Dexter, Samuel, 1761-1816

Dexter was graduated from Harvard in 1781 and admitted to the Worcester bar in 1784. He served as a member of the Massachusetts legislature from 1788-1790 and as a U.S. Congressman from 1793-1795. In 1799, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, but left in 1800 when he was appointed Secretary of War. From 1801-1802, Dexter served as Secretary of the Treasury. During the latter part of his career, he practiced law in Massachusetts. --James Savage (AB Harvard College, 1803) studied law with Isaac Parker in Portland, Maine and Samuel Dexter and William Sullivan in Boston. He later became active in Massachusetts politics, was librarian (1814-1818) and treasurer (1820-1839) of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Harvard overseer (1838-1853), and a founder of the Provident Institute for Savings in Boston.

Dexter was a Massachusetts lawyer. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1793-1795); U. S. Senate (1799-1800); Secretary of War (1800-1801) and Secretary of the Treasury (1801).