John Catron | |
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Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court | |
In office March 8, 1837[1] – May 30, 1865 |
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Nominated by | Andrew Jackson |
Preceded by | (none) |
Succeeded by | (none) |
Personal details | |
Born | January 7, 1786 Wythe County, Virginia |
Died | May 30, 1865 Nashville, Tennessee |
(aged 79)
Religion | Presbyterian |
John Catron (January 7, 1786 – May 30, 1865) was an American jurist who served as a US Supreme Court justice from 1837 to 1865.
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Early life
Little is known of Catron's early life. He was born in Montgomery County (later Wyeth County), Virginia to Peter (Catron) Kettering who had come from Mittelbrun in the German Palatinate with his parents and Maria Elizabetha Houck whose parents were Palatine Germans who had come to Virginia by way of Pennsylvania. He had a sister Mary. He was a second cousin to Thomas Benton Catron, later one of the first two senators of the state of New Mexico. His father had served in Captain William Doack's militia company in Montgomery County during the Revolutionary War. The family relocated to Kentucky in the first years of the 19th century. He served in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson. He read law to be admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1815 and was in private practice at Sparta in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee from 1815 to 1818, while simultaneously serving as a prosecuting attorney of that city. He established a land law practice in Nashville in 1818, in which he continued until 1824.
Career
From 1824-1834, he served on the Tennessee Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals, being elevated to Chief Justice of that court in 1831. In 1834, the Tennessee state legislature abolished the chief justice position, and Catron retired and returned to private practice in Nashville. During the election of 1836, Catron directed Martin Van Buren's presidential campaign in Tennessee against native son Hugh Lawson White.
In 1836 Congress, by 5 Stat. 176, expanded the United States Supreme Court from seven to nine members. This allowed then-President Andrew Jackson an opportunity to name two new justices on March 3, 1837, his last full day in office. Only one of Jackson's nominees accepted, Catron. The newly seated Senate of the subsequent Congress confirmed Catron's appointment five days later. He took the judicial oath on May 1, 1837.[2]
Catron served as an associate justice until his death in 1865 at age 79. Catron owned slaves all of his adult life and he supported slavery and sided with the majority in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case. But, he opposed secession and urged Tennessee to remain with the Union. For a brief time after Tennessee seceded from the Union but prior to Nashville being occupied by Federal troops, Catron left his residence in Nashville and took up residence in Louisville, KY. He died in 1865 in Nashville, Tennessee.
After Catron's death, Congress eliminated his seat under the Judicial Circuits Act from the Court as a way to prevent President Andrew Johnson from appointing any justices.
Catron is interred at Nashville's Mount Olivet Cemetery.
References
- ^ "Federal Judicial Center: John Catron". 2009-12-09. http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=400. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
- ^ "Members of the Supreme Court (1789 to Present)". http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
- John Catron, 1837-1865, Supreme Court Historical Society.
- John Catron, Oyez-Supreme Court Multimedia.
- John Catron at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- Kegley, Mary B. "Militia of Montgmery County, Virginia 1777-1790," Kegley Books, (1974)
- Westphall, Victor. "Thomas Benton Catron and His Era," University of Arizona Press(1973)
Further reading
- Timothy S. Huebner, The Southern Judicial Tradition: State Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, 1780-1890 (1999).
Legal offices | ||
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Preceded by None (New Seat) |
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States March 8, 1837 – May 30, 1865 |
Succeeded by None (Seat Abolished) |