Representative Chauncey Fitch Cleveland

Chauncey Fitch Cleveland (February 16, 1799 – June 6, 1887) was an American politician, a United States representative and the 31st governor of Connecticut. Born in Canterbury, Connecticut, he attended the common schools and, beginning at the age of fifteen, supported himself in part by teaching school, a pursuit he continued until he was twenty. During these early years he also began the study of law, preparing for a professional career while still engaged in teaching.

Cleveland was admitted to the bar in 1819 and commenced the practice of law in Hampton, Connecticut. On December 13, 1821, he married Diantha Hovey (1800–1867). After her death, he married Helen Cornelia Litchfield on January 22, 1869. While building his legal practice, he became increasingly active in public affairs, laying the foundation for a long career in state and national politics.

Cleveland entered the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1826 and served multiple, often nonconsecutive terms in that body in 1826–1829, 1832, 1835, 1836, 1838, 1847, and 1848. He quickly emerged as a legislative leader, serving as speaker of the Connecticut House in 1836 and again in 1838. In addition to his legislative work, he held important state offices: he was state’s attorney in 1832 and state bank commissioner in 1838, positions that reflected the confidence placed in his legal and administrative abilities. In 1841 he moved from Hampton to Norwich, Connecticut, broadening his professional and political base while continuing to practice law.

As a member of the Democratic Party, Cleveland rose to statewide prominence when he was elected governor of Connecticut in 1842. He was reelected in 1843 and served as the 31st governor from May 4, 1842, to May 1, 1844. His tenure occurred during a period of economic and political adjustment in the state, and he oversaw the administration of Connecticut’s laws and institutions in the wake of the state’s early nineteenth-century constitutional changes. After leaving the governorship, he resumed the practice of law in Hampton, maintaining his influence in state politics and public life.

Cleveland later extended his public service to the national level. Elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses, he represented Connecticut in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1853. During these two terms in Congress, he contributed to the legislative process at a time of mounting sectional tensions in the United States, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his Connecticut constituents as the nation grappled with issues related to expansion, slavery, and compromise.

In the years leading up to the Civil War, Cleveland’s political allegiance shifted as he became affiliated with the newly organized Republican Party. He was a strong supporter of the federal government during the Civil War and, for several years thereafter, acted with the Republican Party. He served as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1856 and 1860 and was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1860, participating in the electoral process that brought Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. In 1861, he was a member of the Peace Congress held in Washington, D.C., an extraordinary gathering of statesmen from across the country that sought, unsuccessfully, to devise means to prevent the impending conflict between North and South.

Cleveland continued to play a role in Connecticut politics during and after the war. He returned to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1863 and 1866, again serving as speaker in 1863. After these final periods of legislative leadership, he retired from public life, devoting himself to agricultural pursuits and the continued practice of law. He spent his later years principally in Hampton, where he had long maintained personal and professional ties.

Chauncey Fitch Cleveland died in Hampton, Connecticut, on June 6, 1887, at the age of 88. He was interred at South Cemetery in Hampton, closing a long life marked by repeated service to his state and nation in legislative, executive, and party roles across a period of profound change in American political history.