Jonathan Sturges

Jonathan Sturges (August 23, 1740 – October 4, 1819) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Fairfield, Connecticut, who represented Connecticut as a delegate to the Continental Congress and later served two terms in the United States House of Representatives. As a member of the Unknown Party representing Connecticut, he contributed to the legislative process during two terms in office. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, as the new federal government was being established, and he participated in the democratic process while representing the interests of his constituents.

Sturges was born on August 23, 1740, in Fairfield in the Connecticut Colony. His father, Samuel Sturges (1712–1771), was a surveyor, and his mother, Ann (Burr) Sturges, was Samuel’s second wife. Sturges came from a long-established New England family; his great-great-grandfather, also named Jonathan Sturges (1624–1700), was one of the original settlers of Fairfield. This family background rooted him deeply in the civic and social life of the town in which he would spend his entire career.

Sturges pursued higher education at Yale College, graduating in 1759. He went on to earn a master’s degree from Yale in 1761, reflecting the classical and legal training typical of colonial elites who would enter public life. He later received a Doctor of Laws degree from Yale in 1806, an honorary recognition of his long service in law and government. After his initial studies, he read law and was admitted to the bar in May 1772, beginning the practice of law in Fairfield. His legal career formed the foundation for his later judicial and legislative roles.

Sturges entered public service soon after his admission to the bar. In 1772 his neighbors in Fairfield elected him to the Connecticut House of Representatives, where he served continuously until 1784. During this period, he also held important local judicial offices. In 1773 he served Fairfield County as a justice of the peace, and in 1775 he was appointed judge of the probate court. These roles placed him at the center of local governance and legal administration during the turbulent years leading up to and including the American Revolution.

In the mid-1780s, Sturges’s responsibilities expanded to the state and national levels. Connecticut sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786, where he participated in the final years of the confederation government. From 1786 to 1788 he served as a member of the Connecticut Council of Assistants, the upper house of the colonial and then state legislature, which also exercised important executive and judicial functions. At the same time, from 1786 to 1789, he served as a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, then the state’s highest appellate court, reflecting the confidence placed in his legal judgment and experience.

When the new federal government under the Constitution was formed, Sturges was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Pro-Administration Party candidate, aligned with those who supported President George Washington’s policies. He represented Connecticut in the First and Second Congresses, serving two terms from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1793. During this significant formative period of the republic, he contributed to the legislative process as a member of the Unknown Party representing Connecticut. Among his notable actions in Congress, Sturges was one of only seven representatives to vote against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, a measure that strengthened the legal mechanisms for the recapture of enslaved people who had escaped to free states.

After leaving Congress, Sturges returned to judicial service in Connecticut. He was appointed an Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1793 and served in that capacity until 1805. His long tenure on the bench, combined with his earlier service on the Supreme Court of Errors, made him a central figure in the development of Connecticut’s legal system in the early national period. In addition to his judicial duties, he participated in national politics as a presidential elector in 1797 and again in 1805, helping to choose the nation’s chief executive during the early years of the republic.

In his personal life, Sturges married Deborah Lewis in 1760. The couple had four children together. Their son, Lewis Burr Sturges, followed his father into national politics and served in the United States Congress, extending the family’s legislative legacy. Another descendant, his grandson Jonathan Sturges, became an important arts patron in New York City in the nineteenth century, indicating the family’s continued prominence in American public and cultural life.

Jonathan Sturges spent his life closely tied to Fairfield, Connecticut, where he was born, practiced law, held local and state offices, and to which he returned after his federal service. He died at his home in Fairfield on October 4, 1819. His career as lawyer, legislator, and judge spanned the colonial, revolutionary, and early national eras, and his work in both state and federal institutions contributed to the legal and political foundations of the United States.