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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # NH 77358-KN:  Samuel Southard.  Portrait by A.S. Conrad

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Samuel Southard (1787-1842) --
7th Secretary of the Navy, 16 September 1823 - 3 March 1829

Samuel Lewis Southard was born in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, on 9 June 1787. After graduating from college in 1804, he lived for several years in Virginia, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. He returned to New Jersey in 1811. Elected to the State Assembly in 1815, Southard was appointed to the State Supreme Court shortly thereafter. He left the Court in 1820 and entered the U.S. Senate, where he was a member of the committee that produced the Missouri Compromise.

President James Monroe selected Senator Southard to be Secretary of the Navy in September 1823, and he remained in office under President John Quincy Adams. Southard proved to be one of the most effective of the Navy's early Secretaries. He endeavored to enlarge the Navy and improve its administration, purchased land for the first Naval Hospitals, began construction of the first Navy dry docks, undertook surveys of U.S. coastal waters and promoted exploration in the Pacific Ocean. Responding to actions by influential officers, including David Porter, he reinforced the American tradition of civilian control over the military establishment. Also on Southard's "watch", the Navy grew by some fifty percent in personnel and expenditures and expanded its reach into waters that had not previously seen an American man-of-war.

In 1829, after leaving his Navy post, Samuel Southard became Attorney General of New Jersey. After briefly serving as that state's Governor in 1832-33, he reentered the U.S. Senate. During the next decade, he was a leader of the Whig party and a figure of National political importance. Failing health forced his resignation from the Senate in 1842. Samuel Southard died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on 26 June of that year.

USS Southard (DD-207, later DMS-10), 1919-1946, was named in honor of Secretary of the Navy Samuel Southard.

This page features our only images of Samuel Southard.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

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Photo #: NH 77358-KN

Samuel Southard
,
Secretary of the Navy, 16 September 1823 - 3 March 1829

Portrait by A.S. Conrad.

Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 78KB; 615 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54796

Samuel Southard
,
Secretary of the Navy, 16 September 1823 - 3 March 1829

Stipple engraving, published during the 19th Century.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 83KB; 565 x 675 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 31 March 2000
Link added 19 April 2002