Ebenezer Stoddard

Ebenezer Stoddard (May 6, 1785 – August 19, 1847) was a United States Representative from Connecticut and a state legislator who also served multiple terms as lieutenant governor. He was born in Union, Connecticut, then part of Windham County, where he spent his early years in what was largely a rural, agrarian community in northeastern Connecticut. His upbringing in this setting, typical of New England in the early republic, provided the background for a career that would combine legal practice with extensive public service at both the state and national levels.

Stoddard pursued his early education at Woodstock Academy in Woodstock, Connecticut, which he attended in 1802 and again in 1803. He then enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, one of the leading institutions of higher learning in New England, and graduated in 1807. His classical education at Brown prepared him for the study of law, a common path for young men aspiring to public life in the early nineteenth century. After completing his legal studies, he was admitted to the bar in 1810 and commenced the practice of law in West Woodstock, Connecticut, establishing himself professionally in the region where he had been educated.

As a practicing attorney in West Woodstock, Stoddard built a legal career that helped bring him into local public affairs during a period of significant political realignment in the United States. His legal work and standing in the community positioned him for elective office at a time when the Democratic-Republican Party dominated national politics but was beginning to fracture into competing factions. Through his law practice and local involvement, he gained the experience and reputation that would support his election to Congress.

Stoddard was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Seventeenth Congress and reelected as an Adams-Clay Republican candidate to the Eighteenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1821, to March 3, 1825. His shift from the Democratic-Republican label to the Adams-Clay Republican designation reflected the emerging division between supporters of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay and those aligned with Andrew Jackson, a division that would soon give rise to the Second Party System. During his two consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, he represented Connecticut at a time when issues such as internal improvements, tariffs, and the evolving balance of power between the federal government and the states were central to national debate.

After leaving Congress in 1825, Stoddard returned to state politics and served in the Connecticut Senate from 1825 to 1827. His service in the upper chamber of the state legislature placed him among the leading political figures in Connecticut during a period of economic and political transition in New England. As a state senator, he participated in shaping legislation affecting Connecticut’s legal and economic framework in the years following the War of 1812 and the adoption of the state’s 1818 constitution.

Stoddard subsequently rose to one of the highest offices in Connecticut state government. He served as the thirty-third lieutenant governor of Connecticut in 1833 and again as the thirty-fifth lieutenant governor from 1835 to 1837. In that capacity, he presided over the state senate and stood next in line to the governorship, working alongside the governor in overseeing the administration of state affairs. His repeated election to the lieutenant governorship underscored the confidence placed in him by his contemporaries and reflected his continued prominence in Connecticut’s political life during the 1830s.

Throughout his political career and after his periods of public service, Stoddard continued to practice law, maintaining his professional base in West Woodstock. His legal practice remained an important part of his life even as he held high office, illustrating the common nineteenth-century pattern of public officials combining political service with private professional work. He lived in West Woodstock until his death there on August 19, 1847. Ebenezer Stoddard was buried in Bungay Cemetery, leaving a legacy as a lawyer, legislator, and lieutenant governor who participated in both state and national governance during a formative era in Connecticut and United States history.