Seward Smith was an Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 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...

 politician, lawyer, and associate justice

Associate Justice

Associate Justice or Associate Judge is the title for a member of a judicial panel who is not the Chief Justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the United States Supreme Court and some state supreme courts, and for some other courts in Commonwealth...

 of the Dakota Territory

Dakota Territory

The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...

 Supreme Court.

He moved to Des Moines, Iowa

Des Moines, Iowa

Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...

 in 1860 and in 1868 Seward was elected city solicitor of Des Moines as a Republican. By February 1879 Smith was still practicing law with his partner (Ripley N. Baylies) in Mitchellville, Iowa

Mitchellville, Iowa

Mitchellville is a city in Polk and Jasper counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 1,715 at the 2000 census.The Polk County portion of Mitchellville is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Jasper County portion is part of the Newton...

. On August 10, 1881 the Republican Party of Des Moines

Republican Party of Iowa

The Republican Party of Iowa is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Iowa. The State Central Committee is led by Chairman Matt Strawn and Co-Chairman Bill Schickel...

 nominated Smith as candidate for the State Senate

Iowa General Assembly

The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Representatives respectively...

.

In July 1884 President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Chester A. Arthur

Chester A. Arthur

Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...

 appointed Smith to the Supreme Court of Dakota Territory on the recommendation of the Aberdeen, South Dakota

Aberdeen, South Dakota

Aberdeen is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, about 125 mi northeast of Pierre. Settled in 1880, it was incorporated in 1882. The city population was 26,091 at the 2010 census. The American News is the local newspaper...

 circuit judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

. However Smith quickly became controversial, appointing a woman (Elizbaeht M. Cochrane) clerk of Faulk County

Faulk County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,640 people, 1,014 households, and 708 families residing in the county. The population density was 3 people per square mile . There were 1,235 housing units at an average density of 1 per square mile...

 district court, an unusual appointment for the time. Smith went on to announce his candidacy for the 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...

 while still serving as a sitting territorial supreme court justice. Critics began openly questioning his sanity while even his proponents admitted to his poor health. In October 1885 President Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

 removed Smith from office and appointed Louis K. Church

Louis K. Church

Louis Kossuth Church was a New York Supreme Court justice, a member of the New York Legislature, and the eighth Governor of Dakota Territory.-Biography:...

 of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 to replace him. Smith's friends quietly admitted him to an Iowa sanitarium

Sanatorium

A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...

where he subsequently died.