Josiah O. Wolcott
Encyclopedia
Josiah Oliver Wolcott was an American lawyer, politician and judge, from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served as Attorney General of Delaware, U.S. Senator from Delaware, and Chancellor of Delaware.
, Middletown, Connecticut. He was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1904 and began the practice of law at Wilmington, Delaware.
in 1912 and served from January 21, 1913, until January 16, 1917.
In the first popular election of a U.S. Senator in Delaware, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1916, defeating incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Henry A. du Pont. During this term, Wolcott served with the Democratic majority in the 65th Congress, but was in the minority in the 66th and 67th Congress. In the 65th Congress he was Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce. Between 1918 and 1919, he served on the Overman Committee
, investigating seditious German and Bolshevik activities. In all, he served from March 4, 1917 to July 2, 1921, during the administrations of U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson
and Warren G. Harding
.
Wolcott was the senate sponsor of legislation to create a federal charter for the American Legion
. The House co-sponsor was Rep. Royal Johnson of South Dakota. The bill was filed on June 27, 1919, passed the House on August 27th, passed the Senate on September 5th and was signed by President Wilson on September 16, 1919. (A History of the American Legion Marquis James
. 1923. Pg. 71.)
On July 2, 1921, Wolcott resigned from the U.S. Senate to accept a surprising appointment from Republican Governor William D. Denney to become Chancellor
of the Delaware Court of Chancery
. The appointment came to be known as the "deal" or the "dirty deal," and many suspected T. Coleman du Pont organized it in order to gain the U.S. Senate seat for himself and the Republican Party. Wolcott served as Chancellor for the remainder of his life.
According to Henry R. Horsey and William Duffy in their article on the Delaware Court system, Wolcott distinguished himself as Chancellor and they continued: Chancellery "Judge Pearson later recalled the spartan 'office' of Chancellor Wolcott, consisting of a small desk and gooseneck lamp, in the stacks of the State Law Library in Dover. There Wolcott worked without a secretary, writing his opinions in longhand. Pearson attributed Wolcott's conduct to his determination to ask for nothing. It was during Wolcott's tenure that Delaware's Court of Chancery gained the high regard and respect of lawyers and corporate boards throughout the country. It was Wolcott's judicial wisdom and judgment that first attracted lawyers and litigants from around the nation to Delaware as a preferred forum for litigation."
Every year, five students in their final year at Widener University School of Law
are awarded the Josiah Oliver Wolcott Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship allows its recipients to work as part time judicial clerks for the Supreme Court of Delaware or the Delaware Court of Chancery
.
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=6 style="background: #ccccff;" |Public Offices
|-
! Office
! Type
! Location
! Began office
! Ended office
! notes
|-
|Attorney General
|Executive
|Dover
|January 21, 1913
|January 16, 1917
|Delaware
|-
|U.S. Senator
|Legislative
|Washington
|March 4, 1917
|July 2, 1921
|resigned
|-
|Chancellor
|Judiciary
|Dover
|July 2, 1921
|November 11, 1938
|State Chancery Court
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=7 style="background: #ccccff;" |United States Congressional service
|-
! Dates
! Congress
! Chamber
! Majority
! President
! Committees
! Class/District
|-
|1917–1919
|65th
|U.S. Senate
|Democratic
|Woodrow Wilson
|
|class 1
|-
|1919–1921
|66th
|U.S. Senate
|Republican
|Woodrow Wilson
|
|class 1
|-
|1921–1923
|67th
|U.S. Senate
|Republican
|Warren G. Harding
|
|class 1
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=12 style="background: #ccccff;" |Election results
|-
!Year
!Office
!
!Subject
!Party
!Votes
!%
!
!Opponent
!Party
!Votes
!%
|-
|1916
|U.S. Senator
|
| |Josiah O. Wolcott
| |Democratic
| |25,434
| |50%
|
| |Henry A. du Pont
Hiram R. Burton
| |Republican
Independent
| |22,925
2,361
| |46%
5%
Early life and family
Wolcott was born in Dover, Delaware, attended the Wilmington Conference Academy, now Wesley College, at Dover, and graduated from Wesleyan UniversityWesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
, Middletown, Connecticut. He was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1904 and began the practice of law at Wilmington, Delaware.
Professional and political career
Wolcott was Deputy Delaware Attorney General from 1909 until 1913, elected Delaware Attorney GeneralDelaware Attorney General
The Attorney General of Delaware is a constitutional officer of the U.S. state of Delaware, and is the chief law officer and the head of the State Department of Justice.-Description of the office:...
in 1912 and served from January 21, 1913, until January 16, 1917.
In the first popular election of a U.S. Senator in Delaware, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1916, defeating incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Henry A. du Pont. During this term, Wolcott served with the Democratic majority in the 65th Congress, but was in the minority in the 66th and 67th Congress. In the 65th Congress he was Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce. Between 1918 and 1919, he served on the Overman Committee
Overman Committee
The Overman Committee was a special subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary chaired by North Carolina Democrat Lee Slater Overman. Between September 1918 and June 1919, it investigated German and Bolshevik elements in the United States...
, investigating seditious German and Bolshevik activities. In all, he served from March 4, 1917 to July 2, 1921, during the administrations of U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
and Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
.
Wolcott was the senate sponsor of legislation to create a federal charter for the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
. The House co-sponsor was Rep. Royal Johnson of South Dakota. The bill was filed on June 27, 1919, passed the House on August 27th, passed the Senate on September 5th and was signed by President Wilson on September 16, 1919. (A History of the American Legion Marquis James
Marquis James
Marquis James was an American journalist and author, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his works The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston and The Life of Andrew Jackson....
. 1923. Pg. 71.)
On July 2, 1921, Wolcott resigned from the U.S. Senate to accept a surprising appointment from Republican Governor William D. Denney to become Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
of the Delaware Court of Chancery
Delaware Court of Chancery
The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the American state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court.-Jurisdiction:...
. The appointment came to be known as the "deal" or the "dirty deal," and many suspected T. Coleman du Pont organized it in order to gain the U.S. Senate seat for himself and the Republican Party. Wolcott served as Chancellor for the remainder of his life.
Death and legacy
Wolcott died at Dover and is buried there in the Lakeside Methodist Episcopal Cemetery.According to Henry R. Horsey and William Duffy in their article on the Delaware Court system, Wolcott distinguished himself as Chancellor and they continued: Chancellery "Judge Pearson later recalled the spartan 'office' of Chancellor Wolcott, consisting of a small desk and gooseneck lamp, in the stacks of the State Law Library in Dover. There Wolcott worked without a secretary, writing his opinions in longhand. Pearson attributed Wolcott's conduct to his determination to ask for nothing. It was during Wolcott's tenure that Delaware's Court of Chancery gained the high regard and respect of lawyers and corporate boards throughout the country. It was Wolcott's judicial wisdom and judgment that first attracted lawyers and litigants from around the nation to Delaware as a preferred forum for litigation."
Every year, five students in their final year at Widener University School of Law
Widener University School of Law
Widener University School of Law is the ABA accredited law school of Widener University. The school, founded in 1971 as the Delaware Law School, operates on two of Widener's campuses, one in Wilmington, Delaware, and the other in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania....
are awarded the Josiah Oliver Wolcott Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship allows its recipients to work as part time judicial clerks for the Supreme Court of Delaware or the Delaware Court of Chancery
Delaware Court of Chancery
The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the American state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court.-Jurisdiction:...
.
Almanac
Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1st. U.S. Senators are popularly elected and took office March 4th for a six year term.{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=6 style="background: #ccccff;" |Public Offices
|-
! Office
! Type
! Location
! Began office
! Ended office
! notes
|-
|Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
|Executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
|Dover
Dover, Delaware
The city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...
|January 21, 1913
|January 16, 1917
|Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
|-
|U.S. Senator
|Legislative
|Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
|March 4, 1917
|July 2, 1921
|resigned
|-
|Chancellor
Delaware Court of Chancery
The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the American state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court.-Jurisdiction:...
|Judiciary
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
|Dover
Dover, Delaware
The city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...
|July 2, 1921
|November 11, 1938
|State Chancery Court
Delaware Court of Chancery
The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the American state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court.-Jurisdiction:...
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=7 style="background: #ccccff;" |United States Congressional service
|-
! Dates
! Congress
! Chamber
! Majority
! President
! Committees
! Class/District
|-
|1917–1919
|65th
65th United States Congress
The Sixty-fifth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1917 to March 4, 1919, during the fourth and fifth...
|U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
|Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
|Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
|
|class 1
Classes of United States Senators
The three classes of United States Senators are currently made up of 33 or 34 Senate seats. The purpose of the classes is to determine which Senate seats will be up for election in a given year. The three groups are staggered so that one of them is up for election every two years.A senator's...
|-
|1919–1921
|66th
66th United States Congress
The Sixty-sixth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, comprising the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1919 to March 4, 1921, during the last two years of...
|U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
|Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
|Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
|
|class 1
Classes of United States Senators
The three classes of United States Senators are currently made up of 33 or 34 Senate seats. The purpose of the classes is to determine which Senate seats will be up for election in a given year. The three groups are staggered so that one of them is up for election every two years.A senator's...
|-
|1921–1923
|67th
67th United States Congress
The Sixty-seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1921 to March 4, 1923, during the first two years...
|U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
|Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
|Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
|
|class 1
Classes of United States Senators
The three classes of United States Senators are currently made up of 33 or 34 Senate seats. The purpose of the classes is to determine which Senate seats will be up for election in a given year. The three groups are staggered so that one of them is up for election every two years.A senator's...
{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
|-bgcolor=#cccccc
!colspan=12 style="background: #ccccff;" |Election results
|-
!Year
!Office
!
!Subject
!Party
!Votes
!%
!
!Opponent
!Party
!Votes
!%
|-
|1916
|U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
|
| |Josiah O. Wolcott
| |Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
| |25,434
| |50%
|
| |Henry A. du Pont
Henry A. du Pont
Henry Algernon du Pont , known as "Colonel Henry", was an American soldier and politician from Winterthur, near Greenville, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a veteran of the American Civil War, and a member of the Republican Party, who served two terms as U.S...
Hiram R. Burton
Hiram R. Burton
Hiram Rodney Burton was an American physician and politician from Lewes, in Sussex County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party, who served two terms as U. S. Representative from Delaware.-Early life and family:...
| |Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Independent
| |22,925
2,361
| |46%
5%
Images
External links
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Delaware’s Members of Congress
- Find a Grave
- The Political Graveyard
- The Supreme Court of Delaware until 1951
Places with more information
- Delaware Historical SocietyDelaware Historical SocietyThe Delaware Historical Society began in 1864 as an effort to preserve documents from the Civil War. Since then, it has expanded into a state-wide historical institution with several venues and a major museum in Wilmington and the historic Read House & Gardens in New Castle.The society...
; website; 505 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801; (302) 655-7161 - University of DelawareUniversity of DelawareThe university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
; Library website; 181 South College Avenue, Newark, Delaware 19717; (302) 831-2965