Dayton graduates from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) in 1825, passes the bar in 1830, enters local politics and is appointed to the State Supreme Court in 1838. He enters the U.S. Senate in 1842 as a Whig and serves there until 1851 while opposing the Mexican War and favoring the Wilmot Proviso against the expansion of slavery. In 1856 he wins the first Republican Party nomination over the second place finisher, Abraham Lincoln. After the 1860 election, Lincoln names Drayton to the important post as Ambassador to France, where he is successful in convincing the French not to recognize the Confederacy or engage in the war.
NJ Senator William Dayton
