Uriah Tracy

Uriah Tracy
12th President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office May 14, 1800 – November 16, 1800
President	John Adams
Preceded by	Samuel Livermore
Succeeded by	John E. Howard
United States Senator from Connecticut
In office October 13, 1796 – July 19, 1807
Preceded by	Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.
Succeeded by	Chauncey Goodrich
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's At-large congressional district
In office April 8, 1793 – October 13, 1796
Preceded by	Zephaniah Swift
Succeeded by	Chauncey Goodrich
Personal details
Born	February 2, 1755 Franklin, Connecticut
Died	July 19, 1807 (aged 52) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Federalist
Alma mater	Yale University
Profession	Lawyer, Politician

Uriah Tracy (February 2, 1755 – July 19, 1807) was an eighteenth-century American lawyer and politician from Connecticut. He served in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Biography

Tracy was born in Franklin, Connecticut. In his youth he received a liberal education.^[1] His name is listed as amongst those in a company from Roxbury responding to the Lexington Alarm at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. He later served in the Roxbury Company as a clerk^[1]

Tracy subsequently graduated from Yale University where his contemporaries included Noah Webster in 1778. He was admitted to the bar in 1781 after which he practiced law in Litchfield for many years.^[2] He served in the state legislature in 1788–1793, and in the United States House of Representatives from April 8, 1793– October 13, 1796, having been chosen as a Federalist.^[3]

He resigned his seat when he was elected to the United States Senate in place of Jonathan Trumbull, who had resigned.^[4] Tracy served until the time of his death in Washington, D. C.. He has the distinction of being the first member of Congress interred in the Congressional Cemetery.^[1] His descendants include the mathematician Curtis Tracy McMullen and the author Jeanie Gould.^[5]

In 1803, he and several other New England politicians proposed secession of New England from the union due to growing influence of Jeffersonian democrats and the Louisiana Purchase which they felt would further diminish Northern influence.

His portrait, painted by Ralph Earl, is in the collection of the Litchfield Historical Society in Litchfield, Connecticut.

References

1. "Eyewitnesses Interred or Memorialized in the Congressional Cemetery" (PDF). Congressional Cemetery. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
2. "Uriah Tracy". Find A Grave. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
3. "Sen. Uriah Tracy". Govtrack.us. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
4. "Tracy, Uriah (1755-1807)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
5. Tracy Genealogy

External links

• Uriah Tracy at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Portrait at the Litchfield Historical Society
• Find A Grave
• The Political Graveyard
• Govtrack.us