Nathan Clifford

Nathan Clifford
19th United States Attorney General
In office October 17, 1846 – March 17, 1848
President	James K. Polk
Preceded by	John Y. Mason
Succeeded by	Isaac Toucey
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office January 12, 1858[1] – July 25, 1881
Nominated by	James Buchanan
Preceded by	Benjamin Robbins Curtis
Succeeded by	Horace Gray
Personal details
Born	August 18, 1803(1803-08-18) Rumney, New Hampshire
Died	July 25, 1881(1881-07-25) (aged 77) Cornish, Maine
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Hannah Ayer
Profession	Lawyer, Politician, Teacher, Judge
Religion	Congregationalist; later Unitarian

Nathan Clifford (August 18, 1803 – July 25, 1881) was an American statesman, diplomat and jurist.

Clifford was born of old Yankee stock in Rumney, New Hampshire, to farmers, the only son of seven children (His great-great-grandmother, Ann Smith, wife of Israel Clifford, was the accuser of Goody Cole.) He attended the public schools of that town, then the Haverhill Academy in New Hampshire, and finally the New Hampton Literary Institute^[2] (now known as the New Hampton School). After teaching school for a time, he studied law in the offices of Josiah Quincy III and was admitted to the bar in Maine in 1827, establishing his first practice in Newfield, Maine.

He served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1830 to 1834 and served as Speaker of that house the last two years. He was then Maine Attorney General from 1834 until 1838, when he was elected as a Democrat to the 26th and 27th Congresses, serving March 4, 1839 through March 3, 1843, and representing the Second and then the Third District. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1842.

In 1846, President James K. Polk appointed him 20th Attorney General of the United States after his predecessor, John Y. Mason, returned to being Naval Secretary. Clifford served in Polk's Cabinet from October 17, 1846, to March 17, 1848. Immediately after completing his service with the Justice Department he became the U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico, serving from March 18, 1848 to September 6, 1849. It was through Clifford that the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was arranged with Mexico, by which California became a part of the United States.

Following his service in the diplomatic corps, Clifford resumed the practice of law in Portland, Maine.

Nathan Clifford in his elder years.

On December 9, 1857, President James Buchanan nominated Clifford to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Benjamin R. Curtis. Clifford was confirmed on January 12, 1858, by a narrow margin of 26 votes to 23 in the United States Senate. Senators were hesitant about placing a pro-slavery Democrat on the Supreme Court. His specialties were commercial and maritime law, Mexican land grants, and procedure and practice. Though he rarely declared any legal philosophy about the Constitution, Justice Clifford believed in a sharp dividing line between federal and state authority. His major constitutional contribution may have been his dissent in Loan Association vs. Topeka (20 Wallace 655) in which he rejected "natural law," or any ground other than clear constitutional provision, as a basis the Court use to strike down legislative acts. Justice Clifford's opinions were comprehensive essays on law, and have sometimes been criticized as overly lengthy and digressive. Justice Clifford wrote the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in 398 cases.^[3] He served on the Court for 23 years, beginning on January 28, 1858, and continuing until his death from the complications of a stroke.

Clifford was president of the Electoral Commission convened in 1877 to determine the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, 1876. Clifford voted for Samuel Tilden (a fellow Democrat), but Rutherford B. Hayes famously won by a single vote in the Compromise of 1877.

Clifford was one of a handful of persons who have served in all three branches of the United States federal government. He died in Cornish, Maine in 1881; he was interred in Evergreen Cemetery, in Portland, Maine. The Nathan Clifford Elementary School in Portland is named for him.

Clifford's son William Henry Clifford was a successful lawyer and an unsuccessful candidate for the Maine State House of Representatives; his grandson, also named Nathan Clifford, was also a lawyer and briefly president of the Maine State Senate.

Further reading

• Clifford, Philip G., Nathan Clifford, Democrat from 1803 to 1881, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1922.

References

1. ^ "Federal Judicial Center: Nathan Clifford". 2009-12-11. http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=460. Retrieved 2009-12-11. 
2. ^ A Small Gore of Land, Merrill, Gowan et al. 1977
3. ^ A Few New Hampshire Notables USDC - District of New Hampshire

External links

Nathan Clifford Historic Marker

• Nathan Clifford at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Nathan Clifford at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by John Fairfield	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 1st congressional district March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843	Succeeded by Joshua Herrick
Legal offices
Preceded by John Y. Mason	United States Attorney General Served under: James K. Polk October 17, 1846 – March 17, 1848	Succeeded by Isaac Toucey
Preceded by Benjamin Robbins Curtis	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States January 12, 1858 – July 25, 1881	Succeeded by Horace Gray
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by John Slidell	United States Minister to Mexico July 28, 1848 – September 6, 1849	Succeeded by Robert P. Letcher

Persondata
Name	Clifford, Nathan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 18, 1803
Place of birth	Rumney, New Hampshire
Date of death	July 25, 1881
Place of death	Cornish, Maine