Stephen R. Bradley

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Stephen Row Bradley

| image = StephenRBradley.jpg

| office = President pro tempore of the United States Senate

| term_start = December 28, 1808

| term_end = January 8, 1809

| predecessor = Samuel Smith

| successor = John Milledge

| term_start1 = December 14, 1802

| term_end1 = October 16, 1803

| predecessor1 = Abraham Baldwin

| successor1 = John Brown

| jr/sr2 = United States Senator

| state2 = Vermont

| term_start2 = October 15, 1801

| term_end2 = March 3, 1813

| predecessor2 = Elijah Paine

| successor2 = Dudley Chase

| term_start3 = October 17, 1791

| term_end3 = March 3, 1795

| predecessor3 = (none)

| successor3 = Elijah Paine

| office4 = 9th Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives

| state4 = Vermont

| term_start4 = 1785

| term_end4 = 1786

| predecessor4 = Nathaniel Niles

| successor4 = John Strong

| birth_date = {{birth date|1754|2|20}}

| birth_place = Cheshire, Connecticut, British America

| death_date = {{death date and age|1830|12|9|1754|2|20}}

| death_place = Walpole, New Hampshire, U.S.

| resting_place = Westminster Cemetery
Westminster, Vermont

| spouse = Merab Atwater Bradley
Gratia Thankful Taylor Bradley
Belinda Willard Bradley

| children = William Czar Bradley

| relations =

| profession = Lawyer
Judge
Politician

| party = Anti-Administration
Democratic-Republican

| alma_mater = Yale

| signature = Signature of Stephen Row Bradley (1754–1830).png

}}

Stephen Row Bradley (February 20, 1754 – December 9, 1830) was an American lawyer, judge and politician. He served as a United States Senator from the state of Vermont and as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the early 1800s.

Early life

Bradley was born on February 20, 1754, in the part of Wallingford, Connecticut that is now Cheshire.Franklin Bowditch Dexter, [https://archive.org/details/biographicalske04dextgoog/page/n563 Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College: May 1763-July 1778] with Annuals of the College History, Vol. III (Henry Holt & Co.: 1903), pp. 549-52.{{cite book|last=Bradley|first=Stephen Row|title=Stephen R. Bradley: Letters of a Revolutionary War Patriot and Vermont Senator|year=2009|publisher=McFarland|page=23|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JEMGy-mT7YC&pg=PA23|isbn=9780786452521}} He was the son of Moses and Mary (Row) Bradley.{{cite book|last=Bradley|first=Stephen Row|title=Stephen R. Bradley: Letters of a Revolutionary War Patriot and Vermont Senator|year=2009|publisher=McFarland|page=16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JEMGy-mT7YC&pg=PA16|isbn=9780786452521}}{{cite book|last=Dodge|first=Prentiss Cutler|title=Encyclopedia, Vermont Biography: A Series of Authentic Biographical Sketches of the Representative Men of Vermont and Sons of Vermont in Other States, 1912|year=1912|publisher=Ullery Publishing Co.|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_tt2_3hTQxFMC/page/n58 55]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_tt2_3hTQxFMC}} He was the grandson of Stephen Bradley, a New Haven silversmith who was one of six brothers who served in Cromwell's Ironsides before emigrating to America.

Bradley graduated from Yale College in 1775.{{cite book|last=Blake|first=John Lauris|title=A biographical dictionary: comprising a summary account of the lives of the most distinguished persons of all ages, nations, and professions; including more than two thousand articles of American biography|year=1859|publisher=H. Cowperthwait & co.|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_jWo7AQAAIAAJ/page/n194 191]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_jWo7AQAAIAAJ}}

After his graduation, Bradley was commissioned as captain in the Connecticut Militia and rose to the rank of major. He commanded the Cheshire Volunteers and in December 1776, he served as adjutant. He was promoted to vendue master (auctioneer of seized enemy and Loyalist property) and quartermaster, and then served as aide-de-camp to General Wooster during the British attack on Danbury on April 27, 1777 when Wooster was fatally wounded. Bradley resigned his commission after the battle.

He received a Master of Arts degree from Yale in 1778.{{cite book|last=Hunt|first=Robert|title=Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines, Volume 5|year=1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=591|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9UbAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA591|isbn=9780415216319}} In 1779, he moved to Westminster, Vermont and studied law, directed by Tapping Reeve, founder of the Litchfield Law School.{{cite book|title=Stephen R. Bradley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JEMGy-mT7YC&pg=PA23|publisher=Stephen R. Bradley: Letters of a Revolutionary War Patriot and Vermont Senator|access-date=9 January 2014|isbn = 9780786452521|date = 2009-01-22}} Bradley was admitted to the bar in 1779 and began the practice of law in Westminster, becoming an important citizen of the town.{{cite book|last=Poland|first=J & J M|title=Vermont: Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont|year=1876|publisher=J & J M Poland|page=169|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8UgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA169}}{{cite book|last=Haas|first=Jessie|title=Revolutionary Westminster: From Massacre to Statehood|year=2010|publisher=The History Press|page=125|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gxfv1TvEF7AC&pg=PA12|isbn=9781609491666}} In October 1779, the Legislature selected him as one of five agents to the U.S. Congress from Vermont; in early 1780, he wrote a tract entitled Vermont's Appeal to a Candid and Impartial World, which defended Vermont's right to independence against competing claims by New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

Political career

In June 1780, Bradley was appointed state's attorney for Cumberland County, Vermont. He held the positions of register of probate and town clerk, and in 1783 he served as county judge.{{cite book|title=Gazetteer and Business Directory of Windham County, Vt., 1724-1884|year=1884|publisher=Printed at the Journal office|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_wWraIepDq4gC/page/n36 35]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_wWraIepDq4gC}} He also served for seven years in the Vermont House of Representatives in the 1780s. He was speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives during 1785.

Bradley continued to be given additional responsibility in the militia. Appointed a first lieutenant in August 1780, he was promoted to colonel as commander of the 1st Regiment in October. He was later promoted to brigadier general as commander of the 8th Brigade, and served until 1791.{{cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=Stephen R. |last2=Carpenter |first2=Dorr Bradley |date=2009 |title=Stephen R. Bradley: Letters of a Revolutionary War Patriot and Vermont Senator |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JEMGy-mT7YC&q=%22stephen+r+bradley%22+%22vermont%22+%22militia%22&pg=PA16 |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland & Company |pages=16, 154 |isbn=978-0-7864-3358-2}}

He served as judge of the Vermont Superior Court during the 1780s, and of the Vermont Supreme Court in 1788. Bradley was instrumental in settling Vermont's boundary disputes with New Hampshire.{{cite web|title=Stephen R. Bradley|url=http://www.debate.org/reference/stephen-r-bradley|publisher=Debate.org|access-date=9 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109203640/http://www.debate.org/reference/stephen-r-bradley|archive-date=9 January 2014}} Vermont became part of the United States on March 4, 1791. Bradley and Moses Robinson were elected by the state legislature to be the first to fill Vermont's two senate seats.{{cite book|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas J and Butterfield, Lyman Henry|title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: 1 July to 12 November 1802|year=2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=298|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MzjMzliASd8C&q=stephen+r+bradley+Connecticut+Militia&pg=PA298|isbn=9780691153230}} In 1791, he entered the United States Senate and supported the anti-administration faction. Defeated for reelection in 1794, he returned to Westminster and was active in law and local politics, serving on the town council.

Bradley tried to return to the U.S. Senate in 1800 and lost to incumbent Elijah Paine.{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/sf268645p |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}} However, when Paine resigned after being appointed as a judge the following year, Bradley ran for the open seat and won against William Chamberlain.{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/h989r4013 |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}} He served as President pro tempore of the Senate from the end of 1801 to near the end of 1802. After he was reelected in 1807, he served as the presiding officer again for a couple of weeks in the 1808-1809 period.{{cite web|title=Stephen R. Bradley|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vtwindha/hev/hevbio593.htm|publisher=* American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. i. cols. 1288, 1290-1294, 1303, 1307, 1316-1318, 1322. Journals Col. Ass. N. Y. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 1025. Dunlap's N. Y., i. 450, 451. Trumbull's MacFingal, Boston ed., 1799, canto p. 28|access-date=9 January 2014}}

Bradley is credited with writing the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was passed by Congress in 1803 and ratified in 1804.{{cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=Stephen R. |last2=Carpenter |first2=Dorr Bradley |date=2009 |title=Stephen R. Bradley: Letters of a Revolutionary War Patriot and Vermont Senator |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JEMGy-mT7YC&pg=PA16|location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland & Company |pages=29, 38, 194|isbn=978-0-7864-3358-2}} Although a Democratic-Republican, he was opposed to the War of 1812.

After retiring from the Senate in 1813, he retired from politics and returned to Westminster. He lived there for five years, and in 1818 he moved to Walpole, New Hampshire where he lived for the rest of his life. His Walpole house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

Death

Bradley died in Walpole, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, on December 9, 1830 (aged 76 years, 292 days).{{cite book|last=Burton|first=William E.|title=The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 3|year=1838|publisher=William E. Burton|page=414|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CntIAQAAIAAJ&q=stephen+r+bradley+died+Walpole+nh&pg=PA414}} His body was returned to Westminster, Vermont and he is interred at the Westminster Cemetery.{{cite book|last=Haas|first=Jessie|title=Revolutionary Westminster: From Massacre to Statehood |year=2011 |publisher=The History Press|page=147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gxfv1TvEF7AC&q=stephen+r+bradley++Westminster+Cemetery&pg=PA147|isbn=9781609491666}}

Personal life

Known as an intelligent and eccentric man, Bradley was a good lawyer and orator. Appointed a fellow by Middlebury College on September 1, 1800, he held the position for the rest of his life.{{cite book|last=Congress|title=Congressional Record, V. 146, Pt. 12, July 27, 2000 to September 13, 2000|year=2005|publisher=Government Printing Office|page=17645|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLg4iJR0J9kC&q=Stephen+Bradley+fellow+by+Middlebury+College&pg=PA17645|isbn=9780160749476}}{{cite book|last=Middlebury College|title=The Catalogue|year=1911|publisher=Middlebury College|page=4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hHfOAAAAMAAJ&q=Stephen+Bradley+fellow+by+Middlebury+College&pg=PA4}} Middlebury and Dartmouth colleges awarded him the honorary degree of LL.D.

Bradley married Merab Atwater on May 16, 1780. After her death, he married Gratia Thankful Taylor on April 12, 1789. He married a third time, on September 18, 1803, to Belinda Willard. He had five children, and over a dozen grandchildren. His three daughters married prominent men, one of whom was Samuel Tudor. His son William Czar Bradley, also a politician, served several terms in Congress.{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000748|title= BRADLEY, William Czar, (1782 - 1867)|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |access-date= January 11, 2014}}