Samuel Beardsley (February 6, 1790 - May 6, 1860) was a United States Representative and New York State Attorney General. Born in Hoosick, he pursued academic studies, taught school, studied law in Rome, New York and served as a lieutenant in the War of 1812, taking part in the defense of Sackets Harbor in 1813. He was admitted to the bar in 1815 and commenced practice in Watertown. He was a judge advocate in the State militia; in 1816 he returned to Rome and continued the practice of law. He was prosecuting attorney in 1821 and a member of the New York State Senate in 1823. Beardsley moved to Utica in 1823, and was United States Attorney for the northern district of New York from 1823 to 1830. He was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-second, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth Congresses and served from March 4, 1831, to March 29, 1836, when he resigned. During the Twenty-fourth Congress he was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.
In 1836, Beardsley was appointed circuit judge; he was also appointed, by the New York State Legislature to replace Greene C. Bronson, to the office of New York Attorney General, which he held from 1836 to 1838, serving under Governor William L. Marcy. He was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1843, to February 29, 1844, when he resigned to accept a judicial appointment, and served as associate judge of the New York Supreme Court from 1844 to 1847; he was appointed chief justice in the latter year. He declined another term of service and resumed the practice of law.
Beardsley died in Utica in 1860; interment was in Forest Hill Cemetery.
