John Bacon (Massachusetts politician)

{{Short description|American politician, Massachusetts (1738–1820)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = John Bacon

| image name =

| state = Massachusetts

| district = 1st

| term = March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1803

| predecessor = Theodore Sedgwick

| successor = William Eustis

| order2 = President of the
Massachusetts State Senate

| term2 = 1801–1803{{Citation|last= New England Historic Genealogical Society| title =Memorial biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society Vol. 6 |page = 401 | publisher = New England Historic Genealogical Society| location =Boston, MA | year = 1905 }}

| predecessor2 =

| successor2 =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1738|4|5|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Canterbury, Connecticut Colony, British America

| death_date = {{death date and age|1820|10|25|1738|4|5|mf=y}}

| death_place = Stockbridge, Massachusetts, U.S.

| resting_place = Stockbridge Cemetery

| spouse = Elizabeth Goldthwaite

| children = Ezekiel Bacon

| alma_mater = Princeton

| profession =

| religion =

| party = Democratic-Republican

}}

John Bacon (April 5, 1738 – October 25, 1820) was an American politician, judge, and pastor from Massachusetts.

John Bacon was born in Canterbury in the Connecticut Colony on April 5, 1738. Upon graduating from Princeton College he spent some time preaching in Somerset County, Maryland. On September 25, 1771, he and Mr. John Hunt were appointed as colleague pastors over the Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts.{{Citation |title= The Pilgrims of Boston and their Descendants|last=Bridgeman |first=Thomas |year= 1856|publisher=D. Appleton and Company |location=New York |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oPQWAAAAYAAJ&q=the+pilgrims+of+boston |access-date=April 29, 2009 }} Bacon ran into difficulties with his congregation over doctrinal issues and his preaching style, which was described as "argumentative... approaching the severe."Bridgeman p. 60 He was dismissed from the Old South Church on February 8, 1775.

File:WLA brooklynmuseum Elizabeth Goldthwaite.jpg, 1771.]]

After leaving the church Bacon moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He was a charter member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{cite web|title=Charter of Incorporation|url=http://www.amacad.org/about/charter.aspx#chartermbrs|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 28, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103142200/https://www.amacad.org/about/charter.aspx#chartermbrs|archive-date=January 3, 2011|url-status=dead}} He served as a Magistrate, Representative, Associate and Presiding Judge of the Common Pleas, Member and President of the State Senate, and Member of Congress.

Bacon served on a committee of safety in 1777 and was a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1779 and 1780. He alternately served in both chambers of the Massachusetts legislature at various points between 1780 and 1806, becoming the president of the Senate in 1806. {{Biographical Directory of Congress|B000017}}

In 1788, he was a candidate for the 4th congressional district,{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/jm214q43z |access-date=2024-12-21 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}} and was later elected to represent the 1st congressional district for a single term in 1800 during which he chaired the Committee on Elections. After leaving Congress, he served as presiding judge of the court of common pleas, and was appointed chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1809.

Bacon married Elizabeth, the widow of Alexander Cumming and daughter of Ezekiel Goldthwait, Register of the Deeds for Suffolk County, and died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, October 25, 1820. Bacon is interred in the Stockbridge Cemetery. His son, Ezekiel, and grandson, William, also served as congressmen, the latter from New York.