Career in Law and Politics
Layton soon established a wide reputation for himself as a wise counselor and a zealous and popular advocate before the jury. In 1826 he was elected a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature, and was re-elected for several successive terms. In 1830 he was elected a member of the Delaware Senate.
During the administration of Governor David Hazzard he served as Secretary of State of Delaware and was again appointed to the same office by Governor Charles Polk in 1836. While occupying this position he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Delaware, and occupied that place until July 1844, when, owing to the insufficiency of the fiscal returns from the office, he was compelled to resign. He returned to the practice of his profession in Georgetown and continued to be a respected leader of the Delaware bar.
Aside from his professional prominence, Judge Layton exerted a wide influence in the domain of politics. He advocated the principles and sustained the purposes of the political organization to which he belonged. Originally he identified with the Federalist and Whig parties, and transitioned into the Republican Party as the American Civil War drew closer. He was noted by local historians to have been a forcible speaker, a close and accurate reasoner and a recognized leader in political life from 1825 until within a few years of his demise. He was the author of the free school system of the State, having caused the bill to be introduced and established. He was strongly opposed to slavery, and, as a member of the Legislature, caused the first abolition bill to be introduced in the State of Delaware.
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