Erastus Dean Culver

Erastus Dean Culver (March 15, 1803 – October 13, 1889) was an attorney, politician, judge, diplomat, and prominent anti-slavery advocate whose career spanned local, state, and national office in New York. He was born in Champlain, Clinton County, New York, on March 15, 1803. Culver pursued classical studies and graduated from the University of Vermont in 1826. After college he taught school for a period and read law with an established firm, preparing for admission to the bar. He was admitted to the bar in 1831 and commenced the practice of law in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York.

Culver quickly became active in local affairs and politics. He joined the Whig Party and was elected town clerk of Fort Ann, serving from 1833 to 1835. In 1836 he moved to Greenwich, also in Washington County, where he continued his legal practice and expanded his public career. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1838 and again in 1841, gaining recognition as a capable legislator and an early opponent of slavery’s expansion. His growing prominence in state politics laid the groundwork for his election to national office.

In 1844 Culver was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth Congress and served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1845, to March 3, 1847. An outspoken anti-slavery advocate in Congress, his first act as a Representative was to present a petition from residents of New York calling for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. He also drew attention for a notable speech opposing the extension of slavery into the Oregon Territory and the Republic of Texas as they were being incorporated into the United States. During his congressional service in the 1840s, Culver consistently aligned himself with efforts to restrict the spread of slavery, anticipating the positions that would later define the Republican Party.

After leaving Congress, Culver relocated in 1850 to Brooklyn, New York, where he established a successful law practice and became a leading legal advocate for abolitionists in New York City and Brooklyn. Among those who studied law in his office was Chester Alan Arthur, the future twenty-first President of the United States, who later became Culver’s partner in practice. Culver, Arthur, and John Jay, the grandson of Chief Justice John Jay, formed a notable legal team in several important anti-slavery cases. Culver became a Republican when the party was founded in the 1850s, reflecting his long-standing opposition to slavery.

Culver’s most celebrated legal work came in the freedom suit Lemmon v. New York (1852). In that case, Virginia slaveholders traveling to Texas had brought eight enslaved persons with them and stopped temporarily in New York, a free state. An African American activist discovered their presence and petitioned the court for a writ of habeas corpus. The enslaved people were temporarily freed, and Culver, together with Arthur and Jay, successfully argued before the New York City Superior Court that, because New York had abolished slavery, the eight individuals could not be treated as property while within its jurisdiction and must remain free. The decision was a significant victory for the anti-slavery movement and underscored the tension between free-state law and slave-state claims to human property.

In 1854 Culver was elected judge of Brooklyn’s City Court, a position he held until 1861. On the bench he continued to shape the law in ways that challenged slavery and its enforcement. One of his most prominent cases occurred in 1857, shortly after the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision and amid rising sectional tensions. The case involved a fugitive slave named Jeems, owned by James Stead of Georgia and described as “nearly white,” who had escaped by steamship from Florida to New York City. Upon arrival, Jeems was seized by police officers, acting on information from the ship’s captain, and held in irons at a house in Brooklyn so that he could be returned under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and a bounty collected. When the detention came before Culver, the officers and Stead’s attorney argued that New York’s anti-slavery laws did not apply because both Stead and Jeems were residents of another state. Culver rejected this argument, issued a writ of habeas corpus, and ruled that New York law governed within its borders. He ordered Jeems freed, after which anti-slavery activists assisted Jeems in reaching the Underground Railroad and relocating to Canada. The steamship captain, the owner of the house where Jeems had been confined, and the two police officers were subsequently charged with conspiracy and kidnapping, underscoring the legal and moral stakes of the case.

Beyond the courtroom, Culver was known as a popular and effective orator. He was present on the platform when Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Cooper Union speech in New York City in 1860, a pivotal address in Lincoln’s rise to national prominence. By popular demand, Culver himself delivered a speech following Lincoln’s remarks, reflecting his stature among anti-slavery Republicans and reform-minded audiences in New York.

With the advent of the Civil War and the Lincoln administration, Culver’s public service took on a diplomatic dimension. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln appointed him United States Minister to Venezuela, a post he held until 1866. Upon his arrival, Culver inadvertently created a diplomatic complication by presenting his credentials to José Antonio Páez, whose government the United States did not officially recognize. Because Culver’s instructions from Washington had been unclear, his act amounted to de facto recognition of the Páez regime. Secretary of State William H. Seward subsequently directed Culver to withdraw that recognition, and formal diplomatic relations were broken off. Nonetheless, Culver had developed a cordial relationship with Páez, who permitted him to remain in the country. Culver continued to represent American interests in Venezuela through the end of his appointment, navigating a complex political environment during the Civil War era.

After completing his diplomatic service in 1866, Culver returned to the United States and again took up residence in his former hometown of Greenwich, New York. There he resumed the practice of law and became active in local business affairs. He served as president of the First National Bank of Greenwich and sat on the board of directors of the Greenwich and Johnsonville Railway, contributing to the community’s financial and transportation development. In his later years he lived in retirement in Greenwich, remaining a respected figure in the region. Erastus Dean Culver died in Greenwich on October 13, 1889, and was interred in the Culver vault at Greenwich Cemetery.