Uriah Tracy
Uriah Tracy was an American lawyer and politician from Connecticut. He served in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. From May to November 1800, Tracy served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
Youth, family life and early career
Tracy was born in Franklin in the Connecticut Colony. In his youth, he received a liberal education. His name is listed among those in a company from Roxbury that responded to the Lexington Alarm at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. He later served in the Roxbury Company as a clerk.In 1778, Tracy graduated from Yale University, his contemporaries including Noah Webster. He was admitted to the bar in 1781 and then practiced law in Litchfield for many years.
Tracy had five children with Susannah Bull; Sally, Susan, Julia, George and Caroline. All five would survive to adulthood. His daughter Sally was married to jurist James Gould.
Political career
He served in the state legislature in 1788 to 1793 and in the US House of Representatives from April 8, 1793 to October 13, 1796 after he had been chosen as a Federalist.He resigned his seat when he was elected to the US Senate in place of Jonathan Trumbull Jr., who had resigned.
He has the distinction of being the first member of Congress to be interred in the Congressional Cemetery. His descendants include the mathematician Curtis Tracy McMullen and the author Jeanie Gould.
In 1803, he and several other New England politicians proposed secession of New England from the Union because of the growing influence of Jeffersonian Democrats that had been helped by the Louisiana Purchase, which they felt further diminished Northern influence.
Death and aftermath
Tracy died in Washington, D.C on July 19, 1807 at the age of 52, of a long illness which caused dropsy. He was buried at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.On October 25, 1807, Chauncey Goodrich was elected by the Connecticut General Assembly to serve the remaining portion of Tracy's term.