Samuel White (American politician)

White was born December 1770, in Mispillion Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, near Harrington, close to Whitesburg, the son of Judge Thomas White. The future Methodist Bishop, Francis Asbury, hid in this house during the Revolutionary War years of 1778 to 1780. Methodists were generally suspected of being Loyalists, and Thomas White was arrested on this charge. While in the White home, Asbury developed many of the ideas that would shape the future of American Methodism.State of Delaware; [http://www.state.de.us/sos/dpa/markers/kc/HOME%20OF%20JUDGE%20THOMAS%20WHITE%20REGUE%20OF%20FRANCIS%20ASBURY%20KC%2046.shtml Home of Judge Thomas White, Refuge of Francis Asbury.] Converted by Asbury, the previously devout Anglican family became members of the Methodist Church.

Samuel White was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1793 after graduating from Cokesbury College in Maryland. White served two years as a captain in the United States Army and was named adjutant general of Delaware in 1803.

White's father, Judge Thomas White, was a member of the colonial Maryland legislature, the Delaware House of Assembly, the Chief Justice of the Kent County Court of Common Pleas, and delegate to the Delaware Constitutional Conventions of 1776 and 1792.

Upon the resignation of Dr. Henry Latimer in 1801, White was chosen as U.S. Senator. He was then elected for full terms of his own in 1802 and 1808, and would serve as a senator from February 28, 1801, until his death November 4, 1809.

White strongly opposed slavery, but was especially known for his opposition to the Louisiana Purchase. He is quoted as saying "When I contemplate the evils that may arise to these States, from this intended incorporation of Louisiana into the Union, I would rather see it given to France, or to Spain, or to any other nation ... upon the mere condition that no citizen of the United States should ever settle within its limits ..."{{Cite web|url=https://www.kcet.org/redefine/what-do-the-la-freeway-system-and-the-lewis-and-clark-expedition-have-in-common-its-all-in|title=What Do the L.A. Freeway System and the Lewis and Clark Expedition Have in Common? It's All in the Numbers|last=Miller|first=Char|date=2013-02-13|website=KCET|language=en|access-date=2019-04-26}}

"During the U.S. Senate trial of Timothy Pickering in 1809, on the charge of the embezzlement of public funds, White defended him in the words: 'The accused is not in default, but under the awful visitation of God: and, as he is deranged, our proceedings scarcely deserve the name of a mock trial.' Wilson Cary Nicholas, then congressman from Virginia, called out: 'I will not submit to hear our proceedings called by the name of a mock trial." Whereupon White at once replied: "It is a mock trial, and I am ready to give the gentleman, if he is offended, satisfaction at any time or place.' The sentiment in favor of dueling was so strong at that time that it does not appear on the records that the president of the senate administered any rebuke to the contestants. Mr. White had a national reputation as a marksman, and performed remarkable feats in shooting." By the time of his last session in the U.S. Congress he was one of only a very few Federalists still in office.

White died at Wilmington and is buried there in the Old Swedes Episcopal Church Cemetery.

The General Assembly chose the U.S. Senators, who took office March 4 for a six-year term. In this case he was initially completing the existing term, the vacancy caused by the resignation of Henry Latimer.

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)

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• {{cite book |last = Conrad |first = Henry Clay. |year = 1903|title = Samuel White and his Father, Judge Thomas White |publisher = Dictionary of American Biography |location = Wilmington, DE }}
• {{cite book |last = Munroe |first = John A. |year = 1954 |title = Federalist Delaware 1775-1815 |publisher = Rutgers University |location = New Brunswick, NJ}}

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• [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000392 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]
• [http://www.russpickett.com/history/sentbio.htm#white Delaware’s Members of Congress]
• {{Find a Grave|7503345}}
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/white8.html#R9M0JH9SO The Political Graveyard]
• [http://www.state.de.us/sos/dpa/markers/kc/HOME%20OF%20JUDGE%20THOMAS%20WHITE%20REGUE%20OF%20FRANCIS%20ASBURY%20KC%2046.shtml State of Delaware]

• Delaware Historical Society; [http://www.hsd.org/ website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961231010053/http://hsd.org/ |date=1996-12-31 }}
• University of Delaware; [http://www.lib.udel.edu/ Library website]

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Category:1770 births

Category:1809 deaths

Category:Methodists from Delaware

Category:Politicians from Wilmington, Delaware

Category:Delaware lawyers

Category:Delaware Federalists

Category:United States senators from Delaware

Category:Federalist Party United States senators

Category:People from colonial Delaware

Category:People from Harrington, Delaware

Category:19th-century United States senators