James Sullivan (governor)

James Sullivan
Portrait by Gilbert Stuart
7th Governor of Massachusetts
In office May 29, 1807 – December 10, 1808
Lieutenant	Levi Lincoln Sr.
Preceded by	Caleb Strong
Succeeded by	Levi Lincoln Sr. (acting)
2nd Massachusetts Attorney General
In office 1790–1807
Preceded by	Robert Treat Paine
Succeeded by	Barnabas Bidwell
Personal details
Born	(1744-04-22)April 22, 1744 Berwick, Province of Massachusetts Bay (present-day Maine)
Died	December 10, 1808(1808-12-10) (aged 64) Boston, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouses	Mehitable Odiorne Martha Langdon
Signature

James Sullivan (April 22, 1744 – December 10, 1808) was an American lawyer and politician in Massachusetts. He was an early associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, served as the state's attorney general for many years, and as governor of the state from 1807 until his death.

Sullivan was born and raised in Berwick, Maine (then part of Massachusetts), and studied law with his brother John. After establishing a successful law practice, he became actively involved in the Massachusetts state government during the American Revolutionary War, and was appointed to the state's highest court in March 1776. He was involved in drafting the state constitution and the state's ratifying convention for the United States Constitution. After resigning from the bench in 1782 he returned to private practice, and was appointed Attorney General in 1790. During his years as judge and attorney general he was responsible for drafting and revising much of the state's legislation as part of the transition from British rule to independence. While attorney general he worked with the commission that established the border between Maine and New Brunswick, and prosecuted several high-profile murder cases.

Sullivan was a political partisan, supporting the Democratic-Republican Party and subscribing to Jeffersonian republican ideals. He supported John Hancock and Samuel Adams in their political careers, and was a frequent contributor, often under one of many pseudonyms, to political dialogue in the state's newspapers. He ran unsuccessfully for governor several times before finally winning the office in 1807. He died in office during his second term.

In addition to his political pursuits Sullivan engaged in charitable and business endeavors. He was a leading proponent of the Middlesex Canal and the first bridge between Boston and Cambridge, and was instrumental in the development of Boston's first public water supply. He was the founding president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and held membership in a variety of other charitable organizations. He wrote one of the first histories of his native Maine, and a legal text on land titles. Legal historian Charles Warren calls him one of the most important legal figures of the time in Massachusetts.^[1]