Rufus Choate (1 October 1799 – 13 July 1859) was a member of the US House of Representatives (NR-MA 2) from 4 March 1831 to 30 June 1834 (succeeding Benjamin Williams Crowninshield and preceding Stephen C. Phillips), and a US Senator (W) from 23 February 1841 to 4 March 1845 (interrupting Daniel Webster's terms).
Biography[]
Rufus Choate was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1799, and he became a lawyer in 1823. Choate served in the State House from 1825 to 1826 and in the State Senate in 1827, and he went on to serve in the US House of Representatives from 1831 until his 1834 resignation to continue his law practice. In 1841, he was appointed to the US Senate to fill Daniel Webster's vacant seat, serving until 1845. Choate was a staunch opponent of the Republican Party on its formation on the grounds that the party was primarily sectional rather than national, arguing that the party was "unconstitutional", and that its formation challenged the idea of a national "party system" rather than a regionalist one. He died in 1859.