Book excerpt: Biography of Samuel L. Southard, one of New Jersey's most distinguished political leaders. Southard (1787-1842) participated in most of the major political controversies of his era, from the bitter Federalist-Republican competition during the War of 1812 through the rise and flowering of the second American party system. During a career that spanned three decades, Southard served in a remarkable array of weighty offices--state attorney general, New Jersey supreme court justice, governor, Secretary of the Navy, United States senator, and president of the Morris Canal and Banking Company.