Representative Lorenzo De Medici Sweat

Lorenzo De Medici Sweat (May 26, 1818 – July 26, 1898), also written L.D.M. Sweat, was a U.S. Representative from Maine and a prominent lawyer and Democratic politician in the mid-nineteenth century. He was born in Parsonsfield, then in the Massachusetts District of Maine, where he spent his early years and received his first formal education. He attended Parsonsfield Seminary, a Free Will Baptist school, which provided the foundation for his subsequent academic and professional pursuits.

Sweat continued his education at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, from which he graduated in 1837. After college he studied law under Rufus McIntire, a notable Maine lawyer and politician, and then enrolled at Harvard Law School. He completed his legal studies there and graduated in 1840. That same year he was admitted to the bar and began his legal career in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he practiced law for a period before returning to his native state.

After his return to Maine, Sweat settled in Portland, where he established a successful law practice and became active in local civic affairs. In 1849 he married Margaret Jane Mussey, a novelist, and the couple purchased a home adjoining that of the author and critic John Neal, situating themselves within Portland’s literary and cultural community. Lorenzo and Margaret Sweat had no children, but their household later became notable for its architectural and cultural significance in the city.

Sweat’s public career advanced through a series of local and state offices. In Portland he served in various municipal capacities, most prominently as Portland City Solicitor from 1856 to 1860. He then entered state politics, serving as a member of the Maine State Senate from 1861 to 1862. His legislative work at the state level, combined with his legal reputation and party activity, positioned him for election to national office as a Democrat during the Civil War era.

As a member of the Democratic Party representing Maine, Sweat was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1863, to March 3, 1865. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, as the nation was engaged in civil war and confronting fundamental questions of union and emancipation. As the only Democrat in Maine’s congressional delegation, he was the sole member from his state to oppose the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery. He was defeated for reelection in 1864 and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to Congress again in 1866, but he remained an active participant in the democratic process and in representing the interests of his constituents and party.

Following his congressional service, Sweat continued to play a role in national and international affairs. He was appointed an honorary commissioner to the World’s Exposition in Paris in 1867 and to the exposition in Vienna in 1873, reflecting his standing in public life and his interest in international exhibitions and culture. Within the Democratic Party, he served as a delegate to the Union National Convention held in Philadelphia in 1868 and to the Democratic National Convention in 1872. That same year he was selected as a member of the Democratic National Committee, on which he served until 1876, helping to shape party policy and strategy during the Reconstruction era.

In his later years, Sweat remained a respected figure in Portland’s civic and cultural life. The Portland residence he and his wife occupied, known as the McLellan-Sweat Mansion, became one of the city’s most significant historic homes. After his death in Portland on July 26, 1898, he was interred in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine. A decade later, in 1908, his widow’s bequest transformed their home into a cornerstone of the city’s artistic life: the house was adapted for use as part of the Portland Museum of Art, and the bequest also funded the construction of the L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries as an addition to the rear of the property. The McLellan-Sweat Mansion was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970, ensuring that Lorenzo De Medici Sweat’s name would remain associated not only with Maine’s political history but also with its cultural and architectural heritage.