Ogden Hoffman

Who was Ogden Hoffman?

Ogden Hoffman was an American lawyer and politician.

Hoffman was the son of New York State Attorney General Josiah Ogden Hoffman and Mary Hoffman. He pursued classical studies and graduated from Columbia College in 1812. He served for three years in the Navy and was warranted a midshipman in 1814.

He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1818 and commenced practice in Goshen, New York. He was District Attorney of Orange County from May 1823 to January 1826. Then he returned to New York City and became the law partner of Hugh Maxwell, at the time D.A. of New York.

Hoffman was a member of the New York State Assembly, from Orange County in 1826, and from New York County in 1828. He was D.A. of New York County from 1829 to 1835. After the removal of the federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States in 1833, he abandoned Tammany Hall and the Democratic Party, and joined the Whigs. In 1836, Hoffman defended Richard P. Robinson at his trial for the murder of Helen Jewett, and got his client acquitted.

Hoffman was elected as a Whig to the 25th and 26th United States Congresses, serving from March 4, 1837 to March 3, 1841. He was United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1841 to 1845; and was New York State Attorney General from 1854 to 1855, elected on the Whig ticket in November 1853.