Jeremiah Sullivan Black, U.S. Secretary of State and Attorney General

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_S._Black

Jeremiah Sullivan Black (January 10, 1810 – August 19, 1883) was an American statesman and lawyer. He was served as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania (1851-1854), Supreme Court Justice (1851-1856), Attorney General (1857-1860) and the U.S. Secretary of State (1860-1861) under President James Buchanan.

Early life

Black was born on January 10, 1810 in Stony Creek, Pennsylvania near his Glades, the son of Representative Henry Black, and his wife Mary Black (Sullivan). 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 was a member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1851-57), serving as Chief Justice (1851-54).

U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of State (1857-1861)

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 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.

Later life, after government and death

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 there at the Brockie in York, Pennsylvania, on August 19, 1883 at the age of 73, and was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery.

Personality life and children

On March 23, 1836, Black married the former Mary Forward (March 24, 1819 - February 24, 1897), and with whom had four children, (Rebecca Black, Chauncey Black, Henry Black, Jr. and Mary Sullivan Black).

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