Huntington, Samuel, 1731-1796

Samuel Huntington (July 16, 1731 [O.S. July 5, 1731] – January 5, 1796) was a Founding Father of the United States and a jurist, statesman, and Patriot in the American Revolution from Connecticut. As a delegate to the Continental Congress, he signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He also served as President of the Continental Congress from 1779 to 1781, President of the United States in Congress Assembled in 1781, chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1784 to 1785, and the 18th Governor of Connecticut from 1786 until his death. He was the first United States governor to have died while in office.

Born in Windham, Connecticut Colony (now Scotland, Connecticut), he had a limited education in the common schools, then was self-educated. When he was 16 he was apprenticed to a cooper but also continued to help his father on the farm. His education came from the library of Rev. Ebenezer Devotion and books borrowed from local lawyers. In 1754 Huntington was admitted to the bar, and moved to Norwich, Connecticut, to begin practicing law. After brief service as a selectman, Huntington began his political career in earnest in 1764 when Norwich sent him as one of their representatives to the lower house of the Connecticut Assembly, where he served until 1774. In 1775, he was elected to the upper house, the Governor's Council, where he served until 1784. In addition to serving in the legislature, he was appointed king's attorney for Connecticut in 1768 and in 1773 was appointed to the colony's supreme court, then known as the Supreme Court of Errors. He was chief justice of the Superior Court from 1784 until 1787.

Huntington was an outspoken critic of the Coercive Acts of the British Parliament. As a result, the assembly elected him in October 1775 to become one of their delegates to the Second Continental Congress. In January 1776 he took his place with Roger Sherman and Oliver Wolcott as the Connecticut delegation in Philadelphia. He voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. His served in the Congress in the years 1776, 1778-1781, and 1783. He suffered from an attack of smallpox while in Congress. While not known for extensive learning or brilliant speech, Huntington's steady hard work and unfailing calm manner earned him the respect of his fellow delegates. As a result, when John Jay left to become minister to Spain, Huntington was elected to succeed him as President of the Continental Congress on September 28, 1779.

Huntington remained as President of Congress until July 9, 1781, when ill health forced him to resign and return to Connecticut. In 1782, Connecticut again named him as a delegate, but his health and judicial duties kept him from accepting. He returned to the Congress as a delegate for the 1783 session to see the success of the revolution embodied in the Treaty of Paris. In that same year, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 1785, he was elected as lieutenant governor of Connecticut, serving with Governor Matthew Griswold. In 1786, he became governor. He remained in charge of the Supreme Court during his tenure as lieutenant governor but vacated that position upon election to governor. In his first year as governor, in a reprise of his efforts in Congress, he brokered the Treaty of Hartford that resolved western land claims between New York and Massachusetts. In 1787, he lent his support to the Northwest Ordinance that completed the national resolution of these issues. In 1788, he presided over the Connecticut Convention that was called to ratify the United States Constitution. In later years he saw the transition of Connecticut into a U.S. state.

Huntington died while in office at his home in Norwich on January 5, 1796. His tomb, which was extensively restored in 2003, is located in the Old Norwichtown Cemetery behind his mansion house.