some 50% in personnel and expenditures and expanded its reach into waters that had not previously seen an American man-of-war. Political life In 1829 Southard became New Jersey Attorney General, succeeding Theodore Frelinghuysen. In 1832, the state legislature elected him Governor over Peter D. Vroom by a vote of 40 to 24. In 1833, he was again elected to the U.S. Senate. During the next decade, he was a leader of the Whig Party and attained national prominence as chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs. As President pro tempore of the Senate, he was first in the presidential line of succession after the death of William Henry Harrison and the accession of Vice President John Tyler to the presidency. Failing health forced Southard to resign from the Senate in 1842. He died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 26, 1842. Southard was buried in Washington's Congressional Cemetery. Societies During the 1820s, Southard was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, who counted among their members former presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions. In 1839, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Legacy The destroyer , (later DMS-10), 1919–1946, was named in his honor. There is also a public park in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, named after him. See also List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899) References Sources Dictionary of American Biography. Birkner, Michael. Samuel L. Southard: Jeffersonian Whig. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984. Ershkowitz, Herbert. Samuel L. Southard: A Case Study of Whig Leadership in the Age of Jackson. New Jersey History 88 (Spring 1970): 5-24. Samuel L. Southard Papers (1783-1893),(bulk 1802-1846), Finding Aid C0250, consisting of 170 boxes and 73.6 lineal feet of original documents of financial and personal affairs, including correspondence from Charles Muir Campbell of Princeton, NJ. Most boxes are organized by year and subject. Access to these documents is Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Manuscripts Division. External links New Jersey Governor Samuel Lewis Southard, National Governors Association Samuel Lewis Southard at The Political Graveyard |- |- |- |- |- |- 1787 births 1842 deaths People from Bernards Township, New Jersey American people of Dutch descent American Presbyterians United States Secretaries of the Navy Monroe administration