Background

William Lewis Dayton was born on February 17, 1807 at Baskingridge, New Jersey, United States. He was a great-grandson of Elias Dayton. His father, Joel, being a mechanic who educated two sons to law and one to medicine. His mother, Nancy, daughter of Edward and Nancy (Crowell) Lewis, was a grand-daughter of Edward Lewis, a commissary of Washington’s army.

Education

After finishing at the local academy under Dr. Brownlee, Dayton was graduated from Princeton in 1825.

Career

Dayton taught school at Pluckemin, and read law with Peter D. Vroom at Somerville, being admitted to the bar in May term 1830.

Despite feeble health and slowly maturing powers, his “large mind and strong common sense” made Dayton a master of common law.

Settling at Freehold, New Jersey, he attracted attention in November 1833 by persuading the court to quash certain indictments, and became the leading lawyer there.

Elected to the legislative council in 1837, as a Whig, he was chosen one of two new associate justices of the state supreme court on February 28, 1838.

He decided the important case of Freeholders vs. Strader but resigned in 1841, against friendly protests, to practise law in Trenton, the salary of a justice ($2, 000) being too small to support his growing family.

On July 2, 1842, Gov. William Pennington appointed him United States senator for the unexpired term of S. L. Southard, and the legislature chose him for the full term to March 4, 1851.

He resolutely defended his right to independence of action in the face of legislative instructions, insisting (December 1843) that, “if the legislature of New Jersey go further than to advise me of their wishes they usurp a power which does not belong to them”.

Favoring arbitration of the Northwestern claims, he thought statehood for Oregon undesirable and improbable. He voted against the treaty for the annexation of Texas (June 8, 1844), warning his Newark constituents that the annexation would mean the repeal of a protective tariff and four more slave states.

Resuming law practise at Trenton, he was “almost invariably employed on one side or the other of every important cause”. With Chancellor Green, S. G. Potts, and P. D. Vroom he had compiled the New Jersey revised statutes of 1847.

He served as attorney-general of New Jersey 1857-61, and as such acted as prosecutor in the famous Donnelly murder case. His speech at the “Fusion Convention” in Trenton, May 28, 1856, resulted in his being nominated for vice-president on the ticket with Fremont, though many of his friends desired him to have first place, and in the Republican convention of 1860 his state supported him, on the first three ballots, for the presidential nomination.

In 1861 he was appointed minister to France. Not knowing French, quite unversed in diplomacy, he yet established the best of relations with Louis Napoleon’s government, with diplomatic colleagues, and with the press. He wore court dress since “he had not come to France to make a point with the government about buttons” and gained the entire confidence of the Emperor whom he had “frequently met during his residence in New Jersey”.

Keeping both governments advised on innumerable topics, he was able to avert French intervention, to stop Confederate use of French ports, to prevent construction of six Southern war vessels, to intern the Rappahannock, and to force the Alabama out to meet the Kearsarge. His long letter on the war, November 16, 1862, to Drouyn de L’Huys, produced gratifying results. Seward came to have much confidence in him, and referred to his “approved discretion”.

Achievements

• In France, Dayton was part of a successful lobbying campaign to prevent the government of Napoleon III from recognizing the independence of the Confederacy or allowing Confederate use of French ports.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Address Delivered Before The American Whig And Cliosophic Societies Of The College Of New Jersey By William L. Dayton (1843)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Territorial question: speech of Hon. Wm. L. Dayton, of New Jersey, in Senate of the United States, March 22, 1850, The

    (Originally published in 1850. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)

  • Speech of Wm. L. Dayton, of N. Jersey, on the Mexican War: The Plans and Conduct of the Campaign Delivered in the Senate of the United States, Jan. 27 and 28, 1847 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Speech of Wm. L. Dayton, of N. Jersey, on th...)

Politics

Although Dayton protested against the Mexican War, “he invariably voted the necessary measures to sustain the executive in its prosecution”. He opposed the extension of slavery but voted for the ratification of the Mexican Treaty. Following the policy of the new administration he opposed the compromise measures of 1850, especially the Fugitive-Slave Act, and lost his seat in the Senate to Commodore Robert Field Stockton, Democrat.

An independent Whig, he urged protection for home markets and industrial independence and opposed the tariff of 1846.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• “He could not act falsely. ” (John Bigelow)

Connections

His wife, Margaret Elmendorf Van Der Veer, whom he married May 22, 1833, bore him five sons and two daughters. Their married life was entirely happy.

Father:

Joel Dayton

mechanic

Mother:

Nancy Lewis

Wife:

Margaret Elmendorf Van Der Vee