James Hillhouse (October 21, 1754 -
December 29, 1832) was a United States
Representative
and Senator from Connecticut, and
treasurer of Yale University. He was
responsible for the development of the
City of New Haven, along with the first "tree ordinance"
in the United States, leading to New Haven, Connecticut's nickname as The Elm City.
Hillhouse was born in Montville, Connecticut to
William Hillhouse, who was a delegate to
the Continental Congress from Connecticut.
James was raised in New Haven, and attended
college (at Yale) there. At Yale, he studied
law, graduated in 1773, and established a
practice in 1775. He was commander of the
Second Company Governor's Foot Guard, a
Revolutionary War regiment
which included other notables such as
Aaron Burr, Ethan Allen, and Benedict Arnold.
On June 5, 1779 Hillhouse led his regiment
in defense of the town of New Haven from
British invasion. After
his military service, he was a member of
the Connecticut House of Representatives
from 1780 to 1786, and the Connecticut
State Council from 1789 to 1790. Although
he was elected a Connecticut delegate to the
Continental Congresses
of 1786 and 1788, he did not attend.
Hillhouse started his national political
career (he was a Federalist) after his
election to the House of Representatives,
where he served from 1791 to 1796. In
1796 he was elected to the United States
Senate, and served until 1810. During the
sixth congress, he was the President Pro Tempore
of the Senate. Hillhouse was also an abolitionist.
He opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories,
notably the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. He
introduced legislation to congress barring slavery in
the new territory, but it failed. He continued to fight
against slavery until he left congress, and afterwards.
During the War of 1812, Hillhouse
was a delegate to The Hartford Convention of
1814, a meeting of New England states opposed
to the war. They met to air grievances against the
Madison administration and to
propose constitutional amendments which would balance
power between the North and South (which were never
implemented). Hillhouse was a secessionist,
as were many of the men (all Federalists) at the
Hartford Convention. They felt that the South was
given too much power in the original
Constitution of the United States, and that South
and North were no longer compatible. This convention
led to the decline of the Federalist Party in
national politics.
Back home in New Haven, Hillhouse continued as
treasurer of Yale University, a position he held
from 1782 until his death. He was also involved in
the architectural development of New Haven. He and his
son, James Abraham Hillhouse, were responsible for the
development of the Sachem Wood neighborhood, north of
New Haven Green. This included Hillhouse Avenue, which
was called the most beautiful street in America
by Charles Dickens. It still runs from Grove Street
to Sachem Street at the base of Science Hill, where the
Hillhouse Mansion (built by James Abraham in 1830)
stood before construction of the Yale science complex.
Hillhouse also established the Grove Street Cemetery,
where Eli Whitney, Noah Webster, and Hillhouse
himself are buried. It contains many graves which were
originally on New Haven Green, relocated due to concerns
of town residents about disease. Recently, Hillhouse's
grave at Grove Street Cemetery was listed on the
Connecticut Freedom Trail, and the Cemetery itself,
founded by Hillhouse, is on the
National Register of Historic Places and was declared
a National Historic Landmark in 2000.
Hillhouse is also famous, along with John Trumbull, for
the many Elm trees they planted around New Haven.
The original trees on New Haven Green stood for over
a hundred years, until they succumbed to
Dutch Elm disease, and to a major hurricane in
1938. As part of his project, Hillhouse was also
responsible for a city "tree ordinance" to
protect his elms, which fined horse owners if
their animals chewed on trees. Though most (if not
all) of Hillhouse's trees have since died, the
City of New Haven continues to care for trees in
and around the city.
Trivia: as President of the Senate in 1801, he
administered the oath of office to Aaron Burr,
Vice President in the Jefferson
administration (Jefferson's oath was administered
by Chief Justice John Marshall). Hillhouse was
known as "Sachem," which meant "chief" in the
local native dialect. It was an apt
title given that he owned a huge chunk of land in
and around the city of New Haven. Eli Whitney,
Hillhouse's friend and fellow New Havenite, owned a
large parcel of land north of his, covering much of
what is today Hamden, CT, and they worked together
to develop the city of New Haven. Hillhouse's
daughter-in-law donated land in his honor to Yale
College to establish an astronomical
observatory for the University in the mid-nineteenth
century.
Sources:
http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~.phall.hauser.ksg/newhistory.html
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000618
http://www.footguard.org/histori.html
http://www.yale.edu/opa/v30.n1/story3.html
http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~sjboyd/lc/freeman.htm
http://www.astro.yale.edu/DEPT/excerpt.html
http://www.ctpa.org/works.htm
http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/hilla-hillhouse.html (google cache)
http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=1963