Levi Lincoln, Jr.

Who was Levi Lincoln, Jr.?

Levi Lincoln, Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the 13th Governor of Massachusetts and represented the state in the U.S. Congress. Lincoln's nine-year tenure as governor is the longest consecutive service in state history; only Michael Dukakis, John Hancock and Caleb Strong served more years, but they were not consecutive.

Born to a prominent Worcester lawyer, Lincoln studied law and entered the state legislature in 1812 as a Democratic-Republican. He supported the War of 1812 and opposed the Hartford Convention. Over the next ten years his politics moderated, and he was elected governor in 1825 in a nonpartisan landslide after serving one year on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Lincoln oversaw significant economic development in Massachusetts during his tenure and issued the first-ever veto by a Massachusetts governor. Lincoln and Daniel Webster were leading forces in the foundation of the National Republican Party in Massachusetts, which dominated state politics until the 1850s.