Theodore Foster was an American lawyer and politician from Rhode Island. He was a member of the Federalist Party, who became one of the first two United States Senators from Rhode Island after his election to the United States Senate in 1790.
Background
Theodore Foster was born on April 29, 1752 in Brookfield, Massachusetts. His father was Jedediah Foster, judge of the superior court of Massachusetts, and his mother Dorothy Dwight of Dedham, a descendant of John Dwight and also of William Pyncheon, an incorporator of the Massachusetts Bay Company, who came to America in the fleet with John Winthrop.
Education
Theodore Foster graduated from Rhode Island College, now Brown University, in the class of 1770, the second class which the college sent out.
In 1786 he received the degree of M. A. from Dartmouth College, and in 1794 became a trustee of Brown University, a position which he held until 1822.
Career
Foster made law his profession and from 1776 to 1782 served as deputy from Providence in the General Assembly. In the year 1781 the town of Foster was created in his honor, and this town he represented in the lower house of the General Assembly from 1812 to 1816.
During the years 1776-85, he became the close associate of Governor Stephen Hopkins, then in retirement. The two men possessed a strong taste for history and collaborated in the collection of historical material.
In 1785 Foster wras made judge of the Rhode Island court of Admiralty.
In 1786 he opposed the paper money delusion then prevailing in Rhode Island. He favored the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and on the admission of Rhode Island to the Union in May 1790, he and Joseph Stanton, Jr. , were elected senators, a loan of one hundred and fifty dollars being made to the two senators to enable them to ‘‘take their seats promptly. ”
On August 12, 1790, he brought with him from Philadelphia the President of the United States for a first official visit to Rhode Island. Part of his time he spent in residence with a French family, for the purpose of perfecting himself in the French language, and in December 1800, he was appointed on a committee to make a translation of so much of the journal of the “late envoys of the United States to the French Republic, ” as was communicated in French.
In 1800 his brother, Dwight Foster, became his colleague in the Senate and for nearly three years they sat together. Both retired from office in March 1803.
On his retirement he withdrew to the town of Foster and there, in company with his intimate friend, Dr. Solomon Drowne, established himself at Mt. Hygeia where he became, it is said, the most assiduous antiquarian within the limits of the state.
He long contemplated writing a history of Rhode Island and grouped his material, but never completed the undertaking.
His death occurred in Providence, Rohd Island, on January 13, 1828.
Achievements
Politics
Foster was an ardent Federalist, supporting the financial policy of Hamilton and Jay’s treaty with Great Britain. He supported President John Adams, and in 1800 Aaron Burr against Thomas Jefferson for president.
Views
Quotations:
On July 9 Theodore Foster had written of the move in a letter:
“The greatest Degree of Steadiness and firmness of Mind is very requisite in a Town no larger than this, to cause one as steadily to pursue his Studies as in a Place no larger than Warren. One used to Noise and the Hurry of a Tradeing Town would not be much desturbed thereat, but for my own Part I must confess, the jolts of Waggons, the Ratlings of Coaches, the crying of Meat for the Market, the Hollowing of Negroes and the ten thousand jinggles and Noises, that continually Surround us in every Part almost of the Town, Confuse my thinking and leave me absorpt in a Maze of eddying Fancy, which frequently overwhelmes me in the profound Depths of Nonsense even while engaged in the Study of Moral Philosophy which teaches the proper regulations of the Passions. ”
Membership
Foster was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1820. He was also a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1822.
Interests
While in Philadelphia Foster patronized the bookstores, attended public lectures, and, occasionally, theatres.
Connections
Theodore Foster's first wife, Lydia, having died in 1801, on June 18, 1803, he married Esther Millard, daughter of Rev. Noah Millard of Foster, by whom he had five children.