Samuel Prentiss (March 31, 1782 - January 15, 1857) was a United States Senator from Vermont. Born in Stonington, Connecticut, he moved to Northfield, Massachusetts in 1786; he completed preparatory studies and was instructed in the classics by a private tutor. He studied law in Northfield and in Brattleboro, Vermont; he was admitted to the bar in 1802 and practiced in Montpelier from 1803 to 1822. Prentiss was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1824-1825 and was associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court; he was elected chief justice in 1829. In 1831, Prentiss was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the U.S. Senate; he was reelected as a Whig in 1837 and served from March 4, 1831, to April 11, 1842, when he resigned to accept a judicial assignment. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office (Twenty-seventh Congress).
Samuel Prentiss was the originator and successful advocate of the law to suppress dueling in the District of Columbia; from 1842 until his death, he was judge of the United States District Court of Vermont. He died in Montpelier, and his remains were interred in Green Mount Cemetery.
John Holmes Prentiss, Samuel's brother, was a United States Representative from New York.
