Samuel Huntington (404)

Samuel Huntington (16 July 1731–5 January 1796) was a politician, judiciary, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1783. Born in Windham Township, Connecticut, to a farming family, Huntington did not pursue a formal education, instead apprenticing under a cooper, then a lawyer, and subsequently gaining admittance to the bar in 1758. He moved to Norwich, Connecticut (1760), and entered public service as a representative to the lower house of the General Assembly (1764). Then, in 1775 he became assistant in the upper house and a member of the Governor’s Council, a position he held for nearly ten years. Meanwhile, Huntington also worked as a judiciary and received a royal appointment in 1768, which he resigned upon his opposition to the Stamp Act and the Intolerable Acts. He then joined the superior Court of Connecticut (1773) and became Chief Justice (1784). During this time Huntington also served in the Continental Congress: he signed the Declaration of Independence, succeeded John Jay as president of the Congress (1779), and served on the Connecticut council of public safety. Despite his lack of formal education, Huntington received honorary degrees from Yale and Dartmouth. After returning from Congress, he entered the Connecticut assembly, wherein he drafted the first American copyright law (1783), became lieutenant Governor (1785), and then Governor the following year, an office he held until his death. (ANB, et al.)