Editing Isaac Toucey

{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = Isaac Toucey
|image        = Isaac Toucey - Brady-Handy (cropped).jpg
|caption      = Toucey {{circa|1855-1865}}
|office       = 23rd [[United States Secretary of the Navy]]
|president    = [[James Buchanan]]
|term_start   = March 7, 1857
|term_end     = March 4, 1861
|predecessor  = [[James C. Dobbin]]
|successor    = [[Gideon Welles]]
|jr/sr1       = United States Senator
|state1       = [[Connecticut]]
|term_start1  = May 12, 1852
|term_end1    = March 3, 1857
|predecessor1 = [[Roger Sherman Baldwin]]
|successor1   = [[James Dixon]]
|office2      = 20th [[United States Attorney General]]
|president2   = [[James K. Polk]]
|term_start2  = June 21, 1848
|term_end2    = March 3, 1849
|predecessor2 = [[Nathan Clifford]]
|successor2   = [[Reverdy Johnson]]
|order3       = 33rd [[List of Governors of Connecticut|Governor of Connecticut]]
|lieutenant3  = [[Noyes Billings]]
|term_start3  = May 6, 1846
|term_end3    = May 5, 1847
|predecessor3 = [[Roger Sherman Baldwin]]
|successor3   = [[Clark Bissell]]
|state4       = [[Connecticut]]
|district4    = {{ushr|CT|1|1st}}
|term_start4  = March 4, 1837
|term_end4    = March 3, 1839
|predecessor4 = Constituency established
|successor4   = [[Joseph Trumbull (governor)|Joseph Trumbull]]
|state5       = [[Connecticut]]
|district5    = {{ushr|CT|AL|at-large}}
|term_start5  = March 4, 1835
|term_end5    = March 3, 1837
|predecessor5 = [[Noyes Barber]]
|successor5   = Constituency abolished
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1792|11|15}}
|birth_place  = [[Newtown, Connecticut]], U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1869|7|30|1792|11|15}}
|death_place  = [[Hartford, Connecticut]], U.S.
|party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse       = {{Marriage|Catherine Nichols|October 28, 1827}}
|signature    = Signature of Isaac Toucey (1792–1869).png
}}
'''Isaac Toucey''' (November 15, 1792{{spaced ndash}}July 30, 1869) was an American politician who served as a [[United States Senate|U.S. senator]], [[U.S. Secretary of the Navy]], [[U.S. Attorney General]] and the [[List of Governors of Connecticut|33rd Governor of Connecticut]].

[[File:Buchanan Cabinet.jpg|thumb|300px|''President Buchanan and his Cabinet''<br>From left to right: [[Jacob Thompson]], [[Lewis Cass]], [[John B. Floyd]], [[James Buchanan]], [[Howell Cobb]], Isaac Toucey, [[Joseph Holt]] and [[Jeremiah S. Black]], (c. 1859)]]

==Biography==
Born in [[Newtown, Connecticut]], Toucey pursued classical studies; studied law and was admitted to the bar at [[Hartford, Connecticut]], in 1818.<ref>{{cite web|title=Isaac Toucey|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000319|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref> From 1825 to 1835 he had his own practice in [[Hartford, Connecticut]]. He married Catherine Nichols in Hartford on October 28, 1827. The couple had no children.<ref>{{cite web|title=Isaac Toucey|url=http://www.cslib.org/gov/touceyi.htm|publisher=Connecticut State Library|access-date=30 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517143116/http://www.cslib.org/gov/touceyi.htm|archive-date=17 May 2011}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1822, Toucey was named prosecuting attorney of [[Hartford County, Connecticut]]. He served in that position until 1835, when he was elected to the [[24th Congress|24th]] and [[25th Congress]]es (at-large and then representing the 1st District). He served from 1835 to 1839. He lost the election of 1838 and returned to his position as prosecuting attorney in 1842.

In [[1845 Connecticut gubernatorial election|1845]], Toucey ran for Governor of Connecticut and lost, but the [[Connecticut state legislature|Connecticut State Legislature]] appointed him to the position following the election in [[1846 Connecticut gubernatorial election|1846]]. During his tenure, an antibribery bill geared toward eliminating fraudulent electoral procedures was considered. He was defeated in an attempt at re-nomination in 1847.<ref>{{cite web|title=Isaac Toucey|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_toucey_isaac.html|publisher=National Governors Association|access-date=November 30, 2012}}</ref>

In 1848, President [[James K. Polk]] appointed Toucey the 20th [[Attorney General of the United States]], a position he held until 1849. He returned to Connecticut and took a place in the [[Connecticut Senate]] in 1850, and then in the [[Connecticut House of Representatives]] in 1852.

Toucey was elected to the U.S. Senate for the term commencing March 4, 1851, and served from May 12, 1852, to March 3, 1857, having that year declined to be a candidate for reelection.<ref>{{cite web|title=Isaac Toucey|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/isaac_toucey/410891|publisher=Govtrack US Congress|access-date=November 30, 2012}}</ref> During that time, he often served as the legislative point man for [[Franklin Pierce]] and his administration.

[[James Buchanan]], with whom Toucey had served in the Polk administration, appointed him U.S. Secretary of the Navy in his [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet]] in 1857 as a sop to the Pierce faction as well as to represent New England in the Cabinet. A moderate Northerner much in line with Buchanan's thought in the sectional controversies of the day, Toucey held that post until 1861 and the arrival of the [[Abraham Lincoln]] administration. During that time, Toucey would undergo criticism for alleged corruption as uncovered by the [[Covode Committee]], resulting in him being censured by the House of Representatives in June 1860.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Story of the Five Little Pigs|url=https://elections.harpweek.com/1860/cartoon-1860-Medium.asp?UniqueID=45&Year=1860|publisher=HarpWeek|access-date=July 15, 2021}}</ref> Toucey was then replaced by one of his chief rivals in Connecticut, [[Gideon Welles]]. After 1861 he returned to his law practice.

==Death and legacy==
Toucey died in Hartford on July 30, 1869.<ref>{{cite web|title=Isaac Toucey|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/toth-towns.html#157.04.01|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref> He is interred at [[Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)|Cedar Hill Cemetery]] in Hartford, Connecticut. [[USS Toucey (DD-282)|USS ''Toucey'' (DD-282)]] was named for him.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisourcepar|The United States Democratic Review/Volume 43/Issue 2/Biographical Sketches. Hon. Isaac Toucey—Secretary of the Navy|an 1859 review of Toucey's career}}
{{CongBio|T000319}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110517143116/http://www.cslib.org/gov/touceyi.htm Connecticut State Library: Isaac Toucey, Governor of Connecticut from 1846 to 1847]
*[http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_toucey_isaac.html National Governors Association]
*[http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/isaac_toucey/410891 Govtrack US Congress]
*[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/toth-towns.html#157.04.01 The Political Graveyard]

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{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Connecticut}}
{{USAttGen}}
{{USSenCT}}
{{USSecNavy}}
{{Polk cabinet}}
{{Buchanan cabinet}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toucey, Isaac}}
[[Category:1792 births]]
[[Category:1869 deaths]]
[[Category:Buchanan administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Burials at Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)]]
[[Category:Connecticut lawyers]]
[[Category:Democratic Party Connecticut state senators]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut]]
[[Category:Democratic Party governors of Connecticut]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Connecticut]]
[[Category:Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives|Toucey, Isaac]]
[[Category:People from Newtown, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Politicians from Staunton, Virginia]]
[[Category:Polk administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Attorneys general of the United States]]
[[Category:United States secretaries of the navy]]
[[Category:Union (American Civil War) political leaders]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]