William L. Dayton

William L. Dayton
United States Minister to France
In office May 19, 1861 – December 1, 1864
Appointed by	Abraham Lincoln
Preceded by	Charles J. Faulkner
Succeeded by	John Bigelow
21st Attorney General of New Jersey
In office 1857–1861
Preceded by	Richard P. Thompson
Succeeded by	Frederick T. Frelinghuysen
United States Senator from New Jersey
In office July 2, 1842 – March 3, 1851
Preceded by	Samuel L. Southard
Succeeded by	Robert F. Stockton
Personal details
Born	William Lewis Dayton (1807-02-17)February 17, 1807 Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Died	December 1, 1864(1864-12-01) (aged 57) Paris, France
Political party	Whig, Republican
Spouse	Margaret E. Dayton
Profession	politician, Lawyer

William Lewis Dayton (February 17, 1807 – December 1, 1864) was an American politician, active first in the Whig Party and later in the Republican Party. In the 1856 presidential election, he became the first Republican vice-presidential nominee when nominated alongside John C. Frémont. The Republican Party lost that campaign. During the American Civil War, Dayton served as the United States Ambassador to France, a position in which he worked to prevent French recognition of the Confederacy.

Life and career

A distant relation of U.S. House Speaker and U.S. Constitution signatory Jonathan Dayton, William L. Dayton was born in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, to farmer Joel Dayton and his wife. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1825 and worked as a lawyer in Freehold.

In 1837, he was elected to the New Jersey Legislative Council and became an associate judge of the New Jersey Supreme Court the following year. Following the death of U.S. Senator Samuel L. Southard, he was appointed to the United States Senate starting July 2, 1842, and elected to finish the term ending in 1845. He was re-elected by the New Jersey Legislature as a Whig in 1845 but lost in 1851, ending his service on March 3, 1851.

In 1856, he was selected by the nascent Republican Party as their first nominee for Vice President of the United States over Abraham Lincoln at the Philadelphia Convention. He and his running mate, John C. Fremont, lost to the Democratic ticket of James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge. Afterwards, he served as New Jersey Attorney General until 1861, when President Lincoln appointed him Minister to France, serving in that role from 1861–1864, throughout most of the American Civil War. In France, Dayton was part of a successful lobbying campaign to prevent the government of Napoleon III from recognizing the independence of the Confederacy or allowing Confederate use of French ports. Dayton died in Paris in 1864 while serving as Minister. He was buried in Riverview Cemetery, Trenton, New Jersey.

Legacy

His son, William Lewis Dayton, Jr. (1839–1897), graduated from Princeton in 1858 and served as President Chester A. Arthur's Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1882–1885.

Later, the town of Dayton, New Jersey, was named in his honor.

Further reading

• Republican Campaign Edition for the Million. Containing the Republican Platform, the Lives of Fremont and Dayton, with Beautiful Steel Portraits of Each, 1856 (Boston: John P. Jewett), via Illinois Historical Digitization Projects of the Northern Illinois University Libraries

External links

• Biographical Dictionary of the U.S. Congress
• Photograph of William Lewis Dayton
• William L. Dayton Papers at the Princeton University Library