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Roger Griswold

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Roger Griswold
22nd Governor of Connecticut
In office
May 9, 1811 – October 25, 1812
LieutenantJohn Cotton Smith
Preceded byJohn Treadwell
Succeeded byJohn Cotton Smith
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Connecticut's at-large district (seat D)
In office
March 4, 1795 – 1805
Preceded byChauncey Goodrich
Succeeded byNathaniel Smith
26th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
In office
October 20, 1809[1] – May 9, 1811
GovernorJohn Treadwell
Preceded byJohn Treadwell
Succeeded byJohn Cotton Smith
Personal details
Born(1762-05-21)May 21, 1762
Lyme, Connecticut Colony, British America
DiedOctober 25, 1812(1812-10-25) (aged 50)
Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Political partyFederalist
Spouse(s)Fanny Rogers Griswold October 27, 1788(The Griswold Family of Connecticut, Part 3)
RelationsMatthew Griswold and Roger Wolcott
Children10
Parent(s)Matthew Griswold and Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold
Alma materYale College and Harvard University
OccupationLawyer, Judge, Politician

Roger Griswold (/ˈɡrɪzwɔːld, -wəld/;[2] May 21, 1762 – October 25, 1812) was a lawyer, politician and judge from Connecticut. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court and the 22nd governor of Connecticut, serving as a Federalist.

Biography

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Coat of arms of Matthew Griswold
A political cartoon of the Lyon-Griswold brawl.

Griswold was born in Lyme in the Connecticut Colony to Matthew Griswold and Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold of the prominent Griswold family.[3] He pursued classical studies, entered Yale College at the age of fourteen and graduated from Yale in 1780. He received a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard University in 1811, and a Doctor of Law degree from Yale in 1812.[4]

Griswold studied law with his father and was admitted to the bar in 1783.[5] He began the practice of law in Norwich, Connecticut, and unsuccessfully ran for Congress in an 1793 special election[6]. He returned to Lyme in 1794 and was elected as a Federalist candidate to the Fourth United States Congress and to the five succeeding Congresses. Griswold served in Congress from March 4, 1795, until his resignation in 1805 prior to the convening of the Ninth Congress.[7] During the Sixth Congress, he served as chairman of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business and as a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.[8] He was a U.S. Senate candidate in 1800.[9]

In 1803 Griswold, along with several other New England Federalist politicians, proposed secession from the union due to the growing influence of Jeffersonian Democrats and the Louisiana Purchase, which they felt would dilute Northern influence.[10] Griswold declined President John Adams' request for him to serve as the Secretary of War in 1801.[11]

Griswold served as judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut from 1807 to 1809.[12] He was presidential elector on the Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Rufus King ticket. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1809 to 1811,[13] and was the Governor of Connecticut from 1811 until his unexpected death in Norwich on October 25, 1812, at the age of 50. He is interred in Griswold Cemetery at Black Hall, in the town of Lyme (now Old Lyme, Connecticut).[14] When Griswold, Connecticut, was incorporated in 1815, it was named in his honor.[15]

Lyon-Griswold brawl

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On January 30, 1798, a hearing was held on whether or not to remove William Blount of Tennessee from office. Matthew Lyon, a Democratic-Republican congressman from Vermont, was ignoring Griswold on purpose, because they were from opposite parties. This led to Griswold calling Lyon a scoundrel to which Lyon retaliated by spitting in Griswold's face. Two weeks later, after Lyon was not removed from office for the spitting, Griswold attacked Lyon with his cane.[16][17]

Personal life

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Griswold's father Matthew Griswold was the 17th governor of Connecticut from 1784 to 1786.
Griswold's maternal grandfather Roger Wolcott was the colonial governor of Connecticut from 1751 to 1754.[18][19][20][21]

Griswold married Fanny Rogers on October 27, 1798, and they had ten children together.[22][23]

His grandson, Matthew Griswold, served as a state representative in Connecticut in the 1860s, and was later elected to two terms in Congress from Pennsylvania in the 1890s.[24]

References

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  1. ^ "Hartford. Oct. 24". The enquirer. Richmond, Va. November 14, 1809. p. 2. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  2. ^ "Griswold". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  3. ^ "Roger Griswold". Ancestry.com. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  4. ^ "Connecticut Governor Roger Griswold". National Governors Association. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  5. ^ "Roger Griswold". Office of the Historian. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  6. ^ "A New Nation Votes". elections.lib.tufts.edu. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
  7. ^ "Rep. Roger Griswold". Govtrack.us. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  8. ^ "GRISWOLD, Roger, (1762 - 1812)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  9. ^ "Our Campaigns - CT US Senate Race - Nov 04, 1800". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  10. ^ Adams, Henry (1986). History of the United States of America during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Literary Classics of the United States. p. 409. ISBN 0940450348.
  11. ^ "Roger Griswold". Governors of Connecticut. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  12. ^ "Griswold, Roger (1762-1812)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  13. ^ "Roger Griswold Papers". Connecticut Historical Society. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  14. ^ "Roger Griswold". Office of the Historian. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  15. ^ The Connecticut Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly. Connecticut Magazine Company. 1903. p. 332.
  16. ^ "The Spitting Lyon". Vermont Historical Society. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  17. ^ "Roger Griswold Starts a Brawl in Congress – Today in History". ConnecticutHistory.org. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  18. ^ "Griswold, Roger (1762-1812)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  19. ^ "Wolcott-Griswold-Ellsworth-Hotchkiss family of Connecticut". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  20. ^ "Excellency Roger Griswold, Esq". Connecticut Genealogy Trails. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  21. ^ "Griswold, Matthew (1714-1799)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  22. ^ "Roger Griswold Papers". Connecticut Historical Society. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  23. ^ "Roger Griswold". Ancestry.com. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  24. ^ "Bioguide Search". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved December 27, 2024.

Further reading

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  • McBride, Rita M. (1948). Roger Griswold: Connecticut Federalist (Ph.D.). Yale University.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roger Griswold.
Party political offices
Preceded by Federalist nominee for Governor of Connecticut
1812 		Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Connecticut's at-large congressional district
1795–1805 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
1809–1811 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of Connecticut
1811–1812 		Succeeded by
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