Jeremiah S. Black

Jeremiah S. Black
24th United States Attorney General
In office March 6, 1857 – December 16, 1860
President	James Buchanan
Preceded by	Caleb Cushing
Succeeded by	Edwin M. Stanton
23rd United States Secretary of State
In office December 17, 1860 – March 5, 1861
President	James Buchanan
Preceded by	Lewis Cass
Succeeded by	William H. Seward
6th United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions
In office 1861–1862
Preceded by	Benjamin Chew Howard
Succeeded by	John William Wallace
Personal details
Born	Jeremiah Sullivan Black (1810-01-10)January 10, 1810 Stony Creek, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	August 19, 1883(1883-08-19) (aged 73) York, Pennsylvania, United States
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Lawyer Politician

Jeremiah Sullivan Black (January 10, 1810 – August 19, 1883) was an American statesman and lawyer. He was the son of Representative Henry Black and the father of writer and Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania (1883-87) Chauncey Forward Black (1839-1904).

Life and career

He was largely self-educated and, before he was of age, was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar. He gradually became one of the leading American lawyers, and from was a member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1851-57), serving as Chief Justice (1851-54). In 1857, he entered the Cabinet of President James Buchanan as Attorney General. In this capacity, he successfully contested the validity of the California land claims to about 19,000 square miles (49,000 km²) of land, fraudulently alleged to have been granted to land-grabbers and others by the Mexican government prior to the close of the Mexican–American War. He was Secretary of State (December 17, 1860-March 4, 1861). Perhaps the most influential of President Buchanan's official advisers, he denied the constitutionality of secession, and urged that Fort Sumter be properly reinforced and defended. However, he also argued that a state could not be legally coerced by the federal government. He successfully urged the appointment of Edwin M. Stanton as his successor.

President Buchanan and his Cabinet
From left to right: Jacob Thompson, Lewis Cass, John B. Floyd, James Buchanan, Howell Cobb, Isaac Toucey, Joseph Holt and Jeremiah S. Black, (c. 1859)

President Buchanan nominated him for a seat on the Supreme Court; but his nomination was defeated in the Senate by a single vote on February 21, 1861. He became Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1861; but, after publishing the reports for the years 1861 and 1862, he resigned and devoted himself almost exclusively to his private law practice.

After the American Civil War, he vigorously opposed the Congressional Plan for Reconstruction and drafted President Johnson's message vetoing the Reconstruction Act passed on March 2, 1867; his veto was overridden. Black was also briefly Counsel for President Johnson in his trial on his Article of Impeachment before the United States Senate, and for William W. Belknap, United States Secretary of War from 1869 to 1876, who in 1876 was impeached on a charge of corruption; he also represented Samuel J. Tilden during the contest for the presidency between Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes. He died at Brockie, York, Pennsylvania, in 1883 at the age of 73.

Further reading

• Black, C. F., Essays and Speeches of Jeremiah S. Black, with a Biographical Sketch, New York: 1885.

Black's Supreme Court nomination

Legal offices
Preceded by John B. Gibson	Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court 1851–1855	Succeeded by Ellis Lewis
Preceded by Caleb Cushing	U.S. Attorney General Served under: James Buchanan March 6, 1857 – December 16, 1860	Succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton
Preceded by Benjamin Chew Howard	United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions 1861–1862	Succeeded by John William Wallace
Political offices
Preceded by Lewis Cass	U.S. Secretary of State Served under: James Buchanan December 17, 1860 – March 5, 1861	Succeeded by William H. Seward