Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library The University of Michigan Jonathan Dayton Papers |
Born in Elizabethtown, N.J., Jonathan Dayton entered the military after graduating from Princeton in 1776, serving as aide de camp to Major General John Sullivan in 1779 and as a Captain in the 3rd Battalion, New Jersey Line, under his father, Colonel Elias Dayton. After the war he studied law and was admitted to the bar, and rose rapidly to political prominence. Dayton was elected to the New Jersey Assembly, 1786-1787, and was its speaker in 1790. At the national level, too, he made a mark, first as a delegate to the federal Constitutional Convention, 1787, and then as a strong supporter of Hamilton in the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth U.S. Congresses. His career peaked in his service as Speaker of the House during both the Fourth and Fifth Congressional sessions.
Dayton was heavily involved in early Ohio land speculation. He held title to 250,000 acres betwen Big and Little Miami Rivers, including the present location of Dayton, Ohio. He was implicated in the Burr Conspiracy and indicted for high treason and misdemeanor on July 25, 1807, but was never brought to trial. The incident cost Dayton any pretentions to a national political career, however he was returned the New Jersey Assembly in 1814-1815. A few days before his death Dayton was visited by Lafayette during the hero's triumphant tour of America.
Papers of Jonathan Dayton, Revolutionary War soldier, New Jersey congressman.
This collection contains 55 letters written by Jonathan Dayton, 316 written to him; and includes 14 items relating to the Burr Conspiracy. Although there are scattered letters on public affairs, these manuscripts are essentially a record of Dayton's complex financial affairs.
Purchased, 1976
Transferred to Books Div.: Cincinnati, with the bye-laws of the New Jersey State Society (Trenton, 1808), which includes bound-in, Joseph Bloomfield to Jonathan Dayton, 1809 January 7, DS membership certificate to State Society of Cincinnati. Also transferred, three misc. issues of New Jersey newspapers.
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