Representative Roger Griswold

Roger Griswold (May 21, 1762 – October 25, 1812) was a lawyer, politician, and judge from Connecticut who became a leading Federalist figure in the early national period. He served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives, later sat as a judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and ultimately became the 22nd governor of Connecticut. A member of the prominent Griswold family, he was part of a political lineage that exerted considerable influence in colonial and early state politics.

Griswold was born in Lyme in the Connecticut Colony to Matthew Griswold and Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold. His family was deeply rooted in public life: his father, Matthew Griswold, served as the 17th governor of Connecticut from 1784 to 1786, and his maternal grandfather, Roger Wolcott, was the colonial governor of Connecticut from 1751 to 1754. Raised in this environment of public service, he pursued classical studies and entered Yale College at the age of fourteen. He graduated from Yale in 1780, marking the beginning of a career that combined law and politics. Late in life, his contributions were recognized academically when he received a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard University in 1811 and a Doctor of Law degree from Yale in 1812.

After completing his undergraduate studies, Griswold read law under the supervision of his father and was admitted to the bar in 1783. He began the practice of law in Norwich, Connecticut, establishing himself professionally in one of the state’s important commercial centers. In 1793 he made an initial but unsuccessful bid for a seat in Congress in a special election. He subsequently returned to Lyme in 1794, continuing his legal practice and remaining active in Federalist political circles. On October 27, 1798, he married Fanny Rogers; together they had ten children, further extending the reach of the Griswold family in American public life.

Griswold was elected as a Federalist candidate to the Fourth United States Congress and to the five succeeding Congresses, representing Connecticut in the U.S. House of Representatives. His service in Congress began on March 4, 1795, and continued until his resignation in 1805, prior to the convening of the Ninth Congress. As a member of the Federalist Party, he contributed to the legislative process during six terms in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his Connecticut constituents during a formative period in American political development. During the Sixth Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business and as a member of the influential Committee on Ways and Means, placing him at the center of legislative organization and fiscal policy. He was also a candidate for the United States Senate in 1800. In 1801 President John Adams offered him the post of Secretary of War, a significant mark of confidence in his abilities, but Griswold declined the appointment.

Griswold’s congressional career was marked by intense partisan conflict between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. On January 30, 1798, during a hearing on whether to remove Senator William Blount of Tennessee from office, he became embroiled in a notorious altercation with Matthew Lyon, a Democratic-Republican congressman from Vermont. Lyon, who opposed Griswold politically, was pointedly ignoring him, prompting Griswold to call Lyon a “scoundrel.” Lyon retaliated by spitting in Griswold’s face on the House floor. Two weeks later, after the House declined to expel Lyon for the incident, Griswold attacked Lyon with his cane in the chamber, an episode that vividly illustrated the era’s fierce partisan tensions.

After leaving Congress in 1805, Griswold continued to play a prominent role in Federalist politics. In 1803 he joined several other New England Federalist leaders in discussing and advocating the possibility of New England secession from the Union, motivated by alarm over the growing influence of Jeffersonian Democrats and the implications of the Louisiana Purchase, which they believed would dilute Northern political power. He remained an active Federalist strategist and statesman in Connecticut, reflecting the party’s regional strength in New England during the early nineteenth century.

Griswold’s judicial and executive service in Connecticut capped his public career. He served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut from 1807 to 1809, bringing his legal training and legislative experience to the state’s highest tribunal. He also participated in national politics as a presidential elector on the Federalist ticket of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Rufus King. In 1809 he was elected lieutenant governor of Connecticut, serving in that office until 1811. That year he was elected governor of Connecticut as a Federalist and held the governorship from 1811 until his unexpected death in 1812. As governor, he led the state during the tense prelude to the War of 1812, a period in which New England Federalists were increasingly critical of national Democratic-Republican policies.

Roger Griswold died unexpectedly in Norwich, Connecticut, on October 25, 1812, at the age of 50 while still serving as governor. He was interred in Griswold Cemetery at Black Hall, in the town of Lyme, which is now Old Lyme, Connecticut. His legacy endured through both his public record and his descendants. His grandson Matthew Griswold served as a state representative in Connecticut in the 1860s and was later elected to two terms in the United States Congress from Pennsylvania in the 1890s. His great-grandson was Francis Joseph Hall (1857–1932). In 1815, when a new town was incorporated in eastern Connecticut, it was named Griswold in his honor, reflecting the lasting impact of his family and his own career on the political history of the state.