Representative William Augustus Sackett - Contact Information

William Augustus Sackett (November 18, 1811 – September 6, 1895) was a U.S. Representative from New York and a prominent nineteenth-century lawyer and public official. Born in Aurelius, near Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, he spent his early years in the central part of the state. He attended private schools and later pursued studies at Aurora Academy, receiving the type of classical and preparatory education common to aspiring professionals of his era.

In 1831 Sackett moved to Seneca Falls, New York, which at the time was an emerging commercial and industrial center in the Finger Lakes region. There he studied law, preparing for admission to the bar through the traditional apprenticeship system rather than through a formal law school, as was customary in the early nineteenth century. He was admitted to the bar in 1834 and commenced the practice of law in Seneca Falls, building a professional reputation that would eventually support his entry into public life.

Sackett’s legal career in Seneca Falls coincided with a period of rapid economic development and growing political tension over issues such as internal improvements, westward expansion, and slavery. As a practicing attorney, he became a figure of local prominence, which helped pave the way for his election to national office. His work at the bar and engagement with public questions in New York positioned him within the Whig Party, then one of the two major political parties in the United States.

As a member of the Whig Party representing New York, Sackett contributed to the legislative process during two terms in office. He was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1853. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, marked by the aftermath of the Mexican–American War, debates over the status of new territories, and intensifying sectional conflict. Sackett spoke frequently against the extension of slavery into United States territories and was an advocate of the immediate admission of California to the Union as a free state, aligning himself with the antislavery wing of the Whig Party. In these roles he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his New York constituents during a time of national crisis and compromise.

After leaving Congress in 1853, Sackett resumed the practice of law in Seneca Falls, returning to the profession that had first brought him public recognition. He continued his legal work there until 1857, when he moved to Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Springs, already known as a resort and health destination, also offered opportunities for professional and civic engagement, and Sackett became a well-known figure in that community as well.

The outbreak of the American Civil War deeply affected Sackett and his family. His son, William H. Sackett (1838–1864), served in the Union Army as Colonel and commander of the 9th New York Cavalry. Colonel Sackett was killed in action at the Battle of Trevilian Station in Virginia in June 1864, one of the largest cavalry engagements of the war. The younger Sackett’s service and death underscored the family’s direct involvement in the Union cause during the nation’s most severe internal conflict.

In the years following the war, Sackett aligned himself with the newly formed Republican Party, which drew many former Whigs who opposed the expansion of slavery. He joined the Republican Party at its founding and remained associated with it thereafter. Under the Bankruptcy Act of 1867, he was appointed a federal Register in Bankruptcy, a position that involved significant judicial and administrative responsibilities in overseeing bankruptcy proceedings. Because of the quasi-judicial nature of this federal office, he was afterwards usually referred to as “Judge Sackett,” a title that reflected the respect accorded to his role and experience in legal affairs.

William Augustus Sackett spent his later years in Saratoga Springs, where he continued to be recognized as a distinguished former congressman, lawyer, and federal official. He died in Saratoga Springs on September 6, 1895. His remains were interred in Greenridge Cemetery in that community, marking the close of a long life that spanned from the early republic through the post–Civil War era and that included service at the bar, in Congress, and in the federal judiciary system under the bankruptcy laws of his time.