Theodore Sedgwick Fay was an American writer and diplomat who spent much of his life in Germany. Initially trained in law, he worked as a clerk for his father, an attorney, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. However, his literary inclinations soon led him to journalism. He became editor of the New York Mirror in 1828, where his essays were later collected as Dreams and Reveries of a Quiet Man (2 vols., 1832).

Diplomatic Service: In 1837 Fay entered the U.S. diplomatic service, serving as secretary of the legation in London and later in Berlin (1837–1853). From 1853 to 1861 he was U.S. Minister to Switzerland. During his tenure he produced an influential memorandum, Denkschrift betreffend die Zulassung der nordamerikanischen Israeliten zur Niederlassung in der Schweiz (1859), advocating for Jewish emancipation. The report, prepared under the guidance of Rabbi Moïse Nordmann, contributed to the eventual Swiss reforms of 1866. Fay retired from diplomatic service in 1861 and settled in Berlin, where he lived until his death.

His Works: • Views in New-York and Its Environs, from Accurate, Characteristic & Picturesque Drawings (New York: Peabody & Co., 1831), with James H. Dakin – engravings with commentary. • Dreams and Reveries of a Quiet Man (2 vols., 1832) – essays originally published in the New York Mirror. • Norman Leslie: A Tale of the Present Times (2 vols., 1835) – a best-selling novel, later dramatized by Louisa H. Medina; subject of Edgar Allan Poe’s scathing review. • Sydney Clifton (1839). • The Countess Ida (1841) – a didactic novel condemning dueling. • Hoboken, a Romance (1843) – another anti-dueling work. • Ulric: A Poem (1851) – explores the influence of Lutheranism on a German officer. • Views of Christianity (1856). • Die Sklavenmacht: Blicke in die Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (“The Slave Power: A Look into the History of the United States of America,” Berlin, 1865) – a defense of the Union cause. • A Great Outline of Geography (2 vols., 1867) – a school textbook. • Die Alabama-Frage (“The Alabama Question,” Leipzig, 1872) – on the post-Civil War international dispute. • First Steps in Geography (1873) – a geography primer. • The Three Germanys (2 vols., 1889) – political and cultural history. • History of Switzerland (n.d.).

Later Life: Fay lived out his later years in Berlin. His long diplomatic service, coupled with his prolific literary career, made him one of the notable American expatriates in 19th-century Europe.