David Allen Smalley

David Allen Smalley

David Allen Smalley ( April 6, 1809 in Middlebury , Vermont , †  March 10, 1877 in Burlington , Vermont) was an American lawyer and politician and from 1856 to 1860 chairman of the Democratic National Committee , the party organization of the US Democrats .

David Allen Smalley studied law in Jericho , where he also began practicing as a lawyer. In this place he also held the post of postmaster between 1831 and 1836. After initially moving to Lowell , he later settled in Burlington in 1836.

There he was also politically active. Smalley was a member of the Vermont Senate from 1843 to 1844 . At the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore in 1852 , he served as vice president of the party congress and as a member of the committee for the party program ( Platform committee ). He was also elected to the Democratic National Committee. In April 1853, US President Franklin Pierce appointed him head of the Vermont Customs Department ( Collector of Customs ).

At the Democratic Congress in Cincinnati in 1856 , Smalley was elected chairman of the party organization. On February 3, 1857, he succeeded the late Samuel Prentiss as a judge at the federal district court for the Vermont district, which he remained until his death. He led the Democrats until the National Convention in Charleston in 1860 , in the course of which the party split, which culminated in the Civil War .

Web links

• David Allen Smalley in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• David Allen Smalley in the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges