Daniel Sheldon Norton

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American politician

title: "Daniel Sheldon Norton" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1829-births", "1870-deaths", "people-from-mount-vernon,-ohio", "republican-party-members-of-the-minnesota-house-of-representatives", "republican-party-minnesota-state-senators", "republican-party-united-states-senators-from-minnesota", "american-military-personnel-of-the-mexican–american-war", "19th-century-united-states-senators", "19th-century-members-of-the-minnesota-legislature"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "people/1820s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Sheldon_Norton" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Daniel Sheldon Norton
image name	Daniel S. Norton - Brady-Handy.jpg
office	United States Senator
from Minnesota
term_start	March 4, 1865
term_end	July 14, 1870
governor	Horace Austin
predecessor	Morton S. Wilkinson
successor	William Windom
office2	Minnesota State Senator
from the 11th district
term_start2	January 5, 1864
term_end2	January 1, 1866
term_start3	January 8, 1861
term_end3	January 6, 1862
term_start4	December 2, 1857
term_end4	December 6, 1859
birth_date
birth_place	Mount Vernon, Ohio, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Washington, D.C., U.S.
resting_place	Green Mount Cemetery
profession	Lawyer
party	Unionist, Republican
::

Life and career

Norton was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio to Daniel Sheldon and Sarah Sheldon (née Banning). He had a brother, Anthony Banning Norton, who also became a politician. He attended Kenyon College but left school to serve with the 2nd Ohio Volunteers in the Mexican–American War. After returning from the war he studied law under his brother-in-law Judge Rollin C. Hurd. For several years he moved to California and Nicaragua but he returned to Ohio in 1852 and was admitted to the bar shortly thereafter. He practiced law in Mount Vernon for several years before he moving to Minnesota Territory in 1855.

After initially living in St. Paul, Minnesota, Norton eventually settled in Winona, Minnesota. In 1857 Norton was elected to the Minnesota State Senate for its first legislative session. He was reelected in 1860 and 1863 serving four total terms in seven years. In 1865 the state legislature elected him to the US Senate where he served in the 39th and 40th congresses. Initially elected as a Unionist, Norton later aligned himself with the more moderate Republican faction in the senate. He supported President Andrew Johnson's stance on reconstruction and opposed his impeachment. This led to tension with the more radical Republicans of Minnesota who passed a resolution censuring Norton for his actions and calling for his resignation.

Norton died while in office on July 14, 1870, having suffered for several weeks from tuberculosis.

References

(June 15, 2010). "NORTON, ANTHONY BANNING". [[Texas State Historical Association]].
(1904). "The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans". Biographical Society.
"Norton, Daniel Sheldon — Legislator Record".
(1896). "A history of the Republican party from its organization to the present time: to which is added a political history of Minnesota from a Republican point of view and biographical sketches of leading Minnesota Republicans". Author.
Upham, Warren. (1908). "Minnesota in Three Centuries 1655-1908". Publishing Society of Minnesota.
(July 14, 1870). "Death of Senator Norton". Washington Evening Star.

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