James Dixon (August 5, 1814 - March 27, 1873) was a United States Representative and Senator from Connecticut. Born in Enfield, Connecticut, he pursued preparatory studies, and graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1834. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1834 and commenced practice in Enfield. He was a member of the State house of representatives in 1837-1838 and 1844, and served as speaker in 1837; he moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1839 and continued the practice of law. He was elected as a Whig to the House, serving during the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1845-March 3, 1849), and was a member of the State house of representatives in 1854. He declined the nomination for Governor of Connecticut in 1854, and was an unsuccessful candidate for United States Senator in 1854. Dixon was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 1856, and reelected in 1863, serving from March 4, 1857, to March 3, 1869. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses) and a member of the Committees on District of Columbia (Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses) and Post Office and Post Roads (Thirty-ninth Congress). He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in 1868. He was appointed Minister to Russia in 1869 but declined; he engaged in literary pursuits and extensive traveling until his death in Hartford on March 27, 1873. Interment was in Cedar Hill Cemetery.
This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
