Daniel Stevens Dickinson (September 11, 1800 - April 12, 1866) was a New York politician, most notable as a United States Senator from 1844 to 1851. Born in Goshen, Connecticut, he moved with his parents to Guilford, Chenango county, New York, in 1806. He attended the common schools, was apprenticed to a clothier, and taught school for several years. He subsequently engaged in land surveying, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. He commenced practice in Guilford, and served as postmaster of Guilford from 1827 to 1832. He moved to Binghamton and served as the first president of the city of Binghamton in 1834. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1837 to 1840. He served as lieutenant governor of New York, ex officio president of the New York Senate and president of the court of errors from 1842 to 1844.
In 1844 he was appointed and subsequently elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, and was reelected to a full 6-year term in 1845, serving from November 30, 1844, to March 3, 1851. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Finance (1849), a member of the Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses), and a member of the Committee on Private Land Claims (Thirty-first Congress). As a senator and after, Dickinson was the leader of the conservative Hunker faction of the New York Democratic Party, and would eventually become leader of the "Hards" who opposed reconciliation with the more radical Barnburner faction which had bolted the party in 1848. Dickinson resumed the practice of law in 1851. He was appointed collector of the port of New York, but declined the position.
Dickinson was elected New York State Attorney General in 1861. Meanwhile, he was appointed United States commissioner for the final settlement of the Hudson Bay and Puget Sound agricultural claims in 1864. By this time, Dickinson had left the Democratic Party and joined the United States Republican Party. He was considered as a possible vice-presidential candidate for the Republicans in that election, in which Abraham Lincoln was running for reelection during the Civil War. Eventually, Dickinson was passed over in favor of Andrew Johnson. Dickinson was, however, appointed by President Lincoln as United States Attorney for the southern district of New York in 1865. Dickinson served in this position until his death, which occurred in New York City. He was interred in Spring Forest Cemetery, Binghamton.
