Dudley Chase

After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1791,[2] he studied law under Lot Hall in Westminster, Vermont.[3] In 1793, he was admitted to the Vermont bar.[4]

Chase lived, farmed, and practiced law in Randolph, Vermont.[5] He was Orange County State's Attorney from 1803 to 1812.[6] He was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1805 to 1812, serving as Speaker from 1808 to 1812.[7] He was elected to the state constitutional conventions in 1814 and 1822.[8]

Chase was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democratic-Republican in 1812 and served from 1813 to 1817, when he resigned.[9] He was the first ever Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, serving from 1816 to 1817.[10]

After resigning in 1817, he returned to Vermont, where he was Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court until 1821.[11] He served as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1823 to 1824.[12]

He returned to national politics in 1825 when he was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the U.S. Senate, serving until 1831.[13]

Dudley Chase died in Randolph on February 23, 1846.[14] He was buried in Randolph Center Cemetery.[15]

Dudley Chase was the son of Dudley & Alice (Corbett) Chase, an uncle of Salmon P. Chase[16] (Treasury Secretary, 1861–1864 and Chief Justice of the United States, 1864–1873) and Dudley Chase Denison[17] (a U.S. Representative from Vermont). He was the brother of Philander Chase.[18]

Dudley Chase's Randolph Center home still stands and is a private residence.[19]

Chase is one of between 40 and 50 U.S. Senators for whom the Senate historian has no portrait, photograph, or other likeness on file.[20] According to Randolph historian and Chase descendant Harriet M. Chase, no portrait of Dudley Chase was ever painted. Other efforts to locate a likeness of Dudley Chase have also proved unsuccessful.[21]

• United States Congress. "Dudley Chase (id: C000325)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Dartmouth Alumni Bio from 1867