Background
Edward Lloyd was born on July 22, 1779 at "Wye House, " the house northwest of Easton in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. He was the only son of Edward Lloyd and Elizabeth (Tayloe) Lloyd.
Edward Lloyd was born on July 22, 1779 at "Wye House, " the house northwest of Easton in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. He was the only son of Edward Lloyd and Elizabeth (Tayloe) Lloyd.
He received his formal training from tutors, which was supplemented by his contact with the political thinkers who were constant guests at his father's home.
Lloyd entered public service young and was sent as a delegate to the state legislature in 1800 when he had barely reached his majority. From the state Assembly he passed to the national House of Representatives in 1806 to fill a vacancy in the Ninth Congress. He was reelected to the Tenth Congress, but his congressional career was terminated abruptly by his election by the legislature (June 1809) to the governorship, left vacant by the resignation of Governor Wright. This unexpired term ended the following November, but Lloyd was twice reelected for one-year terms. Republicanism scored a significant victory under his benevolent direction: the free ballot act repealed the last remaining property qualification--that for holding office. The two parties were so evenly balanced in Maryland at that time that though the Republicans controlled the executive post, the Federalists regained the speakership in the House with resulting friction between administrative and legislative branches.
Lloyd left the governorship in 1811 to enter the state Senate, where he served until his resignation in January 1815. When another turn of the political wheel restored the Republicans to power toward the close of the second decade of the century, Lloyd was sent to the United States Senate. Reelected in 1825, he found himself obliged, owing to constant attacks of gout, to resign in January 1826, and to retire temporarily to private life. He was drawn forth for a final service in the Maryland Senate for the period 1826-1831, part of the time as its presiding officer.
He died at Annapolis in his fifty-fifth year and was buried in the family burying-ground at "Wye. "
Lloyd was a member of the Republican party. While in Senate, Lloyd supported President Madison in his attitude toward England. He was also vocal defender of the institution of slavery throughout his political career.
Lloyd lived the life of the typical Maryland gentleman, characterized by a genuine enthusiasm for agricultural interests, by munificent private hospitality, and by humanitarian interests. In the midst of luxurious surroundings he moved with simplicity and dignity of manner, while his advocacy of democratic legislation attested his devotion to patriotic principles.
Lloyd had married on November 30, 1797, Sally Scott Murray, the daughter of an Annapolis physician.