Lafayette S. Foster

Lafayette Sabine Foster

Junior Senator, Connecticut
In office March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1867
Preceded by	Francis Gillette
Succeeded by	Orris S. Ferry

Born	November 22, 1806 Franklin, Connecticut, USA
Died	September 19, 1880 Norwich, Connecticut, USA
Political party	Whig, Republican, Democrat
Spouse	Joanna Boylston Lanman Foster
Profession	Politician, Lawyer, Judge, Teacher, Editor

Lafayette Sabin Foster (November 22, 1806 – September 19, 1880) was a nineteenth century American politician and lawyer from Connecticut. He served in the United States Senate from 1855 to 1867 and was a judge in the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1870 to 1876.

Born in Franklin, Connecticut, Foster attended common schools as a child and graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in 1828. He taught school in Providence for some time and studied law back in Norwich, Connecticut. He took charge of an academy in Centerville, Maryland where he was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1830, then returning to Norwich and admitted to the federal bar in 1831.

Foster was editor of the Republican, a Whig newspaper out of Connecticut and served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1839 to 1840, 1846 to 1848 and 1854, serving as Speaker of the House for three years. He was the Whig nominee for Governor of Connecticut in 1850 and 1851, but lost both elections. He served as mayor of Norwich, Connecticut from 1851 to 1852 before being elected a Republican to the United States Senate in 1854, reelected in 1860, serving from 1855 to 1867. Their, he served as chairman of the Committee on Pensions from 1861 to 1867. His wife, Joanna Boylston Lanman, died on April 11, 1859.

Foster was elected President pro tempore of the Senate at the beginning of the 39th Congress in 1865 which he served as until the end of his term in 1867. Six weeks after he was elected President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth of April 14, Lincoln died the next morning. Two of Booth's accomplices also intended to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson as well as Secretary of State William H. Seward. Seward's assassin, Lewis Powell attempted but failed where as Johnson's assassin, George Atzerodt never acted. If Atzerodt were to have assassinated Johnson, Foster would have been next in line for the presidency and would have made him Lincoln's successor as President of the United States. With Johnson's elevated to the presidency, Foster instead became President of the Senate.

Foster was defeated for reelection for a third term in 1866 and left the senate the next year. He became a professor of law at Yale College in 1869 and returned to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1870. He was once again elected Speaker of the House, but resigned to take up a seat in the Connecticut Supreme Court. He was a Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1874, but was unsuccessful and resigned from the court in 1876 retiring from public life.

Foster died in Norwich, Connecticut on September 19, 1880 and was interned their in Yantic Cemetery.

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Preceded by Francis Gillette	United States Senator (Class 3) from Connecticut March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1867 Served alongside: Isaac Toucey and James Dixon	Succeeded by Orris S. Ferry
Preceded by Daniel Clark	*President pro tempore* of the United States Senate** May 7, 1865 – March 2, 1867	Succeeded by Benjamin Wade