Solomon Southwick (1773–1839), journalist and public official, was born in Newport, Rhode Island. The son of a newspaper publisher, he began his own career in this field as an apprentice printer in New York City. By 1791 Southwick was a journeyman with the Albany Register, an anti-Federalist newspaper of which he was a partner, 1792–1800. He soon formed political alliances that helped him win positions, first as clerk of the New York state assembly, then as clerk of the state senate, and finally as sheriff of Albany city and county. In 1808 Southwick was named state printer, returned to journalism as sole proprietor of the Albany Register, and wrote columns supporting the DeWitt Clinton faction of Jeffersonian Republicans. Starting in 1812 his influence declined when his support for a controversial banking measure led to accusations of bribery. Southwick was removed as state printer in 1814 and fell into debt due to failed attempts at land speculation. He shifted his political allegiance from Clinton to James Monroe and held the Albany postmastership, 1815–22. In 1817 Southwick ceased publication of the Albany Register. He also edited three other Albany periodicals, the Christian Visitant, 1815–16, the Plough Boy, 1819–23, and the National Democrat, 1823–26. Southwick failed in bids for the governorship of New York in 1822 as an independent and in 1828 on behalf of the Anti-Masonic party. He spent his final years as a traveling lecturer espousing temperance, Christianity, and self-improvement. Southwick’s many publications included The Pleasures of Poverty (Albany, 1823) and Five Lessons for Young Men. By a Man of Sixty (1837). He died in Albany (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, repr. 1968, 20 vols. in 10 description ends ; Brigham, American Newspapers description begins Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690–1820, 1947, 2 vols. description ends , 1:539; PTJ description begins Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, James P. McClure, and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1950– , 44 vols. description ends , 33:572–3; Craig Hanyan and Mary L. Hanyan, De Witt Clinton and the Rise of the People’s Men [1996]; Pittsfield [Mass.] Sun, 21 Nov. 1839).

On 12 Apr. 1821 Southwick sent James Madison the same enclosure (Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser., 2:301).