John Lefferts

John Lefferts (December 17, 1785 – September 18, 1829) was an American public official and legislator who served in the Thirteenth United States Congress as a Democratic-Republican Representative from New York. Active in state as well as national politics during the early nineteenth century, he participated in a formative period of the nation’s political development, representing the interests of his New York constituents and contributing to the broader legislative process.

Details of Lefferts’s early life and family background are sparse in the surviving record, but he came of age in the post-Revolutionary era, when New York was rapidly expanding in population, commerce, and political influence. Growing up in this environment, he entered adulthood at a time when the Democratic-Republican Party was consolidating power nationally and in New York State, shaping his political alignment and public career.

Lefferts’s formal education and early professional pursuits are not extensively documented, but by the second decade of the nineteenth century he had established himself sufficiently in public life to seek elective office. His affiliation with the Democratic-Republican Party placed him within the dominant political organization of the era, which advocated for limited federal government and emphasized states’ rights, agrarian interests, and a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

Lefferts was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Thirteenth United States Congress and served one term at the federal level. In that capacity, he represented New York during a significant period in American history marked by the War of 1812 and its aftermath, when questions of national defense, commercial policy, and the country’s political direction were central to congressional deliberations. As a member of the Republican Party representing New York, John Lefferts contributed to the legislative process during his term in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents in debates over national policy and the evolving role of the federal government.

After his service in Congress, Lefferts continued his political career in New York State government. He served as a member of the New York State Senate from 1820 to 1825, a period during which the state was undergoing substantial political and constitutional change. In the Senate, he took part in shaping state legislation at a time when New York was emerging as a leading economic and political center, with issues such as internal improvements, suffrage, and state institutional reform coming to the fore.

Lefferts’s state-level influence extended beyond the Senate through his role as a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821. At that convention, delegates undertook a major revision of the state’s constitution, addressing questions of representation, the expansion of the electorate, and the organization of state government. His participation placed him among the policymakers responsible for redefining New York’s political framework in ways that would affect the state’s governance for decades.

John Lefferts remained a figure of public life in New York until his death. He died in Brooklyn, New York, on September 18, 1829. He was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, a burial place that would later become notable as the resting site of many prominent New Yorkers. His career, encompassing service in the United States Congress, the New York State Senate, and the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821, reflected the intertwined development of state and national politics in the early republic.