Theodore Sedgwick

Overview

Theodore Sedgwick (1746–1813) was a Massachusetts lawyer and Federalist politician who helped write the 1773 Sheffield Declaration, argued the 1781 freedom suit that freed Elizabeth Freeman and Brom, served in the U.S. Senate and as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and ended his career as a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; Massachusetts Historical Society)

He was born on 9 May 1746 in West Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Benjamin and Ann (Thompson) Sedgwick, and he attended Yale College, where he studied theology and law. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; Massachusetts Historical Society) Admitted to the bar in 1766, he began practising in Great Barrington before moving to Sheffield. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress) During the Revolutionary War he served in the expedition against Canada in 1776. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress) His public life ran from the Berkshire County courthouse to the Speaker’s chair in Washington and finally to the bench in Boston, where he died on 24 January 1813. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives)

From Sheffield resolves to a freedom suit

Sedgwick was one of the men who wrote the Sheffield Resolves, the January 1773 declaration that mankind are “equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, their liberty and property.” (WHRO) Elizabeth Freeman — then called Bett or Mum Bett — was enslaved in the Ashley household in Sheffield and probably overheard those discussions. (WHRO) In the 1770s about 2% of the population of Massachusetts was enslaved, so the equality language Freeman heard was being debated in a state where slavery was a small but real institution. (WHRO)

About a decade later, after Hannah Ashley struck at another enslaved girl with a fireplace shovel and Bett blocked the blow — leaving a scar she kept exposed — Bett walked through deep snow to Sedgwick’s home and asked him to sue for her freedom. (WHRO) Sedgwick agreed and added Brom, another man enslaved by the Ashleys, as a co-plaintiff. (WHRO) He argued that the Massachusetts Constitution’s declaration that all men are born free and equal made slavery unlawful in the state, and on 22 August 1781 a Great Barrington jury agreed, freeing Freeman and Brom and awarding them 30 shillings each. (National Constitution Center) Freeman’s was the first lawsuit successfully filed by an African American woman for her freedom in Massachusetts. (National Constitution Center) Freeman then worked for about two decades as a paid housekeeper in Sedgwick’s home, caring for his children, including his daughter Catharine Maria Sedgwick, and she is buried in the Sedgwick family plot in Stockbridge. (WHRO)

Speaker, senator, and judge

Sedgwick entered state politics in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1780 and again in 1782–1783, served in the state Senate in 1784–1785, sat in the Continental Congress in 1785, 1786, and 1788, and was speaker of the Massachusetts House in 1787–1788. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress) He was also a delegate to the 1788 state convention that adopted the Federal Constitution. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress) Elected to the U.S. House in 1789, he served until resigning in June 1796; he then filled Caleb Strong’s vacant Senate seat from 11 June 1796 to 3 March 1799 and served as President pro tempore during the Fifth Congress. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress)

Returned to the House for the Sixth Congress (4 March 1799 – 3 March 1801), he served as Speaker during his final term in Congress. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives) His speakership coincided with Congress’s move from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in November 1800 and with the House’s 36-ballot resolution of the Jefferson–Burr presidential tie. (U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives) In 1802 he was appointed a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, a post he held until his death in Boston on 24 January 1813; he is buried in the family cemetery in Stockbridge. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress) He married three times: Eliza Mason in 1768, who died childless in 1771; Pamela Dwight in 1774, with whom he had ten children including Catharine Maria Sedgwick; and Penelope Russell in 1808. (Massachusetts Historical Society) A portrait of Sedgwick painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1808 survives in a copy by Ezra Ames made before 1836. (Massachusetts Historical Society)

The paradox at the center

Four years before he argued Freeman’s case, Sedgwick himself bought an enslaved person: a bill of sale dated 1 July 1777 records General John Fellows selling an enslaved woman named Ton to Sedgwick. (Massachusetts Historical Society) Peter Drummey of the Massachusetts Historical Society called this the paradox of early American history — men arguing for personal liberty while participating in enslavement “directly — personally — as in the case of Theodore Sedgwick.” (WHRO) One historian believes Sedgwick may have taken Freeman’s case partly to test whether slavery was still legal under the new Massachusetts Constitution. (WHRO)

A second contradiction runs through his record on rebellion. Although he opposed Shays’ Rebellion, the court assigned Sedgwick and Caleb Strong to defend accused rebels in Berkshire County. (American Antiquarian Society) Seven men in Berkshire were convicted of high treason and sentenced to death, yet in the end “no head fell, no blood was shed in legal retribution,” and the leaders were later pardoned — a clemency outcome that makes the seven death sentences a measure of how close the young republic came to executing its own rebels. (American Antiquarian Society) Taken together, the episodes make Sedgwick a test case for the gap between Revolutionary principles and Revolutionary practice: the lawyer who bought Ton in 1777, freed Bett in 1781, and defended condemned rebels in 1787. (Massachusetts Historical Society; National Constitution Center; American Antiquarian Society)

Offices held

Office	Years	Notes
Massachusetts House of Representatives	1780; 1782–1783; 1787–1788	Speaker in 1787–1788
Massachusetts Senate	1784–1785
Continental Congress	1785, 1786, 1788	Delegate from Massachusetts
U.S. House of Representatives	1789–1796	Resigned June 1796
U.S. Senate	1796–1799	Filled Caleb Strong’s vacancy; President pro tempore, Fifth Congress
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives	Sixth Congress, 1799–1801	Final term in Congress
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court	1802–1813	Justice until his death

FAQ

Who was Theodore Sedgwick?

Theodore Sedgwick (1746–1813) was a Massachusetts lawyer and Federalist politician. He helped write the 1773 Sheffield Declaration, won Elizabeth Freeman’s freedom suit in 1781, served in the U.S. House and Senate, was Speaker of the House in the Sixth Congress, and spent his final eleven years as a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress)

What did Theodore Sedgwick do for Elizabeth Freeman?

Freeman, enslaved in John Ashley’s Sheffield household, asked Sedgwick to sue for her freedom after overhearing the Sheffield Resolves’ equality language. Sedgwick argued that the Massachusetts Constitution’s “all men are born free and equal” clause made slavery unlawful, and a jury freed Freeman and her co-plaintiff Brom on 22 August 1781. (WHRO; National Constitution Center)

Did Theodore Sedgwick own enslaved people?

Yes. A bill of sale dated 1 July 1777 records General John Fellows selling an enslaved woman named Ton to Sedgwick, four years before he argued Freeman’s freedom suit. The Massachusetts Historical Society’s Peter Drummey called this the paradox of men arguing for liberty while personally participating in enslavement. (Massachusetts Historical Society; WHRO)

Was Theodore Sedgwick Speaker of the House?

Yes. Sedgwick was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives during the Sixth Congress, from 1799 to 1801, in his final term in Congress. His speakership covered Congress’s move from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., and the House’s 36-ballot settlement of the Jefferson–Burr presidential tie. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives)

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not assign Sedgwick a Speaker ordinal number, because sources differ on whether he was the fourth or the fifth Speaker. It does not claim he graduated from Yale: the Massachusetts Historical Society portrait page says he “graduated from Yale in 1765,” while the Biographical Directory says he “attended Yale College,” and this profile follows the Directory. It does not claim what happened to Ton after the 1777 bill of sale, because no source read for this profile establishes it. It does not claim Sedgwick appealed for clemency for the Shays defendants; it states only his court-assigned defence role and the trials’ outcome. It does not claim Freeman cited the 1773 Sheffield Resolves in court — her lawyer’s argument rested on the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution — nor that the Resolves directly shaped Thomas Jefferson’s wording in 1776.