David Colbreth Broderick (4 February 1820-16 September 1859) was a US Senator from California (D) from 4 March 1857 to 16 September 1859, succeeding John B. Weller and preceding Henry P. Haun.
Biography[]
David Colbreth Broderick was born in Washington DC, the son of an Irish immigrant stonecutter and his wife. In 1823, the family moved to New York City, and he worked as a stonecutter before becoming involved with Democratic politics at a young age. In 1846, he launched a close, but failed run for New York's 5th congressional district, and he joined the California Gold Rush in 1849. He engaged in smelting and assaying gold in San Francisco, California, and he served in the State Senate from 1850 to 1852, as Lieutenant Governor from 1851 to 1852, and as a US Senator from 1857 until his death in 1859. The caustic and aggressive Broderick became affiliated with the Free Soil Party just prior to the start of the American Civil War, and his inflammatory anti-slavery views led to him duelling his former friend, Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court David S. Terry. They duelled at Lake Merced on the San Francisco city limits, and Broderick was shot in the lung, dying three days later.