Samuel Hoar
Encyclopedia
Samuel Hoar was a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. A member of a prominent political family in Massachusetts, he was a leading 19th century lawyer of that state. He was associated with the Federalist Party until its decline after the war of 1812. Over his career, a prominent Massachusetts anti-slavery politician and spokesperson. He became a leading member of the Massachusetts Whig
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...

 Party, a leading and founding member of the Massachusetts Free Soil Party
Free Soil Party
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. It was a third party and a single-issue party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State. The party leadership...

, and a founding member and chair of the committee that organized the founding convention for the Massachusetts Republican Party
Massachusetts Republican Party
The Massachusetts Republican Party is the Massachusetts branch of the United States Republican Party. Governance of the party takes the form of a State Committee which, in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 52, consists of one man and one woman from each of the 40 Senate Districts...

 in 1854.

Hoar may be best known in American history for his 1844 trip to Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

 as an appointed Commissioner of the state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. He went to South Carolina to investigate and contest the laws of that state, which allowed the seizure of sailors who were free African Americans (often who were citizens of Massachusetts) and placed into bondage, if such sailors disembarked from their ship. Hoar was prevented from undertaking his appointed tasks by resolutions of the legislature and efforts of the governor of South Carolina, and was escorted back onto a ship by Charleston citizens fearing mob violence against the agent from Massachusetts. News of the thwarting of Hoar inspired anti-slavery political reaction in Massachusetts.

Hoar was a born in the town of Lincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln is a town in the historic area of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,362 at the 2010 census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits...

, and as an adult lived in neighboring Concord, Massachusetts
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...

. He graduated from Harvard College
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1802, and was admitted to the bar in 1805. In the fall of 1813, he married Sarah Sherman (1785–1862) of New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

. Sarah was the youngest child of Roger Sherman
Roger Sherman
Roger Sherman was an early American lawyer and politician, as well as a founding father. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic...

 and his second wife, Rebecca Minot Prescott
Rebecca Minot Prescott
Rebecca Minot Prescott was the second wife of Roger Sherman.She was the daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Minot Prescott from Salem, Massachusetts; the niece of Roger Sherman’s brother Rev. Josiah Sherman and the second cousin once removed of Colonel William Prescott.Rebecca married Roger Sherman...

. Roger Sherman was a signer of United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

 and Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

.

Political and legal career

Hoar was delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1820. Hoar served in the State senate in 1826, 1832, and 1833. Elected as an Anti-Jacksonian candidate to the Twenty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1835-March 3, 1837), he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress.
He was a Massachusetts delegate to the 1839 Whig national party convention. Hoar was an expert on the laws pertaining to waterways, canals and maritime commerce.

Massachusetts commissioner to South Carolina, 1844

There was an ongoing constitutional and legal conflict between the state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 and the states of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 regarding the seizure of Massachusetts citizens. South Carolina had enacted laws prohibiting the emancipation of slaves, or the entry into the state of free African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

s. South Carolina agents would arrest free African American seamen from Massachusetts, members of the crew aboard ships that arrived at South Carolina sea ports; if the arrestee or the captain of the ship failed to pay fines for the criminal entry into the state, the arrestee would be sold into slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 to pay the fines.

In 1844 the Massachusetts legislature authorized the governor to appoint a Commissioner to reside in Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana, to collect information as to the number from Massachusetts citizens unlawfully seized in those cities, and to prosecute some of the suits before higher courts for the purpose of testing the constitutionality of the laws under which the forcible seizures were being made. In 1844, Massachusetts governor George N. Briggs
George N. Briggs
George Nixon Briggs was a member of the Whig Party and served seven-terms as the 19th Governor of the U.S. state of Massachusetts, serving from 1844 to 1851.-Early life and education:...

 (Whig party) appointed Hoar commissioner to South Carolina.

Upon receipt of the letter from Massachusetts Governor Briggs announcing Hoar's appointment, South Carolina Governor James H. Hammond promptly placed it before the South Carolina legislature, which issued several resolves, declaring the right of South Carolina to exclude its borders all persons whose presence might be considered dangerous; denying that free Negroes were citizens of the United States, and for the Massachusetts commissioner:
The effective result was that Hoar was prevented from appearing before that state's courts to test the law. On his arrival, with daughter Elizabeth Sherman Hoar, in Charleston, December 1844, local citizens warned Hoar to leave town. Local leading citizens secretly escorted the Hoars out of their hotel, to a ship, in advance of feared mob violence.
When news of this incident reached Massachusetts it aroused much ire, contributing to a developing sentiment in Massachusetts against slavery and in favor of abolitionism
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

.

Hoar in his report as Massachusetts commissioner stated:

Free Soil Party

Hoar was elected to the Massachusetts Governor's Council
Massachusetts Governor's Council
The Massachusetts Governor's Council is a governmental body that provides advice and consent in certain matters such as judicial nominations, pardons, and commutations to the Governor of Massachusetts...

 in 1845. In 1848 Hoar chaired the Massachusetts Free Soil Party
Free Soil Party
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. It was a third party and a single-issue party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State. The party leadership...

 Convention in Worcester, and was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...

 in 1850, at the age of 72.

Republican Party

In 1854, he chaired a committee which issued an announcement, summoning leading anti-slavery politicians and citizens to a meeting at the American House in Boston (July 7, 1854), to discuss the potential formation of a new party and to organize a state convention. Anger over the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing settlers in those territories to determine through Popular Sovereignty if they would allow slavery within...

, and the issue of slavery in Federal territories were motivating factors leading to the subsequent convention in Worcester. The mass convention of 2,500 people, held in open air on the common in Worcester
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

, September 7, 1854, founded the Massachusetts Republican Party
Massachusetts Republican Party
The Massachusetts Republican Party is the Massachusetts branch of the United States Republican Party. Governance of the party takes the form of a State Committee which, in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 52, consists of one man and one woman from each of the 40 Senate Districts...

, principally from members of the Massachusetts Free Soil Party, with a few Whig Party, and anti-slavery Democrats. The Massachusetts Free Soil Party in its Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

 convention, on October 17, 1854 voted to adopt the Republican candidates, and to merge into the new Republican organization.

In 1855, at the age of 77, Hoar was appointed chair of a Massachusetts Republican committee to organize mass assemblage or convention, to consider and promote actions might be taken by Massachusetts citizens against the pro-slavery violence in the recent Kansas elections (subsequently known as Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a series of violent events, involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of the U.S. state of Missouri roughly between 1854 and 1858...

), with the intent of unifying with all anti-slavery citizens of Massachusetts in national anti-slavery efforts

Leading citizen of Concord

Hoar was a co-founder of the first Concord Academy, which had a 41-year existence (1822–1863).

Hoar family

Samuel Hoar had five surviving children (of six offspring); several led influential or prominent lives.
  • Elizabeth Sherman Hoar (July 14, 1814-April 7, 1878) was engaged to Charles Chauncy Emerson (1808–1836), youngest brother of Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...

     and young law partner of Samuel Hoar; Charles died of tuberculosis before they could marry, and she never married. She was an intimate of the Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau families. R.W. Emerson invited Elizabeth into the Transcendentalist community, and she aided in producing their journal, The Dial
    The Dial
    The Dial was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. In the 1880s it was revived as a political magazine...

    .

  • Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (1816–1895) (Harvard class of 1835) was Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
    Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
    The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...

    , and US Attorney General
    United States Attorney General
    The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

     for President Ulysses Grant; later nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by Grant, but the nomination was not approved by the Senate; he married Caroline Brooks of Concord.

  • Sarah Sherman Hoar (1817–1907) married Robert Boyd Storer (1796–1870), a Boston, Massachusetts importer trading with Russia, and Russian Consul at Boston.

  • Samuel Johnson Hoar (February 4, 1820 – Jan 10, 1821) died in infancy.

  • Edward Sherman Hoar (1823–1892), (Harvard class of 1844), married childhood neighbor Elizabeth Hallet Prichard of Concord, and was an intimate of Henry David Thoreau
    Henry David Thoreau
    Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...

     (the Thoreau family lived across Main street from the Hoars, in several different houses over the years). Edward with H.D. Thoreau accidentally allowed a cooking fire to get out of control, and caused more than a 100 acres (404,686 m²) of forest to burn on April 30, 1844, along the Sudbury River
    Sudbury River
    The Sudbury River is a tributary of the Concord River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States.Originating in the Cedar Swamp in Westborough, Massachusetts, near the boundary with Hopkinton, it meanders generally northeast to its confluence with the Assabet River at Egg Rock in...

     in the Fairhaven Bay section of Concord. Edward accompanied Thoreau on some of Thoreau's hiking and canoeing excursions. Edward Sherman was a California state district attorney for the fourth Judicial district in 1850. He returned to Massachusetts in 1857.

  • George Frisbie Hoar
    George Frisbie Hoar
    George Frisbie Hoar was a prominent United States politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts. Hoar was born in Concord, Massachusetts...

     (1826–1904) (Harvard class of 1845) moved to Worcester, Massachusetts
    Worcester, Massachusetts
    Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

     as a young adult, and became a prominent U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts for 27 years, from 1877 until his death.

Other Hoar family members named Samuel Hoar

The Hoar family, a prominent political family in Massachusetts, has had number of individuals named Samuel Hoar since the 18th century:
  • His father, Samuel Hoar (1743-1832), was a lieutenant of the Lincoln, Massachusetts
    Lincoln, Massachusetts
    Lincoln is a town in the historic area of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,362 at the 2010 census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits...

     company at the Concord battle on April 19, 1775. For many years a member of the Massachusetts General Court as a representative and senator, and a member in the 1820 - 1821 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention.
  • Son, Samuel Johnson Hoar (February 4, 1820 – Jan 10, 1821) died in infancy
    • Samuel Hoar (1845-1904), son of Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, was editor of the American Law Review from 1873 to 1879. In 1887 he became general counsel for the Boston and Albany Railroad Company.

      • His son, Samuel Hoar (1887-1952), was partner in a prominent Boston law firm, called during his lifetime Goodwin, Procter and Hoar
        Goodwin Procter
        Goodwin Procter LLP is a prominent law firm based in the United States, consisting of 850 attorneys serving clients in Boston, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Silicon Valley, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C....

        . The firm was founded in 1914, and Hoar's name was added in 1917 when Hoar joined the firm. In the 1940s he donated a several parcels of land to the Federal Government, which became the founding kernel of the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
        Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
        The Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge, is a twelve-mile long river wetlands conservation area, in two major parcels, stretching from the towns of Billerica, Massachusetts to Wayland, Massachusetts , along the Concord and Sudbury rivers...

         on the Concord and Sudbury rivers in Massachusetts. He co-founded a second and still operating Concord Academy
        Concord Academy
        Concord Academy is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory school for grades nine through twelve, located in Concord, Massachusetts...

         in 1922 in Concord, Massachusetts.
        • His son, Samuel Hoar (1927 - 2004), of Essex, Massachusetts
          Essex, Massachusetts
          Essex is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, north of Boston. The population was 3,504 at the 2010 census.Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Essex.- History :...

           also was a senior partner in the firm formerly known as Goodwin, Procter and Hoar
          Goodwin Procter
          Goodwin Procter LLP is a prominent law firm based in the United States, consisting of 850 attorneys serving clients in Boston, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Silicon Valley, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C....

          . As board member of the Conservation Law Foundation
          Conservation Law Foundation
          Conservation Law Foundation is an environmental advocacy organization based in New England. Since 1966, CLF's mission has been to advocate on behalf of the region's environment and its communities. CLF's advocacy work takes place in four program areas: Clean Energy & Climate Change, Clean Water &...

           (CLF), he was a leading member of the litigation team that compelled the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to comply with federal environmental law, and build appropriate facilities to properly treat sewage discharged into Boston harbor, a legal battle that was most intense from 1983 into the 1990s.
          • His son, Samuel Hoar (b. 1955) is a lawyer practicing in Burlington, Vermont
            Burlington, Vermont
            Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....

            . He served as president of the Vermont Bar Association in 2006 and 2007.
            • His son Samuel Rockwood Hoar (b. 1988) is a 2011 graduate of Middlebury College
              Middlebury College
              Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...

              .

External links

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