Samuel Eddy

Samuel Eddy
35th Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
In office
1827–1835
Preceded byIsaac Wilbour
Succeeded byJob Durfee
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Rhode Island's At-large district
In office
March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1825
Preceded byJohn Linscom Boss, Jr.
Succeeded byTristam Burges
2nd Secretary of State of Rhode Island
In office
1798–1819
Preceded byHenry Ward
Succeeded byHenry Bowen
Personal details
Born(1769-03-31)March 31, 1769
Johnston, Rhode Island Colony, British America
DiedFebruary 3, 1839(1839-02-03) (aged 69)
Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Resting placeNorth Burial Ground, Providence
Political partyDemocratic-Republican, Adams-Clay Republican
Alma materBrown University, 1787
Signature

Samuel Eddy (March 31, 1769 – February 3, 1839) was a U.S. Representative from Rhode Island. Born Johnston in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Eddy completed preparatory studies. He graduated from Brown University in 1787. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1790 and practiced a short time in Providence. He served as clerk of the Rhode Island Supreme Court from 1790 to 1793. He also served as Rhode Island Secretary of State from 1798 to 1819.

Eddy was elected as Democratic-Republican to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses, and reelected as an Adams-Clay Republican to the Eighteenth Congress (March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1825). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1824 to the Nineteenth Congress and for election in 1828 to the Twenty-first Congress. He served as associate justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court in 1826 and 1827, and served as chief justice 1827 to 1835. Eddy wrote the Court's first published decision, Stoddard v. Martin in 1828. Eddy died in Providence, Rhode Island, February 3, 1839, and was interred in North Burial Ground.

He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1819.[1]