Samuel L. Southard

After teaching school in New Jersey, he worked for several years as a tutor in the Virginia home of John Taliaferro, his father's Congressional colleague. While living in Virginia, Southard studied law with Francis T. Brooke and Judge Williams, both of Fredericksburg. Upon being admitted to the bar, he returned to New Jersey, where he was appointed law reporter by the New Jersey Legislature in 1814. Elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1815, Southard was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court to succeed Mahlon Dickerson shortly thereafter, and in 1820 served as a presidential elector. He was elected to a seat in the United States Senate over James J. Wilson, and was appointed to the remainder of Wilson's term After Wilson resigned.[1] Southard served in office from January 26, 1821 to March 3, 1823 when he resigned. During this time, he was a member of the committee that produced the Missouri Compromise.

President James Monroe selected Senator Southard to be Secretary of the Navy in September 1823, and he remained in office under President John Quincy Adams. During these years, he also served briefly as ad interim Secretary of the Treasury (1825) and Secretary of War (1828). Southard proved to be one of the most effective of the Navy's early Secretaries. He endeavored to enlarge the Navy and improve its administration, purchased land for the first Naval Hospitals, began construction of the first Navy dry docks, undertook surveys of U.S. coastal waters and promoted exploration in the Pacific Ocean. Responding to actions by influential officers, including David Porter, he reinforced the American tradition of civilian control over the military establishment. Also on Southard's watch, the Navy grew by some 50% in personnel and expenditures and expanded its reach into waters that had not previously seen an American man-of-war.

In 1829, after leaving his Navy post, Samuel Southard became New Jersey Attorney General, following Theodore Frelinghuysen in that post. Elected Governor over Peter D. Vroom by a vote of 40 to 24 by the joint session of the Legislature in 1832, he re-entered the U.S. Senate in the following year. During the next decade, he was a leader of the Whig Party and a figure of national political importance. As President pro tempore of the Senate, he was first in the presidential line of succession from April 4, 1841 to May 31, 1842 after the death of William Henry Harrison and the accession of Vice President John Tyler to the presidency. Failing health forced his resignation from the Senate in 1842. Samuel Southard died in Fredericksburg, Virginia on June 26 of that year. He was interred in the Congressional Cemetery.

During the 1820s, Southard was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, who counted among their members former presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.[2]

The destroyer USS Southard (DD-207), (later DMS-10), 1919–1946, was named in his honor. There is also a public park in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, named after him.