Gideon Granger

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Gideon Granger

---

image_width=200px
order=4th
title=United States Postmaster General
term_start=November 28, 1801
term_end=March, 1814
predecessor=Joseph Habersham
successor=Return J. Meigs, Jr.
birth_date=birth date|1767|7|19|mf=y
birth_place=Suffield, Connecticut, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1822|12|31|1767|7|19
death_place=U.S.
party=Democratic-Republican
spouse=Mindwell P. Granger
profession=Politician, Lawyer
religion=

Gideon Granger (July 19, 1767 – December 31, 1822) was an early American politician and lawyer. He was the father of Francis Granger.

Born in Suffield, Connecticut, Granger attended and graduated from Yale University and became a lawyer. He was considered a brilliant political essayist. Using the pseudonyms Algernon Sydney and Epaminondas many of his writings, defending Jeffersonian principles, were published in many pamphlets.

He was a member of the Connecticut General Assembly and ran unsuccessfully for the United States Congress in 1798. A staunch supporter of Thomas Jefferson's, Granger was appointed to his cabinet at the start of his term in 1801 as Postmaster General. He served in this post until 1814 when Jefferson's successor, James Madison, replaced him. He is the longest serving Postmaster General as of 2007.

After leaving Washington, D.C., Granger settled in Canandaigua, New York where he built a homestead that would be "unrivaled in all the nation" from which he could administer the many land tracts he had acquired further to the west which today it is a museum. He became a member of the New York Senate and continued to be influential in politics and law including being a key figure in the Erie Canal project.

Ill health forced him to retire early in 1821 and he died the next year on December 31, 1822. He was interned in Woodlawn Cemetery in Canandaigua.

External links

* [http://www.grangerhomestead.org/ Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9061 Gideon Granger] at Find A Grave