Nathaniel B. Smithers - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Nathaniel Barratt Smithers (October 8, 1818 - January 16, 1896) was a was an American lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party, who served as U. S. Representative from Delaware.

Early life and family

Smithers was born in Dover, Delaware, the son of the county prothonotary, Nathaniel and Susan Fisher Barratt Smithers. He was educated at Ezra Scovell's school in Dover and then at the West Nottingham Academy under Rev. James Magraw. Earning his undergraduate degree at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1836, he entered the law department of Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with the class of 1840. He was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1841 and commenced its practice in Dover. His wife was his half cousin, Mary Smithers and they had four children, only one of whom survived into adulthood. She was the sister of diplomat Enoch Joyce Smithers. After Mary's death, Smithers married Mary Barratt Townsend of Frederica, Delaware.

Professional and political career

Beginning his political career as a Whig, he turned down the nomination to run for Congress in 1844 but did serve as clerk of the State Legislature in 1845 and 1847. He was a delegate to the Whig Convention in Philadelphia that nominated Millard Fillmore in 1848. But he became estranged with the mainstream of the Whigs in the state when the party rejected the gradual abolition of slavery and voted in local option concerning alcohol in 1847. He co-operated with the American Party but did not become a member.

He was a chair of the state delegation to the Republican Convention in Chicago that nominated Abraham Lincoln. Smithers served as secretary of state for Delaware under Governor Cannon from January 20, 1863 until November 23, 1863 when he was elected to the U.S. Congress to fill a vacancy opened with the death of Democrat William Temple. While there he served on the critical Special Committee of Reconstruction and helped turn down the efforts of Arkansas and Louisiana members to be re-admitted. He also shepherded the amendment through Congress which abolished the purchase of relief from the draft. At the Baltimore Republican Convention in 1864, he was a member of the executive committee but did not support Andrew Johnson's nomination as vice-president.

Now classified as an Unconditional Unionist, he was defeated after that one term by John A. Nicholson, a Democrat, in 1864 and returned to private practice. He did continue to lead the Delaware Republican delegation, in 1868 nominating Grant and in 1880 voting for Blaine. Back in Dover, he was president of the First National Bank and served on the school board. Dickinson College awarded him the honorary doctorate in 1890.

Death and legacy

Smithers died at Dover and is buried there in the Old Methodist or Whatcoat Cemetery.

Almanac

Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1st. U.S. Representatives took office March 4th and have a two year term.

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| Office
| Type
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| notes
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| U.S. Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

| Legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

| Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

| December 7, 1863
| March 3, 1865
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!colspan=8 style="background: #ccccff;" |United States Congressional service
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! Dates
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! Chamber
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! Committees
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|1863-1865
|38th

38th United States Congress

-House of Representatives:Before this Congress, the 1860 United States Census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 241 members...

|U.S. House

United States House of Representatives

|Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

|Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

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|at-large

Delaware's At-large congressional district

Delaware's At-large congressional district is a congressional district that includes the entire U.S. state of Delaware.It is currently represented by Democrat John C. Carney, Jr., the former Lieutenant Governor of Delaware.-Voting:-History:...

{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
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!colspan=12 style="background: #ccccff;" |Election results
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|Opponent
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| 1864
|U.S. Representative

United States House of Representatives

Republican Party (United States)

| |8,253
| |49%
|
| |John A. Nicholson

John A. Nicholson

John Anthony Nicholson was an American lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served as U. S...

| |Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

| |8,762
| |52%

External links

Places with more information

Delaware Historical Society
Delaware Historical Society
The Delaware Historical Society began in 1864 as an effort to preserve documents from the Civil War. Since then, it has expanded into a state-wide historical institution with several venues and a major museum in Wilmington and the historic Read House & Gardens in New Castle.The society...

; website; 505 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801; (302) 655-7161
University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...

; Library website; 181 South College Avenue, Newark, Delaware 19717; (302) 831-2965
Newark Free Library; 750 Library Ave., Newark, Delaware; (302) 731-7550

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