William Lewis Dayton (February 17, 1807 – December 1, 1864) was an American politician, active first in the Whig Party and later in the Republican Party. In the 1856 presidential election, he became the first Republican vice-presidential nominee when nominated alongside John C. Frémont. The Republican Party lost that campaign. During the American Civil War, Dayton served as the United States Ambassador to France, a position in which he worked to prevent French recognition of the Confederate States of America.

Early life

Dayton was born in the Basking Ridge of Bernards Township, New Jersey, to farmer Joel Dayton and Nancy (Lewis) Dayton. His father worked as a farmer and mechanic, and was not well off, but the extended Dayton family was long prominent in New Jersey. William L. Dayton was the grand-nephew of Elias Dayton and second cousin of Jonathan Dayton. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1825. He then studied law with Peter Dumont Vroom, was admitted to the bar in 1830, and became an attorney in Freehold Township, New Jersey.

Political career

In 1837, Dayton was elected to the New Jersey Legislative Council, and he became an associate judge of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1838. Following the death of U.S. Senator Samuel L. Southard, he was appointed to the United States Senate starting July 2, 1842, and elected to finish the term ending in 1845. As a Senator, Dayton opposed attempts at tariff reduction, arguing it would harm farmers and businesses if enacted. Although he found negotiations for Oregon territory "agreeable," Dayton condemned the annexation of Texas as an attempt to spread slavery and regarded the Mexican-American War as dishonorable.

Legacy

His son, William Lewis Dayton Jr., graduated from Princeton in 1858 and served as President Chester A. Arthur's Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1882–1885.

Later, the town of Dayton, New Jersey, was named in his honor. Dayton Street in Trenton, New Jersey, also memorializes him.

References

Further reading

  • Republican Campaign Edition for the Million. Containing the Republican Platform, the Lives of Fremont and Dayton, with Beautiful Steel Portraits of Each, 1856 (Boston: John P. Jewett), via Illinois Historical Digitization Projects of the Northern Illinois University Libraries
  • Biographical Dictionary of the U.S. Congress
  • Photograph of William Lewis Dayton
  • William L. Dayton Papers at Princeton University Library's Special Collection Department

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