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Senate Years of Service: 1843-1849 Party: Democrat
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Library of Congress |
BREESE, Sidney, a Senator from Illinois; born in Whitesboro, N.Y., July 15, 1800; attended
Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., and graduated from Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., in 1818;
moved to Illinois; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1820 and commenced practice in Kaskaskia;
appointed postmaster of Kaskaskia in 1821; prosecuting attorney of the third judicial circuit
1822-1826; United States district attorney for Illinois 1827-1829; was the first reporter of the
proceedings of the State supreme court in 1831; held several commissions in the militia and served as
a lieutenant colonel of Volunteers in the Black Hawk War in 1832; circuit judge of the second district
1835-1841; judge of the State supreme court in 1841-1842; elected as a Democrat to the United
States Senate and served from March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1849; unsuccessful candidate for
renomination in 1849; chairman, Committee on District of Columbia (Twenty-ninth Congress),
Committee on Public Lands (Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses); member, State house of
representatives 1851-1852, serving as speaker in 1851; judge of the circuit court of Illinois
1855-1857; judge of the supreme court of Illinois from 1857 until his death; served as chief justice
1867-1870, 1873, and 1874; died in Pinkneyville, Perry County, Ill., June 27, 1878; interment in
Carlyle Cemetery, Carlyle, Ill.
BibliographyDictionary of American Biography;
McNulty, John W. Sidney Breese: His Early Career in Law and Politics in Illinois. Journal of
the Illinois State Historical Society 61 (Summer 1968): 164-81; Breese, Sidney. The Early History of Illinois. Edited by Thomas Hoyne. Chicago: E.B. Myers Co., 1884.
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