Levi Woodbury
| Levi Woodbury | |
|---|---|
| Associate Justice of the Supreme Court | |
| In office September 20, 1845 – September 4, 1851 |
|
| Nominated by | James Polk |
| Preceded by | Joseph Story |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Curtis |
| 13th United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
| In office July 1, 1834 – March 4, 1841 |
|
| President | Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren |
| Preceded by | Roger Taney |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Ewing |
| 9th United States Secretary of the Navy | |
| In office May 23, 1831 – June 30, 1834 |
|
| President | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | John Branch |
| Succeeded by | Mahlon Dickerson |
| 9th Governor of New Hampshire | |
| In office June 5, 1823 – June 3, 1824 |
|
| Preceded by | Samuel Bell |
| Succeeded by | David Morril |
| United States Senator from New Hampshire |
|
| In office March 4, 1841 – September 20, 1845 |
|
| Preceded by | Henry Hubbard |
| Succeeded by | Benning Jenness |
| In office March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1831 |
|
| Preceded by | John Parrott |
| Succeeded by | Isaac Hill |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 22, 1789 Francestown, New Hampshire, United States |
| Died | September 4, 1851 (aged 61) Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States |
| Political party | Democratic Party |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College Tapping Reeve Law School |
| Religion | Presbyterianism |
| Signature | |
Levi Woodbury (December 22, 1789 – September 4, 1851) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a U.S. Senator, Governor of New Hampshire and cabinet member in three administrations. He was the first Justice to have attended law school.
Contents
Life and career[edit]
Woodbury was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, the son of Mary and Peter Woodbury[1] (both of whom were born with the same surname). He graduated from Dartmouth College, Phi Beta Kappa,[2] in 1809, briefly attended Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, and read law to be admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1812. He was in private practice in Francestown from 1812 to 1816. He also joined the Freemasons.
Woodbury was a clerk of the New Hampshire State Senate from 1816 to 1817, and a Justice of New Hampshire Superior Court of Judicature from 1817 to 1823. He was Governor of New Hampshire from 1823 to 1824 and was Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, 1825.
Federal government service[edit]
Senate and Cabinet service[edit]
Woodbury served as a United States Senator from New Hampshire from 1825 to 1831. Elected to serve in New Hampshire State Senate in 1831, Woodbury did not take office due to his appointment as United States Secretary of the Navy under President Andrew Jackson, from 1831 to 1834. At the beginning of this term, he was instrumental in the appointment of fellow New Hampshireman Edmund Roberts as special agent and envoy to the Far East.[3] Woodbury served as Secretary of the Treasury under Jackson and Martin Van Buren from 1834 to 1841, and served again as Senator from New Hampshire from 1841 to 1845. He was a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1845 to 1851.
As a U.S. Senator, Woodbury was a dependable Jackson Democrat, and President Jackson appointed him Secretary of the Navy (1831–1834) and then Secretary of the Treasury (1834–1841). Woodbury successfully worked to end the Second Bank of the United States; like Jackson he favored an "independent" treasury system and "hard money" over paper money. In retrospect, the financial Panic of 1837 and the collapse of speculative land prices were legacies of Woodbury's tenure. After the Panic, Woodbury realised that the U.S. Treasury needed a more secure administration of its own funds than commercial banks supplied, and he backed the act for an "Independent Treasury System" passed by Congress in 1840. It was largely repealed under the new administration the following year, but the foundation was laid for an independent U.S. Treasury, finally established in 1846, under President James K. Polk. Woodbury also served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance during a Special Session of the 29th Congress. His ten-day chairmanship is the shortest on record.
Supreme Court service[edit]
In the 1844 presidential election, Woodbury and the Jackson Democrats supported the Democrats' nomination of Polk. On September 20, 1845, Polk gave Woodbury a recess appointment to a seat as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court vacated by Joseph Story. Formally nominated on December 23, 1845, Woodbury was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 3, 1846, and received his commission the same day. Woodbury was promoted as a candidate for President in the 1848 Democratic National Convention where his support was largely centered in New England. He remained on the Court until his death at age 61 in 1851, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Legacy[edit]
Woodbury is one of the few individuals to serve in all three branches of U.S. government and one of three people to have served in all three branches and also have served as a U.S. Governor (the others being Salmon P. Chase and James F. Byrnes). Woodbury County, Iowa, the City of Woodbury, Minnesota and Woodbury, Tennessee, Woodbury Avenue in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Woodbury School in Salem, New Hampshire, and the ship USS Woodbury were named in honor of him.
Works[edit]
- Political, Judicial, and Literary Writings (edited by N. Capen, Boston, 1852)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ http://www.portsmouthathenaeum.org/findingaids/ms014.htm
- ^ Supreme Court Justices Who Are Phi Beta Kappa Members, Phi Beta Kappa website, accessed Oct 4, 2009
- ^ Roberts, Edmund (Digitized Oct 12, 2007) [First published in 1837]. Embassy to the Eastern courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat in the U. S. sloop-of-war Peacock during the years 1832-3-4. Harper & brothers. 432 pages. OCLC 12212199. embassytoeaster00unkngoog. Retrieved March 23, 2012. Check date values in:
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Sources[edit]
- Levi Woodbury at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Levi Woodbury at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- Dictionary of American Biography;
- Capowski, Vincent. The Making of a Jacksonian Democrat: Levi Woodbury, 1789-1851 Ph.D. dissertation, Fordham University, 1966
- Woodbury, Levi. Writings of Levi Woodbury. 3 vols. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1852.
- Biography
- Treasury Dept. biography
- Woodbury as a liberal
External links[edit]
| Wikisource has the text of an Encyclopaedia Britannica (9th ed.) article about Levi Woodbury. |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Samuel Bell |
Governor of New Hampshire 1823–1824 |
Succeeded by David Morril |
| Preceded by John Branch |
United States Secretary of the Navy 1831–1834 |
Succeeded by Mahlon Dickerson |
| Preceded by Edmund Parker |
Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives 1825 |
Succeeded by Henry Hubbard |
| Preceded by Roger Taney |
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Served under: Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren 1834–1841 |
Succeeded by Thomas Ewing |
| United States Senate | ||
| Preceded by John Parrott |
Senator (Class 3) from New Hampshire 1825–1831 Served alongside: Samuel Bell |
Succeeded by Isaac Hill |
| Preceded by Henry Hubbard |
Senator (Class 2) from New Hampshire 1841–1845 Served alongside: Franklin Pierce, Leonard Wilcox, Charles Atherton |
Succeeded by Benning Jenness |
| Preceded by George Evans |
Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance 1841 |
Succeeded by John Calhoun |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by Joseph Story |
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 1845–1851 |
Succeeded by Benjamin Curtis |
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- 1789 births
- 1851 deaths
- American Freemasons
- People from Francestown, New Hampshire
- American Presbyterians
- New Hampshire Democratic-Republicans
- New Hampshire Jacksonians
- Governors of New Hampshire
- United States Senators from New Hampshire
- United States Secretaries of the Navy
- United States Secretaries of the Treasury
- Members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
- Dartmouth College alumni
- Democratic Party United States Senators
- New Hampshire lawyers
- New Hampshire Supreme Court justices
- People from Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- United States federal judges appointed by James K. Polk
- United States Supreme Court justices
- Speakers of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
- Van Buren administration cabinet members
- Jackson administration cabinet members
- New Hampshire Democrats
- Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States
- Burials in New Hampshire