1.
Salmon Portland Chase
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Salmon Portland Chase was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States from 1864 to his death in 1873. Earlier in his career, Chase was the 23rd Governor of Ohio, senator from Ohio prior to service under Abraham Lincoln as the 25th Secretary of the Treasury. As Secretary of the Treasury, Chase strengthened the government, introducing its first paper currency as well as a national bank. He coined the slogan of the Free Soil Party, Free Soil, Free Labor, Chief Justice Chase presided over the Senate trial of Andrew Johnson during the Presidents impeachment proceedings in 1868. Chase was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, on January 13,1808, to Janet Ralston and Ithamar Chase, senator Dudley Chase of Vermont was another uncle. He studied in the schools of Windsor, Vermont, and Worthington, Ohio. He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa, while at Dartmouth, he taught at the Royalton Academy in Royalton, Vermont. Chase then moved to the District of Columbia, where he opened a school while studying law under U. S. Attorney General William Wirt. He was admitted to the bar in 1829, Chase moved to a country home near Loveland, Ohio, and practiced law in Cincinnati from 1830. He rose to prominence for his compilation of the states statutes. From the beginning, despite the risk to his livelihood, he defended runaway slaves and he worked initially with the American Sunday School Union. Chase was also a member of the literary Semi-Colon Club, its members included Harriet Beecher Stowe, Chase became the leader of the political reformers, as opposed to the Garrisonian abolitionist movement. For his defense of escaped slaves seized in Ohio under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 and his argument in the case of Jones v. Van Zandt on the constitutionality of fugitive slave laws before the U. S. Supreme Court attracted particular attention. In this and similar cases, the court ruled against him, Chase contended that slavery was local, not national, and that it could exist only by virtue of positive state law. Elected as a Whig to the Cincinnati City Council in 1840, for seven years he was the leader of the Liberty Party in Ohio. He helped balance its idealism with his approach and political thought. He was skillful in drafting platforms and addresses, and he prepared the national Liberty platform of 1843, building the Liberty Party was slow going. By 1848 Chase was leader in the effort to combine the Liberty Party with the Barnburners or Van Buren Democrats of New York to form the Free Soil Party
2.
Chief Justice of the United States
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The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices, the eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. From 1789 until 1866, the office was known as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice also serves as a spokesperson for the judicial branch. The Chief Justice leads the business of the Supreme Court and presides over oral arguments, when the court renders an opinion, the Chief Justice—when in the majority—decides who writes the courts opinion. The Chief Justice also has significant agenda-setting power over the courts meetings, in the case of an impeachment of a President of the United States, which has occurred twice, the Chief Justice presides over the trial in the Senate. In modern tradition, the Chief Justice also has the duty of administering the oath of office of the President of the United States. The first Chief Justice was John Jay, the 17th and current Chief Justice is John G. Roberts, Jr. The office was known as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and is still informally referred to using that title. However,28 U. S. C. §1 specifies that the title is Chief Justice of the United States, the title was changed from Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Congress in 1866 at the suggestion of the sixth Chief Justice, Salmon P. Chase. Chase wished to emphasize the Supreme Courts role as a branch of government. The first Chief Justice commissioned using the new title was Melville Fuller in 1888, use of the previous title when referring to Chief Justices John Jay through Roger B. Taney is technically correct, as that was the title during their time on the court. The other eight members of the court are officially Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Chief Justice is the only member of the court to whom the Constitution refers as a Justice, and only in Article I. Article III of the Constitution refers to all members of the Supreme Court simply as Judges, the Chief Justice is nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed to sit on the Court by the United States Senate. The salary of the Chief Justice is set by Congress, the Constitution prohibits Congress from lowering the salary of any judge, including the Chief Justice, while that judge holds office. As of 2015, the salary is $258,100 per year, which is higher than that of the Associate Justices. Three serving Associate Justices have received promotions to Chief Justice, Edward Douglass White in 1910, Harlan Fiske Stone in 1941, Associate Justice Abe Fortas was nominated to the position of Chief Justice of the United States, but his nomination was filibustered by Senate Republicans in 1968. Despite the failed nomination, Fortas remained an Associate Justice until his resignation the following year, there have been 21 individuals nominated for Chief Justice, of whom 17 have been confirmed by the Senate, although a different 17 have served
3.
John Jay Jackson, Jr.
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John Jay Jackson, Jr. was a United States federal judge, first from Virginia, and then from West Virginia, at the time of its creation as a separate state. Born in Parkersburg, Virginia, Jackson graduated from Princeton University in 1845, Jacksons father, General John Jay Jackson of Wood County, attended the Wheeling Convention on West Virginia statehood. Jacksons brother Jacob Beeson Jackson served as governor of West Virginia and his brother was Circuit Judge. He was a cousin of Stonewall Jackson and his grandfather, John George Jackson, preceded him as judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. The Jackson Memorial Fountain at Parkersburg is dedicated to the Jackson family, Jackson was in private practice in Wirt County, Virginia from 1847 to 1848, and a prosecuting attorney for Wirt County in 1848. He was a Commonwealth attorney of Ritchie County, Virginia from 1849 to 1850, then returned to practice in Wood County. He was a Member, of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1851 to 1855, Jackson was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 3,1861, and received his commission the same day. At the time of Jacksons appointment, Virginia and West Virginia were still a single state, however, early in the course of the American Civil War, the western portion of Virginia rejected Virginias secession from the United States, and itself seceded from Virginia. This area largely coincided with the existing Western District of Virginia, West Virginia was thereafter admitted as a state on June 20,1863, and on June 11,1864, by 13 Stat. 124, the court for the Western District of Virginia became the United States District Court for the District of West Virginia and those parts of the Western District that were not part of West Virginia were combined with the Eastern District to again form a single District of Virginia. After 1864, the federal judge for Virginia was John Curtiss Underwood. There was no Western District of Virginia from 1864 until 1871, Jackson was reassigned by operation of law to the newly formed United States District Court for the District of West Virginia. Having served for nearly forty-four years, including over forty years in the courts in West Virginia. He was the judge appointed by Lincoln. Jackson died in 1907, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, baas, Jr. John Jay Jackson, Jr. Business, Legal and Political Activities,1847 -1859, West Virginia History Volume 50, pp. 63–78. John Jay Jackson, Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center
4.
Henry Clay Caldwell
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Henry Clay Caldwell was a United States federal judge and Union Army officer. He was educated in the schools of Iowa, and began reading law in the offices of Knapp and Wright in Keosauqua, Iowa. He was admitted to the bar in 1857, according to some sources and he was a Prosecuting attorney of Van Buren County, Iowa from 1856 to 1858, and a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from 1859 to 1861. In 1854 he married Harriet Benton and he enlisted in the 3rd Iowa Volunteer Cavalry in the United States Army, rising to the rank of Colonel, and attained command of the unit. He served with distinction at the Battle of Kirksville, and he led the forces that captured Little Rock, Arkansas. He was nominated for promotion to officer, but the territory required his judicial expertise more than his military ability. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 28 and he served on that bench for over twenty-five years. Then on February 27,1890, President Benjamin Harrison elevated Caldwell to the United States circuit court for the Eighth Circuit, Caldwell was confirmed by the Senate on March 4 and received commission the same day. But just a later, on June 16,1891, he was reassigned to the newly created United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Caldwell retired on June 4,1903, and died in Los Angeles, California, at his death, Judge Caldwell was hailed as the most prominent citizen of Little Rock, the city he had once captured. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery, Little Rock, known as Clay to intimates, Caldwell was mildly progressive as a jurist. He once gave law books to Scipio Africanus Jones, a black man with the ambition to become a lawyer. He ordered the release of the radical journalist Moses Harman, who had argued for the abolition of government, religion and his minority opinion in Hopkins vs. Henry Clay Caldwell at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center. J. B. Follett, A Just Judge, Being a Brief Sketch of Henry Clay Caldwell of the United States Circuit Court, larry Winter Roeder, Judge Henry Clay Caldwell
5.
Benjamin Harrison
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Before ascending to the presidency, Harrison established himself as a prominent local attorney, Presbyterian church leader, and politician in Indianapolis, Indiana. Harrison unsuccessfully ran for governor of Indiana in 1876, the Indiana General Assembly elected Harrison to a six-year term in the U. S. Senate, where he served from March 4,1881, to March 4,1887. A Republican, Harrison was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating the Democratic incumbent, hallmarks of Harrisons administration included unprecedented economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff, which imposed historic protective trade rates, and the Sherman Antitrust Act. Harrison also facilitated the creation of the national forest reserves through an amendment to the Land Revision Act of 1891, during his administration six western states were admitted to the Union. Due in large part to surplus revenues from the tariffs, federal spending reached one billion dollars for the first time during his term, the spending issue in part led to the defeat of the Republicans in the 1890 mid-term elections. Cleveland defeated Harrison for re-election in 1892, due to the unpopularity of the high tariff. Harrison returned to life and his law practice in Indianapolis. In 1900 Harrison represented the Republic of Venezuela in a case against the United Kingdom. Harrison traveled to Europe as part of the case and after a brief stay returned to Indianapolis and he died at his home in Indianapolis in 1901 of complications from influenza. S. Historians, however, have not questioned Harrisons commitment to personal and official integrity, Harrisons paternal ancestors were the Harrison family of Virginia, whose immigrant ancestor, Benjamin Harrison, arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1630. Benjamin, the president, was born on August 20,1833, in North Bend, Ohio. Benjamin was also a grandson of U. S. Harrison was seven years old when his grandfather was elected U. S. president, although Harrisons family was distinguished, his parents were not wealthy. John Scott Harrison, a two-term U. S. congressman from Ohio, despite the familys modest resources, Harrisons boyhood was enjoyable, much of it spent outdoors fishing or hunting. Benjamin Harrisons early schooling took place in a log cabin near his home, fourteen-year-old Harrison and his older brother, Irwin, enrolled in Farmers College near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1847. In 1850, Harrison transferred to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and he joined the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which he used as a network for much of his life. He was also a member of Delta Chi, a law fraternity which permitted dual membership, classmates included John Alexander Anderson, who became a six-term U. S. congressman, and Whitelaw Reid Harrisons vice presidential running mate in 1892. At Miami, Harrison was strongly influenced by history and political economy professor Robert Hamilton Bishop, Harrison also joined a Presbyterian church at college and, like his mother, became a lifelong Presbyterian. Carolines father, a Presbyterian minister, performed the ceremony, the Harrisons had two children, Russell Benjamin Harrison, and Mary Mamie Scott Harrison
6.
President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
7.
Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
8.
Supreme Court of the United States
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The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest federal court of the United States. In the legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is the interpreter of federal constitutional law. The Court normally consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight justices who are nominated by the President. Once appointed, justices have life tenure unless they resign, retire, in modern discourse, the justices are often categorized as having conservative, moderate, or liberal philosophies of law and of judicial interpretation. Each justice has one vote, and while many cases are decided unanimously, the Court meets in the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D. C. The Supreme Court is sometimes referred to as SCOTUS, in analogy to other acronyms such as POTUS. The ratification of the United States Constitution established the Supreme Court in 1789 and its powers are detailed in Article Three of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is the court specifically established by the Constitution. The Court first convened on February 2,1790, by which five of its six initial positions had been filled. According to historian Fergus Bordewich, in its first session, he Supreme Court convened for the first time at the Royal Exchange Building on Broad Street and they had no cases to consider. After a week of inactivity, they adjourned until September, the sixth member was not confirmed until May 12,1790. Because the full Court had only six members, every decision that it made by a majority was made by two-thirds. However, Congress has always allowed less than the Courts full membership to make decisions, under Chief Justices Jay, Rutledge, and Ellsworth, the Court heard few cases, its first decision was West v. Barnes, a case involving a procedural issue. The Courts power and prestige grew substantially during the Marshall Court, the Marshall Court also ended the practice of each justice issuing his opinion seriatim, a remnant of British tradition, and instead issuing a single majority opinion. Also during Marshalls tenure, although beyond the Courts control, the impeachment, the Taney Court made several important rulings, such as Sheldon v. Nevertheless, it is primarily remembered for its ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which helped precipitate the Civil War. In the Reconstruction era, the Chase, Waite, and Fuller Courts interpreted the new Civil War amendments to the Constitution, during World War II, the Court continued to favor government power, upholding the internment of Japanese citizens and the mandatory pledge of allegiance. Nevertheless, Gobitis was soon repudiated, and the Steel Seizure Case restricted the pro-government trend, the Warren Court dramatically expanded the force of Constitutional civil liberties. It held that segregation in public schools violates equal protection and that traditional legislative district boundaries violated the right to vote
9.
United States district courts
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The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the court, which is a court of law, equity. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States district court, each federal judicial district has at least one courthouse, and many districts have more than one. The formal name of a court is the United States District Court for the name of the district—for example. In contrast to the Supreme Court, which was established by Article III of the Constitution, there is no constitutional requirement that district courts exist at all. This view did not prevail, however, and the first Congress created the court system that is still in place today. There is at least one district for each state, the District of Columbia. District courts in three insular areas—the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands—exercise the same jurisdiction as Article III U. S. district courts, despite their name, these courts are technically not District Courts of the United States. Judges on these Article IV territorial courts do not enjoy the protections of Article Three of the Constitution, there are 89 districts in the 50 states, with a total of 94 districts including territories. The United States Court of International Trade addresses cases involving international trade, the United States Tax Court has jurisdiction over contested pre-assessment determinations of taxes. A judge of a United States district court is titled a United States District Judge. The number of judges in district court is set by Congress in the United States Code. The President appoints the judges for terms of good behavior. With the exception of the courts, federal district judges are Article III judges appointed for life. Otherwise, a judge, even if convicted of a criminal offense by a jury, is entitled to hold office until retirement or death. In the history of the United States, only twelve judges have been impeached by the House, a judge who has reached the age of 65 may retire or elect to go on senior status and keep working. A federal judge is addressed in writing as The Honorable John/Jane Doe or Hon. John/Jane Doe and in speech as Judge or Judge Doe or, when presiding in court, Your Honor. District judges usually concentrate on managing their courts overall caseload, supervising trials, since the 1960s, routine tasks like resolving discovery disputes can, in the district judges discretion, be referred to magistrate judges
10.
Ohio
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Ohio /oʊˈhaɪ. oʊ/ is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Ohio is the 34th largest by area, the 7th most populous, the states capital and largest city is Columbus. The state takes its name from the Ohio River, the name originated from the Iroquois word ohi-yo’, meaning great river or large creek. Partitioned from the Northwest Territory, the state was admitted to the Union as the 17th state on March 1,1803, Ohio is historically known as the Buckeye State after its Ohio buckeye trees, and Ohioans are also known as Buckeyes. Ohio occupies 16 seats in the United States House of Representatives, Ohio is known for its status as both a swing state and a bellwether in national elections. Six Presidents of the United States have been elected who had Ohio as their home state, Ohios geographic location has proven to be an asset for economic growth and expansion. Because Ohio links the Northeast to the Midwest, much cargo, Ohio has the nations 10th largest highway network, and is within a one-day drive of 50% of North Americas population and 70% of North Americas manufacturing capacity. To the north, Lake Erie gives Ohio 312 miles of coastline, Ohios southern border is defined by the Ohio River, and much of the northern border is defined by Lake Erie. Ohios neighbors are Pennsylvania to the east, Michigan to the northwest, Ontario Canada, to the north, Indiana to the west, Kentucky on the south, Ohio is bounded by the Ohio River, but nearly all of the river itself belongs to Kentucky and West Virginia. Ohio has only that portion of the river between the rivers 1792 low-water mark and the present high-water mark, the border with Michigan has also changed, as a result of the Toledo War, to angle slightly northeast to the north shore of the mouth of the Maumee River. Much of Ohio features glaciated plains, with a flat area in the northwest being known as the Great Black Swamp. Most of Ohio is of low relief, but the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau features rugged hills, in 1965 the United States Congress passed the Appalachian Regional Development Act, at attempt to address the persistent poverty and growing economic despair of the Appalachian Region. This act defines 29 Ohio counties as part of Appalachia, the worst weather disaster in Ohio history occurred along the Great Miami River in 1913. Known as the Great Dayton Flood, the entire Miami River watershed flooded, as a result, the Miami Conservancy District was created as the first major flood plain engineering project in Ohio and the United States. Grand Lake St. Marys in the west central part of the state was constructed as a supply of water for canals in the era of 1820–1850. For many years this body of water, over 20 square miles, was the largest artificial lake in the world and it should be noted that Ohios canal-building projects were not the economic fiasco that similar efforts were in other states. Some cities, such as Dayton, owe their emergence to location on canals. Summers are typically hot and humid throughout the state, while winters generally range from cool to cold, precipitation in Ohio is moderate year-round
11.
David Davis (Supreme Court justice)
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David Davis was a United States Senator from Illinois and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. Davis and Lamon, along with another Lincoln associate, Leonard Swett, educated at Kenyon College and Yale University, Davis settled in Bloomington, Illinois in the 1830s, where he practiced law. He served in the Illinois legislature and as a delegate to the constitutional convention before becoming a state Judge in 1848. Lincoln practiced law in his court, after Lincoln won the presidency, Davis was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, where he served until being elected to the Senate in 1877. He was born to a family in Cecil County, Maryland. After graduating from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, in 1832, he went on to law in Massachusetts. Upon his graduation from Yale in 1835, Davis moved to Bloomington, Illinois and he married Sarah Woodruff Walker of Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1838. Two of their children, George and Sallie, survived to adulthood, Davis also served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1845 and a delegate to the Illinois constitutional convention in McLean County,1847. From 1848 to 1862, Davis presided over the court of the Illinois Eighth Circuit, Davis was a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, serving as Lincolns campaign manager during the 1860 presidential election. After President Lincolns assassination, Judge Davis was an administrator of his estate, formally nominated on December 1,1862, Davis was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 8,1862, and received his commission the same day. On the Court, Davis became famous for writing one of the most profound decisions in the Supreme Court history, in that decision, the court set aside the death sentence imposed during the Civil War by a military commission upon a civilian, Lambdin P. Milligan. Milligan had been guilty of inciting insurrection. The Supreme Court held that since the courts were operative. The opinion denounced arbitrary military power, effectively becoming one of the bulwarks of held notions of American civil liberty, in 1870 he held, with the minority of the Supreme Court, that the acts of Congress making government notes a legal tender in payment of debts were constitutional. He is the judge of the Supreme Court with no recorded affiliation to any religious sect. In answer to the letter informing him of the nomination, Judge Davis said, the chief magistracy of the republic should neither be sought nor declined by any American citizen. He withdrew from the presidential contest when he failed to receive the Liberal Republican Party nomination, Greeley died after the popular election and before the return of the electoral vote. One of Greeleys electoral votes went to Davis, in 1877, Davis narrowly avoided the opportunity to be the only person to ever single-handedly select the President of the United States
12.
Illinois
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Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
13.
Stephen Johnson Field
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Stephen Johnson Field was an American jurist. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from March 10,1863, prior to this appointment, he was the fifth Chief Justice of California. Born in Haddam, Connecticut, he was the sixth of the nine children of David Dudley Field I, a Congregationalist minister, henry Martyn Field a prominent clergyman and travel writer. He grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and went to Turkey at thirteen with his sister Emilia and her missionary husband and he received a BA from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1837. While attending Williams College he was one of the original Founders of Delta Upsilon Fraternity, in California, Fields legal practice boomed and he was elected alcalde, a form of mayor and justice of the peace under the old Mexican rule of law, of Marysville. The voters sent him to the California State Assembly in 1850 to represent Yuba County and his successful legal practice led to his election to the California Supreme Court in 1857, serving six years. During his time on the Supreme Court of California, Field had a coat made with pockets large enough to hold two pistols so that he could shoot at his various enemies through the pockets. In 1858 he was challenged to a duel by a fellow Judge but at the dueling ground, neither man fired his gun. In 1859 Field replaced the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, David S. Terry because Judge Terry killed a United States Senator from California in a duel. Oddly, Field and Terrys paths crossed again 30 years later when Field, acting in his capacity as a judge of the 9th Federal Circuit Court, ruled against Terry in a convoluted divorce case. Seeking revenge, Terry attempted to kill Field in 1889 near Stockton, California but was shot dead by Justice Fields bodyguard. Ironically, legal issues arising from the killing of Mr. Terry came before the Supreme Court in the 1890 habeas corpus case of In re Neagle. On March 6,1863, Abraham Lincoln appointed Field to the newly created tenth Supreme Court seat, the appointment would also give the Court someone familiar with real estate and mining issues. Field was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 10,1863, Fields vocal advocacy of substantive due process was illustrated in his dissents to the Slaughterhouse Cases and Munn v. Illinois. In the Slaughter-House Cases, Justice Fields dissent focused on the Privileges or Immunities clause, in both Munn v Illinois and Mugler v Kansas, Justice Field based his dissent on the protection of property interests by the Due Process clause. One of Fields most notable opinions was his majority opinion in Pennoyer v. Neff and his views on due process were eventually adopted by the courts majority after he left the Supreme Court. In other cases he helped end the tax, limited antitrust law. On racial issues, Justice Field is regarded to have had a poor record
14.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
15.
Samuel Freeman Miller
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Samuel Freeman Miller was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court who served from 1862 to 1890. He was a physician and lawyer, born in Richmond, Kentucky, Miller was the son of yeoman farmers. He earned a degree in 1838 from Transylvania University in Lexington. While practicing medicine for a decade, he studied the law on his own and was admitted to the bar in 1847, favoring the abolition of slavery, which was prevalent in Kentucky, he supported the Whigs in Kentucky. Miller moved to Keokuk, in Iowa, a more amenable to his views on slavery. Active in Hawkeye politics, he supported Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election, Lincoln nominated Miller to the Supreme Court on July 16,1862, after the beginning of the American Civil War. His reputation was so high that Miller was confirmed half an hour after the Senate received notice of his nomination and his opinions strongly favored Lincolns positions, and he upheld his wartime suspension of habeas corpus and trials by military commission. After the war, his reading of the Fourteenth Amendment—he wrote the opinion in the Slaughterhouse Cases—limited the effectiveness of the amendment. In Ex Parte Yarbrough,110 U. S.651, however, Miller held that the government had broad authority to act to protect black voters from violence by the Ku Klux Klan. Miller also supported the use of federal power under the Commerce Clause to trump state regulations. Justice Miller wrote more opinions than any other Supreme Court Justice, after the 1876 presidential election between Rutherford Hayes and Samuel Tilden, Miller served on the electoral commission that awarded the disputed electoral votes to the Republican Hayes. In the 1880s, his name was floated as a Republican candidate for president, Miller, a religious liberal, belonged to the Unitarian Church and served as President of the Unitarians National Conference. Following his death, his funeral was held at Keokuks First Unitarian Church and he died in Washington, D. C. while still a member of the court. He is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Keokuk, Iowa, the Slaughter-House Cases,83 U. S.36 Murdock v. Memphis,87 U. S.20 Wall. 590590 United States v. Kagama,118 U. S.375 In re Burrus,136 U. S.586 Justice Samuel Freeman Miller House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Ross, Michael A. Hill Country Doctor, The Early Life and Career of Supreme Court Justice Samuel F. Miller in Kentucky, 1816-1849, The Filson History Quarterly, Vol.71, 430–446. Ross, Michael A. Justice of Shattered Dreams, Samuel Freeman Miller, baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press. Justice Millers Reconstruction, The Slaughter-House Cases, Health Codes, and Civil Rights in New Orleans, 1861-1873
16.
Iowa
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Iowa is a U. S. state in the Midwestern United States, bordered by the Mississippi River on the east and the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west. Surrounding states include Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, Nebraska and South Dakota to the west, in colonial times, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana, its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, people laid the foundation for an economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is the 26th most extensive in area and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city by population is Des Moines, Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states in which to live. Its nickname is the Hawkeye State, Iowa derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many Native American tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east, the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west, Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are formed entirely by rivers. Iowa has 99 counties, but 100 county seats because Lee County has two, the state capital, Des Moines, is in Polk County. Iowas bedrock geology generally increases in age from west to east, in northwest Iowa, Cretaceous bedrock can be 74 million years old, in eastern Iowa Cambrian bedrock dates to c.500 million years ago. Iowa is generally not flat, most of the consists of rolling hills. Iowa can be divided into eight landforms based on glaciation, soils, topography, Loess hills lie along the western border of the state, some of which are several hundred feet thick. Northeast Iowa along the Mississippi River is part of the Driftless Zone, consisting of steep hills, several natural lakes exist, most notably Spirit Lake, West Okoboji Lake, and East Okoboji Lake in northwest Iowa. To the east lies Clear Lake, man-made lakes include Lake Odessa, Saylorville Lake, Lake Red Rock, Coralville Lake, Lake MacBride, and Rathbun Lake. The states northwest area has remnants of the once common wetlands. Iowas natural vegetation is tallgrass prairie and savanna in areas, with dense forest and wetlands in flood plains and protected river valleys. Most of Iowa is used for agriculture, crops cover 60% of the state, grasslands cover 30%, as of 2005 Iowa ranked 49th of U. S. states in public land holdings. Endangered or threatened plants include western prairie fringed orchid, eastern prairie fringed orchid, Meads milkweed, prairie bush clover, the explosion in the number of high-density livestock facilities in Iowa has led to increased rural water contamination and a decline in air quality. Iowa has a continental climate throughout the state
17.
Noah Haynes Swayne
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Noah Haynes Swayne was an American jurist and politician. He was the first Republican appointed as a justice to the United States Supreme Court, Swayne was born in Frederick County, Virginia in the uppermost reaches of the Shenandoah Valley, approximately 100 miles northwest of Washington D. C. He was the youngest of nine children of Joshua Swayne and Rebecca Swayne and he was a descendant of Francis Swayne, who emigrated from England in 1710 and settled near Philadelphia. After his father died in 1809, Noah was educated locally until enrolling in Jacob Mendendhalls Academy in Waterford, Virginia and he began to study medicine in Alexandria, Virginia, but abandoned this pursuit after his teacher Dr. George Thornton died in 1819. Despite his family having no money to support his education, he read law under John Scott and Francis Brooks in Warrenton, Virginia. A devout Quaker, Swayne was deeply opposed to slavery, and his abolitionist sentiments caused him to move to Ohio. He began a practice in Coshocton and, in 1825, was elected Coshocton County Attorney. Four years later he was elected to the Ohio state legislature, in 1830 he was appointed U. S. Attorney for Ohio by Andrew Jackson, and moved to Columbus to take up the new position. While serving as U. S. Attorney, Swayne was elected in 1834 to the Columbus City Council, as U. S. Attorney, Swayne became close friends with Supreme Court justice John McLean. McLean, by the end of his career, was a strong Republican, disney, to Washington D. C. to confer with President Andrew Jackson. The delegation presented Ohios case and urged the President to act swiftly to address the situation, John McLean was one of two dissenters in the Dred Scott case. He sought the Republican nomination for President in 1860, losing to Abraham Lincoln, however, he recommended to Lincoln on a number of occasions that Swayne be nominated to replace him on the court. This proved timely, McLean died shortly after Lincolns inauguration, in April 1861, as the American Civil War began, Swayne campaigned for the vacant seat, lobbying several Ohio members of Congress for their support. As the Supreme Court media itself notes, Swayne satisfied Lincolns criteria for appointment, commitment to the Union, slavery opponent and it is also believed that Swayne had also represented fugitive slaves in court. So eight months after McLeans death, Swayne was nominated, on January 21,1862, the nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 24,1862, with Swayne receiving his commission the same day. Fields dissent was important, and presaged later decisions broadening the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment, however, four years later Swayne joined the majority in Munn v. Illinois, with Field still dissenting. Swaynes potential judicial greatness failed to materialize and he is also said to have been the weakest. His main distinction was his staunch support of the presidents war measures, the Union blockade, issuance of paper money
18.
Bland Ballard (judge)
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Bland Ballard was a United States federal judge. Ballard was the son of James and Susannah Ballard and grandson of the Kentucky pioneer of the same name, Ballard was born in Shelby County, Kentucky. He read law in the office of Judge James Turner Morehead in 1840 to enter the Kentucky Bar, Ballard was connected with the business interests of Louisville and took an active interest in the city and its institutions. At one time he served as city councilor for the City of Louisville, Ballard was formally nominated on December 9,1861 and on January 22,1862, he was confirmed by the United States Senate and received his commission. He quickly reorganized the court and insured that the court system in Kentucky would continue without disruption. His district was responsible for more indictments for treason and conspiracy than perhaps any other and he was regarded as fair-minded and guided by the law and he was opposed to slavery and strongly supported the Union. The years immediately following the Civil War saw an increase in cases filed in the district court from questions growing out of the war, especially the internal revenue law. In addition to his duties as judge, Ballard served as president of the Kentucky National Bank. He continued to serve on the court until his death in Louisville, on December 16,1846, Judge Ballard married Miss Sarah McDowell. They had five children, Mary H. Austin, Fanny, Bland, Jr. Ballard died in office on June 29,1879, and was buried in the Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky. Bland Ballard at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center, Bland Ballard, History of the Sixth Circuit, a public domain work of the United States federal court system
19.
Thomas Jefferson Boynton
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Thomas Jefferson Boynton was an American lawyer, journalist, and judge. Boynton was born in 1838 in Amherst, Ohio, the son of John Hancock Boynton and he was called Jefferson by his family and friends. Jefferson grew up in Lorain County, Ohio and his father was active in both local and state politics, serving as the Sheriff of Lorain County and later the Mayor of Elyria, Ohio. Jefferson read law in 1858 and was in practice in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Boynton was a correspondent for the Missouri Democrat from 1858 to 1861 and he also was a newspaper editor in Jefferson City, Missouri. Boynton served as the District Attorney for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at Key West from 1861 to 1863. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him on October 19,1863, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, at age 25, he is the youngest federal judge in U. S. history. Nominated on January 5,1864, he was confirmed by the Senate on January 20,1864, scans of Boyntons appointment are in the holdings of PapersOfAbrahamLincoln, having been obtained from a descendant of Jeffersons sister, Harriet Boynton Dake. Judge Boynton was involved in the case of Samuel Mudd, Mudd was imprisoned in Fort Jefferson in Boyntons district. In 1868, Mudd submitted an appeal of habeas corpus in hopes of being freed, the text of Boyntons ruling can be found reproduced in various online newspaper archives, though the actual ruling document itself appears not to have survived. Mudds lawyers submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court, but this appeal was never heard as Mudd received a pardon in 1869. This particular ruling has surfaced in the 1990s and early 2000s because Dr, many of Boyntons activities as district attorney and judge have recently been made available on Footnote. com as papers of the Admiralty Court for his district have been published online. There are also letters in the Library of Congresss Lincoln collection relating to his appointment, Boynton resigned from the court on January 1,1870 as his health declined. Boynton died in New York City in 1871, shortly after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor and he is buried in Ridgelawn Cemetery, Elyria, Ohio. Thomas Jefferson Boynton at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center
20.
Richard Busteed
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Richard Busteed was an attorney and soldier who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was a lawyer before and after the war, and also served as the U. S. District Judge of Alabama from 1863 –1874 and he became highly controversial in that position, and resigned to avoid likely impeachment by the U. S. House of Representatives. Busteed was born in Cavan, Ireland and his family relocated to London, Ontario, sometime after his father, George Washington Busteed, was removed as chief secretary of Saint Lucia in 1829. After moving to Canada, the elder Busteed began publishing The True Patriot on which Richard worked as a type-setter and he accompanied his father to Cincinnati, Ohio, Hartford, Connecticut, and finally settled in New York City where he worked on the Commercial Advertiser. Along with working as a journalist, Busteed was licensed as a Methodist preacher and he visited Ireland for health reasons in 1840. Upon returning to New York he began to study the law and was admitted to the bar in 1846 and he was elected corporation counsel of New York City in 1856 and held that office until 1859. In the presidential election of 1860 he was a supporter of Stephen A. Douglas. Once the war erupted, Busteed became a strong Union man and he was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers on August 7,1862, by President Lincoln and assigned duty first in New York and then in Washington, D. C. On December 15,1862, he was given command of an independent brigade detached from the VII Corps, the brigade was assigned to the peninsula near Yorktown, Virginia. Even though the five colonels in his brigade sent a joint letter to the Senate urging his confirmation, Busteed not only had enemies from the election of 1860, he had made new ones for his strong support of the administration and his stance on the slavery question. His appointment expired on March 4,1863, and, relieved of his command, he resigned less than a week later on the 10th, ending his military career. On November 17,1863, Busteed received an appointment from Lincoln as United States District Judge for the Alabama seats vacated by the death of George W. Lane. Although Alabama comprised three judicial districts at the time, Northern, Middle, and Southern, they shared a single judgeship. Formally nominated on January 5,1864, this time his enemies in the Senate did not fight his confirmation, the confirmation may have gone so smoothly because Alabama was still mostly controlled by the Confederacy. It was only after the war ended that Busteed was able to take his seat on the bench, Judges in other states and eventually the United States Supreme Court would deliver similar opinions. In November 1865 Busteed clashed with the U. S. military authorities in Alabama over the suspension of habeas corpus, despite these opinions, Alabamans generally considered him corrupt and pro-Northern. In December 1867, he was shot on the street in Mobile by U. S. District Attorney Lucien V. B, martin, who fired two more shots into him after he fell. Martin went to Texas and was never prosecuted, while Judge Busteed recovered rapidly, in 1873, President Grant nominated Busteed to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia
21.
David Kellogg Cartter
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David Kellogg Cartter was a U. S. Representative from Ohio, and later a diplomat and federal judge, born in Jefferson County, New York, Cartter pursued preparatory studies, reading law in Rochester, New York and being admitted to the bar there in 1832. He commenced private practice in Rochester, moving four years later to Akron, Ohio, and then to Massillon, Ohio, Cartter was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Patents and he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1856 and continued his law practice. He served as delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention, Lincoln, as President, appointed Cartter to be United States Minister to Bolivia, for which he served from March 27,1861, to March 10,1862. On March 10,1863, President Lincoln nominated Cartter as Chief Justice of the newly established Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, Cartter was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 11,1863, and received his commission the same day. He served thereafter until his death, in 1887, in Washington and he was interred in Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, david Kellogg Cartter at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center. This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http, david Kellogg Cartter at Find a Grave Wilson, James Grant, Fiske, John, eds
22.
Mark W. Delahay
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Mark W. Delahay was a United States federal judge, and an early supporter of the Republican Party. A friend of Abraham Lincoln, Delahay was appointed by Lincoln to the federal bench, born in Talbot County, Maryland, Delahay entered private practice in Illinois sometime before 1853. He was an editor for the Virginia Observer, a newspaper of Virginia, in 1853, he relocated his practice to Mobile, Alabama, and in 1855 moved again to practice in Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1857, he became the owner and editor of a Kansas newspaper and he was a chief clerk in the Kansas Territorial House of Representatives from 1860 to 1861, and then a surveyor general of Kansas and Nebraska from 1861 to 1863. Delahey had a friendship with Abraham Lincoln originating with their mutual cause in establishing the Republican Party. In 1859, Delahay sought the Republican nomination for a United States Senate seat for Kansas and he evidently wanted Lincoln to intercede with General James H. Lane in his behalf. Instead of approaching Lane directly, as Delahay asked, Lincoln sought to accomplish the end by a somewhat circuitous. His daughter, Mary E. Delahay, is authority for the statement that Lincoln offered to appoint him Minister to Chile, which post he declined. On October 6,1863, Delahay received an appointment from President Abraham Lincoln to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Kansas vacated by Archibald Williams. He was formally nominated to the seat on December 14,1863 and he received his commission on the day of his confirmation. He died in Kansas City, Kansas, biography of Mark W. Delahay from the Kansas State Historical Society
23.
Richard Stockton Field
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Richard Stockton Field was a United States Senator from New Jersey, and later a United States federal judge. Field was the great-grandson of Richard Stockton, New Jersey Delegate to the Continental Congress, and the grandson of Richard Stockton, US Senator from New Jersey. Born in White Hall, Burlington County, New Jersey, Field moved to Princeton, New Jersey with his mother in 1810, pursued an academic course and he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1825, commencing private practice in Salem, New Jersey. He was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1844, and he was not a candidate for election in 1863. Instead, Field was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln on January 14,1863, Field was confirmed by the United States Senate, and received commission, on the same day that he was nominated. He served on the court until his resignation, on April 25,1870 and he died in Princeton, New Jersey and was buried in Princeton Cemetery. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Richard Stockton Field at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center. Richard Stockton Field at The Political Graveyard Richard Stockton Field at Find a Grave
24.
George P. Fisher
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George Purnell Fisher was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Whig Party and later the Republican Party, representative from Delaware, and as a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Fisher was born in Milford, Delaware, on October 13,1817 and he attended local public schools and at the age of 17 entered Mount St. Marys College in Maryland. One year later, he entered the class at Dickinson College. He then read law with John M. Clayton, then the chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, Fisher was admitted to the bar in April 1841 and began practicing in Dover, soon developing a thriving practice. He served two terms in the Delaware House of Representatives, in 1843 and 1844, governor Joseph Maull, who had recently taken office, appointed Fisher as Secretary of State of Delaware in March 1846. In 1847, Fisher also became an aide-de-camp to Major General Nathaniel Young, in 1849, Fisher worked in Washington with William Hunter, as a confidential clerk to Secretary of State John M. Clayton. Fisher assisted in negotiating the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty with Great Britain, in 1850, Fisher was appointed by President Zachary Taylor to be a commissioner to adjudicate claims against Brazil, Fisher served in this role until 1852. In 1855, Fisher was appointed Delaware Attorney General, he served until 1860, Fisher was elected on a Peoples Party ticket, which stood in for the Republicans in Delaware. In Congress, Fisher supported Abraham Lincolns compensated emancipation proposal, Fisher ran for re-election in 1862, but lost. On October 13,1862, Fisher was commissioned as a colonel of the First Delaware Cavalry. His service was brief, however, because he was nominated by President Lincoln on March 10,1863 and he was confirmed by the United States Senate and received his commission the next day. In 1867, Fisher presided over the trial of John H. Surratt, in May 1,1870, Fisher resigned as judge to accept an appointment as district attorney for the District of Columbia, serving until 1875. Finally, Fisher returned to Dover, where he had no intention of again entering public life, Fisher then returned to the home of his childhood, lived quietly in his extensive library, and devoted the last years of his life to reading and literary pursuits. Fisher died in Washington on February 10,1899, after a short illness, elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1. Members of the General Assembly took office the first Tuesday of January, State Senators have a four-year term and State Representatives have a two-year term. Representatives took office March 4 and also have a two-year term, martin, Roger A. Delawareans in Congress, the House of Representatives 1789-1900. George P. Fisher at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, Biographical Directory of the U. S. Congress Delaware’s Members of Congress Find a Grave The Political Graveyard
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