Samuel Dexter
| Samuel Dexter | |
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| 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
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In office January 1, 1801 – May 13, 1801 |
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| President |
John Adams Thomas Jefferson |
| Preceded by | Oliver Wolcott |
| Succeeded by | Albert Gallatin |
| 4th United States Secretary of War | |
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In office June 1, 1800 – January 31, 1801 |
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| President | John Adams |
| Preceded by | James McHenry |
| Succeeded by | Henry Dearborn |
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United States Senator from Massachusetts |
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In office March 4, 1799 – May 30, 1800 |
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| Preceded by | Theodore Sedgwick |
| Succeeded by | Dwight Foster |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 1st district |
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In office March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1795 Serving with Fisher Ames, Benjamin Goodhue, and Samuel Holten (General Ticket) |
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| Preceded by | Fisher Ames |
| Succeeded by | Theodore Sedgwick |
| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives | |
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In office 1788–1790 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 14, 1761 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | May 4, 1816 (aged 54) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Federalist |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Signature |  |
Samuel Dexter (May 14, 1761 – May 4, 1816) was an early American statesman who served both in Congress and in the Presidential Cabinet.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to the Rev. Samuel Dexter, the 4th minister of Dedham, he graduated from Harvard University in 1781 and then studied law at Worcester under Levi Lincoln Sr., the future Attorney General of the United States. After he passed the bar in 1784, he began practicing in Lunenburg, Massachusetts.
He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and served from 1788 to 1790. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Federalist and served in the 3rd Congress (March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1795). He served in the United States Senate from March 4, 1799, to May 30, 1800 (the 6th Congress).
During a House discussion on a Naturalization Bill in 1795, Virginia Representative William Branch Giles controversially suggested that all immigrants be forced to take an oath renouncing any titles of nobility they previously held. Dexter responded by questioning why Catholics were not required to denounce allegiance to the Pope, because priestcraft had initiated more problems throughout history than aristocracy. Dexter's points caused an infuriated James Madison to defend American Catholics, many of whom, such as Charles Carroll of Carrollton, had been good citizens during the American Revolution, and to point out that hereditary titles were barred under the Constitution in any event.
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