Lafayette S. Foster

Lafayette S. Foster

Lafayette Sabine Foster (born November 22, 1806 in Franklin , Connecticut , †  September 19, 1880 in Norwich , Connecticut) was an American politician who belonged to three different parties during his career.

Life

After attending school graduate Foster in 1828 at Brown University in Providence ( Rhode Iceland ). There he was subsequently active as a teacher before he returned to Connecticut and studied law in Norwich . He then took over the line of a private school in Centerville ( Maryland ); in this state he was first admitted to the bar in 1830. The following year he moved back to Norwich and became a member of the Federal Chamber of Attorneys.

Foster began his political career as a member of the Whigs , for whose Connecticut party newspaper The Republican he was also responsible as editor-in-chief. From 1839 to 1840 he was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives for the first time ; further terms of office followed there from 1846 to 1848 and in 1850. He was speaker of the chamber for a total of three years .

In 1850 and 1851 the Whigs each put him up as their candidate for governor , but Foster lost both times to Thomas H. Seymour . From 1851 to 1852 he was mayor of Norwich. In 1854 Foster was then elected to the US Senate , at which point he was no longer a member of the Whigs; he had joined the newly formed Republican Party . In 1860 he was confirmed in office for another six years. During this time he chaired the Senate Pension Committee.

When the 39th session of Congress began in 1865 , the Senate elected Foster president pro tempore . Six weeks later, on April 14, 1865, US President Abraham Lincoln was shot dead by John Wilkes Booth . Two of Booth's accomplices planned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson in the assassination attempt. In that case, Lafayette Foster would have been elected President pro tempore of the Senate; he was now considered as Acting Vice-President ( Acting Vice President ).

In 1867, Foster had to leave the Senate after missing re-election. In 1869 he took a chair in law at Yale University , but also continued his political activities. In 1870 he was re-elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives and took over the office of speaker again in this, but resigned his mandate in the same year to become a judge at the Connecticut Supreme Court .

In the meantime, Lafayette Foster made the last change of his party affiliation and became a Democrat . He was also put up again as a candidate for the election to the US House of Representatives , but failed. In 1876 he finally gave up the office of judge and retired into private life.

Web links

• Lafayette S. Foster in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Lafayette S. Foster at The Political Graveyard