People of the Revolutionary War | The Founding Fathers - An Overview | Jonathan Dayton
Jonathan Dayton (1760-1824) - New Jersey
Image: Courtesy of National Archives, Records of Exposition, Anniversary,
and Memorial Commissions
Dayton was born at Elizabethtown (present Elizabeth), NJ, in 1760. His father
was a storekeeper who was also active in local and state politics. The
youth obtained a good education, graduating from the College of New
Jersey (later Princeton) in 1776. He immediately entered the Continental
Army and saw extensive action. Achieving the rank of captain by
the age of 19 and serving under his father, Gen. Elias Dayton, and the
Marquis de Lafayette, he was a
prisoner of the British for a time and participated in the Battle of
Yorktown, VA.
After the war, Dayton returned home, studied
law, and established a practice. During the 1780s he divided his time
between land speculation, legal practice, and politics. He sat in the
assembly in 1786-87. In the latter year, he was chosen as a delegate
to the Constitutional
Convention after the leaders of his political faction, his father
and his patron, Abraham Clark, declined to attend. Dayton did not
arrive at Philadelphia until June 21 but thereafter faithfully took
part in the proceedings. He spoke with moderate frequency during the
debates and, though objecting to some provisions of the Constitution,
signed it.
After sitting in the Continental
Congress in 1788, Dayton became a foremost Federalist legislator
in the new government. Although elected as a representative, he did
not serve in the First Congress in 1789, preferring instead to become
a member of the New Jersey council and speaker of the state assembly.
In 1791, however, he entered the U.S. House of Representatives
(1791-99), becoming Speaker in the Fourth and Fifth Congresses. During
this period, he backed Hamilton's
fiscal program, suppression of the Whisky
Rebellion, Jay's Treaty, and a host
of other Federalist measures.
In personal matters Dayton purchased Boxwood
Hall in 1795 as his home in Elizabethtown and resided there until his
death. He was elevated to the U.S. Senate (1799-1805). He supported
the Louisiana
Purchase (1803) and, in conformance with his Federalist views,
opposed the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801.
In 1806 illness prevented Dayton from
accompanying Aaron Burr's abortive
expedition to the Southwest, where the latter apparently intended to
conquer Spanish lands and create an empire. Subsequently indicted for
treason, Dayton was not prosecuted but could not salvage his national
political career. He remained popular in New Jersey, however,
continuing to hold local offices and sitting in the assembly
(1814-15).
In 1824 the 63-year-old Dayton played host to
Lafayette during his triumphal tour of the United States, and his
death at Elizabeth later that year may have been hastened by the
exertion and excitement. He was laid to rest at St. John's Episcopal
Church in his hometown. Because he owned 250,000 acres of Ohio land
between the Big and Little Miami Rivers, the city of Dayton, was named
after him--his major monument. He had married Susan Williamson, but
the date of their wedding is unknown. They had two daughters.
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