Jonathan Law

Jonathan Law

Jonathan Law (born August 6, 1674 in Milford , Colony of Connecticut ; † November 6, 1750 ibid) was governor of the Colony of Connecticut from 1741 to 1750.

Career

Jonathan Law, the only son of Jonathan and Sarah (Clark) Law, was born on August 6, 1674 in Milford, Connecticut. Both parents descend from prominent Connecticut families. As a young man Jonathan II was. Volatile working as a pastor before then to Harvard University went where he Jura studied. He graduated there in 1695 and then worked as a lawyer. In 1698 he founded his own practice in Milford.

In May 1709, Law became Justice of the Peace and Justice of the Quorum for New Haven County . He later became a judge in the New Haven County District Court and associate judge in Connecticut Superior Court. In 1706 he was elected as a deputy to the Connecticut General Assembly, where he served three terms until 1717. In that year he also became an assistant and worked in this position (with one exception for one year) until 1724. In October 1724 he was elected Lieutenant Governor and in May 1725 Chief Judge at the Superior Court. He held the last two offices at the same time, which was possible in the government at that time. When Law became the new governor in October 1741 after the death of Governor Joseph Talcott , he was 67 years old and had been active in the colonial government for 35 years.

The Colony of Connecticut had long struggled with England for the right to enact its own laws. On February 15, 1727/8 His Majesty passed a council order against Connecticut's Interstate Estates Law . This order was put to the test while Joseph Talcott was still governor, when an interstate case was reported to England by a Connecticut resident. Legal disputes in this case, Clark vs. Tousey, continued into Jonathan Law's term as governor. Despite the fact that the plaintiff, Samuel Clark, was Law's first cousin, Governor Law instructed Colony Commissioner Eliakim Palmer of London to "support and defend said Thomas Tousey against said Samuel Clark ... in the most energetic and best manner ", emphasizing that the enacted laws of our charter were preferable to English customary law in Connecticut. With a solid defense based on Law's valid positions and arguments, Connecticut's position was ultimately upheld by an English court, thereby confirming the legality of the charter.

The 1740s were also years of religious revival known as the " Great Awakening ". The Congregational Churches saw divisions in their congregations, the "Old Lights" wishing to remain as they were, and the "New Lights" took and advocated reform, and prayers with more energy and zeal. Many clergymen turned down everyone else, so the Connecticut General Assembly passed a law prohibiting traveling pastors from preaching in some churches without the prior permission of the local pastor. Governor Law, along with many other members of the Connecticut government, sided with the Old Lights. Because the division between church and state was not as clear as it is now, it led to political divisions in Connecticut for many years.

Connecticut's forces took part in combat operations under Governor Law during the King George's War in 1745 when he sent them to join forces from the New England colonies that marched on Cape Breton , Nova Scotia to conquer it from the French . This was an important victory for England and its colonies. After the war, Connecticut kept 200 men stationed on the New York and Massachusetts borders and along its own shoreline for its own defense.

Jonathan Law lived at a time when personal life could be very short because medical knowledge of diseases was not very extensive. Even though he was 76 years old, his wives were not so lucky. Law was married five times and had several children, seven of whom were sons. Most of his wives came from prominent New England political families.

Jonathan Law's marriages were:

• December 20, 1698 with Anne Eliot, daughter of Rev. Joseph and Sarah (Brenton) Eliot. Anne Eliot was the granddaughter of John Eliot the Apostle (1604–1690) and Governor William Brenton of Rhode Island .
• On February 14, 1704/5 with Abigail Arnold, daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Mills) Arnold. Abigail's grandfather was Governor Benedict Arnold of Rhode Island.
• August 1, 1706 with Abigail Andrew, daughter of Rev. Samuel Andrew, principal of Yale College .
• 1725 with the widow Sarah (?) Burr of Fairfield , Connecticut.
• 1730 with Eunice (Hall) Andrew, daughter of John and Dorothy (Lyman) Hall, widow of Rev. Samuel Andrew, son of the Rector of Yale College and aunt of Lyman Hall, signatory of the Georgia Declaration of Independence .

Some of his children and grandchildren served in the US Congress and held other national political offices.

Jonathan Law was seen as a talented, kind, and even-tempered man who promoted religion, education, and collaboration. He died on November 6, 1750, shortly after the General Assembly's fall session ended. He was buried in the "Milford Cemetery" in Milford. The high school in Milford, Connecticut is named after him. When a bridge was built in honor of the previous Milford settlers, the entrance step of Jonathan Law's house was built into the brickwork.

literature

• Bates. Albert C., ed. The Law Papers, 3 vols., In Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1907-1914 [CSL call number HistRef F 91 .C7]
• Highways & Byways of Connecticut. Hartford: G. Fox & Co., [1947] [CSL call number F 94 .H54 1947].
• "Hon. Jonathan Law, Governor of Connecticut," New England Historical and Genealogical Register I (April 1847), pp. 188-90 [CSL call number F 1 .N56].
• The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. New York: James White & Company, 1900, sv "Law, Jonathan," vol. X, pp. 325-26 [CSL call number E 176 .N27].
• Norton, Frederick Calvin. The Governors of Connecticut. Hartford: Connecticut Magazine Co., 1905 [CSL call number HistRef F 93 .N 88 1905].
• Raimo, John W. Biographical Dictionary of American Colonial and Revolutionary Governors, 1607–1789. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1980 [CSL call number E 187.5 .R34].

Web links

• Jonathan Law in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Connecticut State Library (English)
• The Political Graveyard (English)