Otis, Samuel Allyne, 1740-1814

Samuel Allyne Otis (November 24, 1740 – April 22, 1814) was the first Secretary of the United States Senate, serving for its first 25 years. He also served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was a delegate to the Confederation Congress in 1787 and 1788.

Born in Barnstable in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he graduated from Harvard College before engaging in mercantile pursuits in Boston. Otis served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as a member of the Board of War in 1776, as collector of clothing for the Continental Army in 1777, and as a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention. Once more a member of the Massachusetts House from 1784 to 1787, Otis was elected Speaker of the House in 1784. The assembly elected him to the Continental Congress for the 1787 and 1788 sessions.

Early in 1789, as plans went forward for establishing the new Congress under the recently ratified Constitution, a heated contest developed for the job of Senate Secretary. While Charles Thomson, secretary of the soon-to-expire Continental Congress during its entire fifteen-year existence, was the initial favorite, Vice President-elect John Adams maneuvered for the election of Otis. Two days after the Senate achieved its first quorum, members elected Otis to the position; from that date until the end of the John Adams presidency, he enjoyed great job security. Through the considerable political turbulence between 1800 and 1814, Samuel Otis held on as Secretary. But with the passing years, Otis appeared to some as less vigorous in attending to his duties. Senators complained that the Senate Journal was not being kept up to date, official communications not recorded in a timely way, and records kept in a "blind confused manner" – but no one actively moved to replace him. Like Continental Congress Secretary Charles Thomson, Otis had become the body's institutional memory at a time of great turnover among members.

Otis died in office in Washington, D.C. and was interred in Congressional Cemetery there.