Samuel A. Foot

{{Short description|American politician (1780–1846)}} {{Other people|Samuel Foote}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Samuel Augustus Foot.jpg | order = 28th | office = Governor of Connecticut | term_start = May 7, 1834 | term_end = May 6, 1835 | lieutenant = Thaddeus Betts | predecessor = Henry W. Edwards | successor = Henry W. Edwards | order2 = Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's at-large district | term_start2 = March 4, 1833 | term_end2 = May 9, 1834 | predecessor2 = Ralph I. Ingersoll | successor2 = Ebenezer Jackson, Jr. | order3 = United States Senator from Connecticut | term_start3 = March 4, 1827 | term_end3 = March 3, 1833 | predecessor3 = Henry W. Edwards | successor3 = Nathan Smith | order4 = Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's at-large district | term_start4 = March 4, 1823 | term_end4 = March 3, 1825 | predecessor4 = Daniel Burrows | successor4 = Ralph I. Ingersoll | order5 = Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's at-large district | term_start5 = March 4, 1819 | term_end5 = March 3, 1821 | predecessor5 = Sylvester Gilbert | successor5 = Daniel Burrows | order6 = 5th | office6 = Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives | term_start6 = 1825 | term_end6 = 1826 | predecessor6 = Ralph I. Ingersoll | successor6 = Ebenezer Young | office7 = Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives | term7 = 1817-1818 1821-1823 1825-1826 | birth_name = Samuel Augustus Foot | birth_date = November 8, 1780 | birth_place = Cheshire, Connecticut, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1846|9|15|1780|11|8}} | death_place = Cheshire, Connecticut, US | party = National Republican (1824–1834) Whig (1834–1846) | spouse = Eudocia Hull Foot | children = Andrew Hull Foote | alma_mater = Yale College Litchfield Law School | profession = farmer, politician }}

'''Samuel Augustus Foot''' (November 8, 1780 – September 15, 1846; his surname is also spelled '''Foote''') was the 28th Governor of Connecticut as well as a United States representative and Senator.

==Biography== Born November 8, 1780 in Cheshire, Connecticut, to John and Abigail (née Hall) Foot. Having entered Yale College at the age of thirteen, Foot was the youngest student in the graduating class of 1797. He attended Litchfield Law School when he was seventeen, but discontinued law studies due to ill health. He then moved to New Haven, Connecticut; became a West India Trader and made many voyages for his health.<ref>{{cite web|title=Samuel A Foot|url=http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/939|publisher=Litchfield Historical Society|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref> He married Eudocia Hull in 1803 and they had seven children (the second of whom was Andrew Hull Foote).

==Career== When the War of 1812 Embargo Act ruined his business, Foot returned to his father's farm in Cheshire in 1813, engaged in agricultural pursuits and politics.

Foot was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1817 and 1818, and was elected to the Sixteenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1819 to March 3, 1821. He was again a member of the State house of representatives from 1821 to 1823 and 1825 to 1826, serving as speaker in 1825 to 1826; he was elected to the Eighteenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1823 to March 3, 1825. He was elected by the General Assembly to the U.S. Senate as an Adams man (later Anti-Jacksonian) within the splintering Democratic Republican Party. He served in the Senate from March 4, 1827 to March 3, 1833.<ref>{{cite web|title=Samuel A. foot|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000247|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref> In the Senate he is most noted for the "Foot Resolution" of December 29, 1829 to limit the sale of public lands. It was during debate on this resolution that Daniel Webster gave his "Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever" speech.

Foot was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1832; while in the United States Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Pensions (Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses). He was elected to the Twenty-third Congress, and served from March 4, 1833, to May 9, 1834,<ref>{{cite web|title=Samuel A. Foot|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/samuel_foot/404200|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130421171707/http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/samuel_foot/404200|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 April 2013|publisher=Govtrack US Congress|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref> when he resigned to become Governor of Connecticut, a position he held in 1834 and 1835. He was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for re-election in 1835. Foot later served as a presidential elector on the Clay-Frelinghuysen ticket in 1844.<ref>{{cite web|title=Samuel A. Foot|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_foote_samuel.html|publisher=National Governors Association|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref>

==Death== Foot died in Cheshire on September 15, 1846. He is interred at Hillside Cemetery, Cheshire, Connecticut.<ref>{{cite web|title=Samuel A. Foot|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/foltz-foot.html#994.88.48|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{CongBio|F000247}} *[http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/939 Litchfield Historical Society] *[http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_foote_samuel.html National Governors Association] *[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/foltz-foot.html#994.88.48 The Political Graveyard] *[https://archive.today/20130421171707/http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/samuel_foot/404200 Govtrack US Congress] * {{find a Grave|12649207}}

{{s-new|first}} {{s-ttl|title=Whig nominee for Governor of Connecticut|years=1834, 1835}} {{s-aft|after=William W. Ellsworth}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{US Senator succession box | state = Connecticut | class = 1 | before = Henry W. Edwards | after = Nathan Smith | alongside = Calvin Willey, Gideon Tomlinson | years = March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1833 }} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state = Connecticut | district = AL | before = Sylvester Gilbert | after = Daniel Burrows | years = March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1821 }} {{US House succession box | state = Connecticut | district = AL | before = Daniel Burrows | after = Ralph I. Ingersoll | years = March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825 }} {{US House succession box | state = Connecticut | district = AL | before = Ralph I. Ingersoll | after = Ebenezer Jackson Jr. | years = March 4, 1833 – May 9, 1834 }} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before = Henry W. Edwards | title = Governor of Connecticut | years = May 7, 1834 – May 6, 1835 | after = Henry W. Edwards }} {{s-end}}

{{United States senators from Connecticut}} {{Governors of Connecticut}} {{United States representatives from Connecticut}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foot, Samuel A.}} Category:1780 births Category:1846 deaths Category:Merchants from Connecticut Category:Sailors from Connecticut Category:People from Cheshire, Connecticut Samuel A. Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States representatives from Connecticut Category:National Republican Party United States senators from Connecticut Category:National Republican Party United States representatives from Connecticut Category:Connecticut Whigs Category:Governors of Connecticut Category:Whig Party state governors of the United States Category:Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Category:Yale College alumni Category:Litchfield Law School alumni Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century United States senators Category:19th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly