massachusetts in the Continental Congress. During the ensuing two years, in which he was assiduous in attendance, he labored over the perplexing western land claims and the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. He remained in Congress during most of the life of the Articles. In 1785 he joined with Rufus King and Elbridge Gerry in refusing to present to Congress the Massachusetts resolves asking Congress to call a convention for the purpose of changing the Articles, which they felt had not yet been given an adequate trial. It is also probable that they felt some pique that the changes were to be effected through a convention independent of Congress.
When two years later such a convention produced a radically different organ of government, Holten opposed its ratification. A delegate to the Massachusetts convention of 1788, he was the only Anti-Federalist of established reputation in that body, yet illness robbed him of the opportunity to lead the fight against the Constitution and forced him, after only a few days, to retire from the convention. The remainder of his life saw him as a patriarch of Danvers. He held almost at will all the significant town offices. He reappeared in the General Court as the town's senator, sat on the Governor's Council, and rounded out his career by acting as judge of probate for Essex County from 1796 to 1815. He even went to Philadelphia to sit in the Third Congress (1793-1795), but his role in that body was not significant. Late in life, in 1812-1813, he interested himself in the early temperance movement in Massachusetts. He died in Danvers.
Achievements
Politics
Holten was a member of the Anti-Administration Party.
Interests
Music & Bands
When two years later such a convention produced a radically different organ of government, Holten opposed its ratification.
Connections
On March 30, 1758 Holten married Mary (Warner) Holten.