Erastus Root

Erastus Root ( born March 16, 1773 in Hebron, then Windham County, Tolland County today, Connecticut, † December 24, 1846 in New York City ) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Career

Root graduated in 1793 from Dartmouth College and became a teacher. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1796 and then practiced in Delhi (New York).

He decided to pursue a career in politics when he was elected to the New York State Assembly and worked there from 1798 to 1802. He was elected in 1802 as Jefferson Republicans in the 8th U.S. Congress then, where he represented the 14th district. He served from March 4, 1803 to March 3, 1805 U.S. House of Representatives. After retiring from the U.S. Congress, he returned to his job back as a lawyer. After a few years he decided in 1808 for the 11th U.S. Congress to stand. After his successful election in the 12th District, he worked on 4 March 1809 to 3 March in 1811 the U.S. Congress. During this time he was the chairman on the Committee on Claims. Then he was elected to the Senate from the Middle District of New York, where he remained from 1811 to 1815. He then stepped up to a third time for the U.S. Congress, defeating John Adams here. Root was elected to the 14th U.S. Congress, where he represented the 8th District. He took there on December 26, 1815 his seat and held it until March 3, 1817. During this time, he had presided over the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department. Then he ran again successfully for the State Assembly, where he worked from 1818 to 1822. During this time he was here in 1821 as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of New York. Later, he also worked as Vice Governor of New York under Joseph C. Yates (1823-1824), but he was the re-election attempt to Samuel Young, both on the same ballot, defeated. He returned again in the State Assembly, where he worked from 1826 to 1828 and again in 1830. During this time he held in the years 1827, 1828 and 1830, the post of speaker. In 1830 he was elected as a Jacksonian to the 22 U.S. Congress, where he represented the 11th district. He was there on 4 March 1831 to 3 March 1833. During this time he was the chairman of the Agriculture Committee. When he again took up in 1838 as a Whig for the U.S. House of Representatives, he suffered a defeat. Then he returned one last time to the Senate from New York, where he remained from 1840 to 1844. He also worked for many years as a Major General in the New York Guard.

Erastus Root died in 1846 in New York City and was buried in the Old Cemetery, but later in the Woodland Cemetery, both in Delhi (New York), reburied.