Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Henry Latimer" politician – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Henry Latimer
United States Senator from Delaware
In office February 7, 1795 – February 28, 1801
Preceded by	George Read
Succeeded by	Samuel White
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware's at-large district
In office February 14, 1794 – February 7, 1795
Preceded by	John Patten
Succeeded by	John Patten
Member of the Delaware General Assembly
In office October 20, 1787 - October 20, 1791
Continental Congressman from Delaware
In office April 8, 1784 – June 3, 1784
Personal details
Born	(1752-04-24)April 24, 1752 Newport, Delaware Colony, British America
Died	December 19, 1819(1819-12-19) (aged 67) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Federalist
Spouse	Ann Richardson
Residence(s)	Newport, Delaware
Alma mater	College of Philadelphia University of Edinburgh Medical School
Profession	physician

Henry Latimer (April 24, 1752 – December 19, 1819) was an American physician and politician from Newport, Delaware. He was elected to the Continental Congress from Delaware, and was a member of the Federalist Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly, as U.S. Representative from Delaware, and U.S. Senator from Delaware.

Early life and family

Latimer was born in Newport in the Delaware Colony, son of James Latimer Sr. and Sarah Geddes. His father was a wealthy grain shipper and politician, who was a member of the House of Assembly in the 1778/79 session and a member of the Delaware convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution on December 7, 1787. Latimer's brother, George, also served in the House of Assembly from the 1779/80 session through the 1781/82 session. Later he moved to Philadelphia where he became Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1794.

Latimer studied medicine, and attended the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) in Philadelphia and graduated in 1770, going to University of Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland in 1775 to complete his education. Returning in the midst of the American Revolution, he served in the "Flying Hospital," a mobile surgical unit of the Continental Army. He was at the Battle of Brandywine and continued through the end of the war. After the war he was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.

Professional and political career

Elected to the Continental Congress on April 8, 1784, Latimer never attended the session that spring in Annapolis, Maryland and was replaced. Like his father and brother, he was elected to the House of Assembly and served from the 1787/88 session through the 1790/91 session. He was the Speaker in that last session.

Latimer lost the 1792 election for the U.S. House to Major John Patten by thirty votes, but contested Patton's election to the U.S. House. The Federalist majority there reviewed the ballots cast, and based on a confusing law requiring the names of two candidates on the ballot, disqualified enough of Patton's votes to award the seat to Latimer. Amidst considerable bitterness, he was seated February 14, 1794. After once again losing an election to Patten in 1794, Latimer resigned from the U.S. House on February 7, 1795, when he was elected by the Delaware General Assembly to the disputed and long vacant U.S. Senate seat of retired U.S. Senator George Read. After finishing Read's term, he was reelected in 1796, and served until February 28, 1801, when he also resigned. Some believe that the reason for his resignation was that he was unhappy over the tactics of his political opponents who were still bitter over the circumstances of the contested election in 1792.

At various times Latimer was a member of the Wilmington Academy board, director of the Bank of Delaware, president of the First Agricultural Society of New Castle County, and president of the Board of Trustees of Newark College. He was a charter member of the Delaware Medical Society.

Death and legacy

Latimer died at Philadelphia and was buried first in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Wilmington. This cemetery is now the location of the Wilmington Institute Library and his remains were then moved to the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery.

Even though he was a physician and a Presbyterian, Latimer was a member of a prominent and well-to-do merchant family and was very much in agreement with the prevailing Federalist positions on such controversial issues as the Jay Treaty and other measures of the Adams administration. The burgeoning party of Thomas Jefferson, now known as the Democratic-Republicans, was increasingly popular and vocal in heavily Irish and "Country Party" New Castle County, and they never seemed to forgive him his apparent theft of the 1792 congressional election. Consequently, upon celebrating election victories in 1802, they fired cannon, loaded with potatoes and herring, in mock salute to Latimer, remembering his reputed statement that "the laboring classes lived too well to be happy and should be reduced to the fare of the Irish."

Almanac

Elections were held October 1. Members of the General Assembly took office on October 20 or the following weekday. The State Assemblymen were elected for a one-year term. They chose the Continental Congressmen for a one-year term. U.S. Representatives took office March 4 and have a two-year term.

The General Assembly chose the U.S. Senators, who also took office March 4, but for a six-year term. In this case he was initially completing the existing term, the vacancy caused by the resignation of George Read. However, the General Assembly failed to fill the position for nearly a year and a half.

After 1792 elections were moved to the first Tuesday of October and members of the General Assembly took office on the first Tuesday of January. The State Legislative Council was renamed the State Senate and the State House of Assembly was renamed the State House of Representatives.

Notes

1. this seat was vacant from September 18, 1793 until February 7, 1795.
2. "Bioguide Search". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
3. Metcalf, Bryce (1938). Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783-1938: With the Institution, Rules of Admission, and Lists of the Officers of the General and State Societies. Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc. p. 191.
4. Munroe, John A. (1954). Federalist Delaware 1775-1815. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.
5. contested election, seated February 14, 1794, resigned February 7, 1795
6. elected to fill vacancy, February 7, 1795

References

• Martin, Roger A. (1995). Memoirs of the Senate. Newark, DE: Roger A. Martin.
• Martin, Roger A. (2003). Delawareans in Congress. Middletown, DE: Roger A. Martin. ISBN 0-924117-26-5.
• Munroe, John A. (1954). Federalist Delaware 1775-1815. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.
• Wilson, W. Emerson (1969). Forgotten Heroes of Delaware. Cambridge, MA: Deltos Publishing Company.

Images

• United States Senate ; Portrait courtesy of the United States Senate, Art & History.

External links

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Delaware's Members of Congress
• The Political Graveyard
• Society of the Cincinnati
• American Revolution Institute

Places with more information

• Delaware Historical Society; website; 505 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801; (302) 655–7161
• University of Delaware; Library website; 181 South College Avenue, Newark, Delaware 19717; (302) 831-2965

v t e United States senators from Delaware
Class 1	Read Latimer White Horsey C. A. Rodney T. Clayton McLane Naudain R. Bayard J. M. Clayton Wales J. Bayard Jr. Riddle J. Bayard Jr. T. Bayard Sr. Gray Ball H. du Pont Wolcott T. C. du Pont T. Bayard Jr. Townsend Tunnell Williams Roth Carper Blunt Rochester (elect)
Class 2	Bassett Vining J. Clayton Wells J. Bayard Sr. Wells Van Dyke D. Rodney Ridgely J. M. Clayton T. Clayton Spruance J. M. Clayton Comegys Bates W. Saulsbury Sr. E. Saulsbury Higgins Kenney Allee Richardson W. Saulsbury Jr. Ball T. C. du Pont Hastings Hughes Buck Frear Boggs Biden Kaufman Coons

v t e Members of the United States House of Representatives from Delaware
Vining Patten Latimer Bayard C. A. Rodney Broom Van Dyke Ridgely Cooper Clayton McLane Hall D. Rodney Johns Milligan Robinson G. B. Rodney J. W. Houston Riddle Cullen Whiteley Fisher Temple Smithers Nicholson Biggs Lofland J. Williams Martin Lore Penington Causey Willis Handy J. H. Hoffecker W. O. Hoffecker Ball H. A. Houston Burton Heald Brockson Miller Polk Layton Boyce R. G. Houston Adams Stewart Allen G. S. Williams Traynor Willey Boggs Warburton McDowell Haskell Roth du Pont Evans Carper Castle Carney Blunt Rochester McBride (elect)

• 1752 births
• 1819 deaths
• People from Newport, Delaware
• People from colonial Delaware
• American Presbyterians
• Pro-Administration Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Delaware
• Pro-Administration Party United States senators from Delaware
• Delaware Federalists
• Federalist Party United States senators from Delaware
• Members of the Delaware House of Representatives
• Speakers of the Delaware House of Representatives
• Physicians from Delaware
• University of Pennsylvania alumni
• Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
• Physicians in the American Revolution
• Burials at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery
• Members of the United States House of Representatives from Delaware
• 18th-century United States senators
• 18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives