Representative Andrew Jackson Thayer

Andrew Jackson Thayer (November 27, 1818 – April 28, 1873) was an attorney and Democratic U.S. congressman from Oregon who also served as United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, district attorney, and justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. A native of New York state, he was the brother of William W. Thayer, who later became governor of Oregon. Over the course of his career he participated in the legislative process during one contested term in Congress, represented Oregon during a significant period in American history, and held several important legal and judicial posts in his adopted state.

Thayer was born in Lima, Livingston County, New York, on November 27, 1818. He attended the public schools of New York and read law, entering the legal profession in his native state. He began his legal practice in Lima, where he worked in partnership with his brother William W. Thayer. The brothers established themselves as practicing attorneys in the community before Andrew Thayer decided to seek new opportunities in the Pacific Northwest.

In March 1853, Thayer set out for Oregon Territory, traveling by ox team along the Oregon Trail. He arrived in Salem, Oregon, in August 1853 and soon settled on a farm near Corvallis in Benton County. There he combined agriculture with the continued practice of law, building a reputation in the local legal community. His abilities brought him to the attention of national authorities, and in 1859 President James Buchanan appointed him United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Thayer held this federal prosecutorial post for approximately six months, resigning after stating that he preferred to work as a defense attorney rather than as a prosecutor.

In November 1860, Thayer was elected as a Democratic United States Representative from Oregon’s at-large district. His election, however, occurred amid a complex and ultimately decisive dispute over the proper date for congressional elections in Oregon. Earlier that year, in June 1860, Oregon had held its general election, at which George K. Shiel was elected to the same congressional seat Thayer would later claim. After the June election, the Oregon House of Representatives passed a bill moving the date of U.S. congressional elections to November, effective immediately, and the Oregon Senate passed a similar bill that did not apply to the current election. The two measures were never reconciled or signed into law, yet an election was held in November, and Thayer’s election was duly certified. He took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in March 1861, representing Oregon as a member of the Democratic Party and participating in the democratic process during the opening months of the Civil War.

Shiel promptly contested Thayer’s right to the seat, arguing that the Oregon constitution had been circumvented and that no valid law had been enacted to change the election date from June to November. Thayer responded that the election date specified in the Oregon constitution applied only to the state’s first congressional election in 1858 and that the June 1860 election was therefore invalid. In his view, in the absence of a statute providing for subsequent congressional elections, Oregon nonetheless retained a right to representation in Congress, and the clearly expressed intent of the Oregon Legislature to hold a November election—an election that had, in fact, occurred and had elected him—should be honored. On July 30, 1861, the House Committee on Elections, chaired by Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, sided with Shiel. The committee held that the June election date in the state constitution was intended to apply to all congressional elections and that even if the legislature had successfully changed the date, such a change would have been unconstitutional under the state’s fundamental law. Because the legislature had not actually enacted a valid change, the committee concluded that Shiel’s June 1860 election should be upheld and that Thayer should be unseated.

The matter provoked debate on the floor of the House. Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania agreed with Thayer’s constitutional argument, contending that the committee’s decision violated Article I, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, which grants state legislatures the power to set the times, places, and manner of holding elections for Congress. Stevens proposed an amendment declaring the seat vacant rather than awarding it to either claimant, but his amendment was defeated by a vote of 77 to 37. The House then adopted the committee’s recommendation, stripped Thayer of his seat, and immediately administered the oath of office to George K. Shiel. Thayer’s brief tenure thus ended in one of the more notable election contests involving an Oregon representative in the mid-nineteenth century.

Following his unseating from Congress, Thayer returned to his law practice in Oregon. He resumed private practice in Corvallis and was joined there by his brother William W. Thayer, who would later serve as governor of Oregon. Andrew Thayer also continued in public legal service. From 1862 to 1864 he served as district attorney for Oregon’s second judicial district, prosecuting cases on behalf of the state and solidifying his standing in the Oregon bar. His experience as both a former U.S. Attorney and a district attorney, combined with his legislative background, made him a prominent figure in Oregon’s legal community.

In 1870, Thayer was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court to succeed Justice John Kelsay. As a justice of the state’s highest court, he also “rode circuit” for Oregon’s second judicial district, performing both appellate and trial-level judicial duties in accordance with the practice of the time. His service on the bench was cut short when he died in office before completing the six-year term to which he had been elected. Andrew Jackson Thayer died in Corvallis, Oregon, on April 28, 1873. He was interred in Crystal Lake Masonic Cemetery in Corvallis, leaving a legacy as a lawyer, legislator, and jurist who helped shape Oregon’s early legal and political institutions.