Levi P. Woodbury, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

Hon. Levi Woodbury

Find A Grave Memorial ID # 5673

Levi Woodbury (December 22, 1789 – September 4, 1851) was an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Senator, Governor of New Hampshire and cabinet member in three presidential administrations. He was the first Justice to have attended law school.

Life and career

Woodbury was born in Francestown, New Hampshire. He graduated from Dartmouth College, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1809, briefly attended Tapping Reeve's Litchfield 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 1812-1816. He also joined the Freemasons.

Woodbury was a clerk of the New Hampshire State Senate from 1816-1817, and a Justice of New Hampshire state supreme court from 1817 to 1823. He was Governor of New Hampshire from 1823-1824 and was Speaker of the New Hampshire State House of Representatives, 1825.

Federal government service

Senate and Cabinet service

Woodbury served as a United States Senator from New Hampshire from 1825-1831. 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 1831-1834. He was Secretary of the Treasury under Jackson and Martin Van Buren from 1834-1841, and served again as Senator from New Hampshire from 1841 to 1845. He was a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1845-1851.

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 It was largely repealed under the new administration the following year, but the foundation was laid for an independent U.S. Treasury, finally established in 1846, under President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

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 appointmentto 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 remained on the Court until his death, in 1851, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Legacy

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 served as a U.S. Governor (the others being Salmon P. Chase and James F. Byrnes). Woodbury County, Iowa, the City of Woodbury, Minnesota, Woodbury Avenue in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Woodbury School in Salem, New Hampshire, and the ship USS Woodbury were named in honor of him.

Works

Political, Judicial, and Literary Writings (edited by N. Capen, Boston, 1852)

• Governor of New Hampshire
• Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of the Navy during the Administration of President Jackson

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• Reference: TNG Genealogy - SmartCopy: Apr 4 2017, 0:26:31 UTC

Governor of New Hampshire. Presidential Cabinet Secretary. United States Senator. Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1809 he was admitted to the bar where he began his long life of public service working as the clerk in the New Hampshire state senate. In 1823 he was elected governor and one year later won reelection. He was elected and served in the US Senate from 1825 to 1831 and again from 1841 to 1845. From 1831 to 1834 he served as President Andrew Jackson’s Secretary of the Navy and then Treasury Secretary for both Jackson and Martin Van Buren from 1834 to 1841. In 1845 President James K. Polk appointed him an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Many Democrats were grooming the popular justice as a likely presidential nominee in 1852 but he died before the convention. (bio by: [fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=46780407" target="_blank Bigwoo)] Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: Jun 10, 1999

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Feb 2 2018, 19:54:13 UTC