Christopher Gore (21 September 1758 – 1 March 1827) was Governor of Massachusetts from 1 May 1809 to 10 June 1810 (succeeding Levi Lincoln Sr. and preceding Elbridge Gerry) and a US Senator from 5 May 1813 to 30 May 1816 (succeeding James Lloyd and preceding Eli P. Ashmun). He was a Federalist Party member.
Biography[]
Christopher Gore was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1758, and he joined the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War; his father was one of the American loyalists who took part in the evacuation of the city in 1776. Gore went on to establish a successful law practice, and he made a fortune by purchasing revolutionary government debts at a discount and receiving full value for them by the government. He entered politics in 1788, briefly serving in the Massachusetts legislature before becoming a district attorney and serving as a diplomat to Great Britain. He unsuccessfully ran for governor several times before winning in 1809, but he lost for re-election to Democratic-Republican nominee Elbridge Gerry in 1810. Governor Caleb Strong appointed him to the US Senate in 1813, and he opposed the War of 1812. Gore went on to become a successful investor, helping to build the Middlesex Canal and a bridge across the Charles River, as well as investing in the early textile industry. He was a major benefactor of his alma mater, Harvard, whose first library was named in his honor. He died in 1827.