Oliver Wolcott, Jr.

Born: Litchfield; January 11, 1760
Died: New York City; June 1, 1833

Entry by Albert E. Van Dusen

Son and grandson of Connecticut governors, Wolcott was graduated from Yale in 1778, after which he studied law under Tapping Reeve (1744-1823). Always a public servant, both in the Connecticut and Federal governments, in 1782 he was appointed to the committee of the pay table, after an apprenticeship as a clerk; 1784, state commissioner to settle accounts with the United States and the first state comptroller; 1789, auditor of the new Federal Treasury; 1791, United States comptroller; 1795, secretary of the treasury, after Alexander Hamilton's resignation; and 180l, judge of the Second United States Circuit Court.

Having a life-long interest in finance, in 1791 he helped Hamilton organize the Bank of the United States, the first Federal bank, later serving on its board; 1803, he became president of the Merchant's Bank of New York; and 1812, president of the Bank of America, which he had helped to launch.

On questions of fiscal policy he was a strong admirer of and adherent to Hamilton's policies and constantly sought his advice. In 1803, with Hamilton's aid, he moved to New York where, with four leading New York merchants, Oliver Wolcott & Company was founded. Although it was dissolved after a year, Wolcott continued in business, concentrating his efforts in the China trade, until 1815 when he returned to Litchfield.

His outspoken defense of the War of 1812 brought him to the attention of Connecticut's young Republican Party, and in 1816 the newly-formed Toleration Party nominated him for governor. Although he lost to John Cotton Smith (1765-1845), he narrowly defeated him the next year. He won again in 1818, with the Tolerationists capturing both houses of the assembly, enabling a constitutional convention to be held and a new constitution to replace the Charter of 1662 to be formulated and adopted.

A strong liberal leader, he tried vainly to force his fellow citizens to accept new ideas, and to realize the benefits to be gained by encouraging industry, scientific agriculture, and better transportation facilities. To no avail he beseeched the assembly to enact many social reforms: improvement of schools and prisons; protection for unfortunate but honest debtors; judicial and banking reform; and much more. The assembly, committed to the strictest economy, even reduced the salary of state officers and members of its own body. He was able, however, to obtain comprehensive tax reform, shifting the burden to the wealthy; a revision of public statutes; the right of immigrants to own property; and a prohibition on imprisoning women for debt, a beginning for women's rights.

The aging governor was not renominated by his party in 1826. Running as an independent, he was narrowly defeated. Thus ended the distinguished political career of a man of great integrity, culture, ability, and enlightened patriotism---a man ahead of his times.

For Further Reading

Morse, Jarvis Means. A Neglected Period of Connecticut's History, 1818-1850. New Haven, 1933. See especially pp. 20-86.

Purcell, Richard J. Connecticut in Transition: 1775-1818. Middletown, Connecticut, 1963. See especially pp. 211-251.

* Entry under revision.