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Levi Woodbury

Levi Woodbury
LeviWoodbury.png
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office
September 20, 1845 – September 4, 1851
Nominated by James Polk
Preceded by Joseph Story
Succeeded by Benjamin Curtis
13th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office
July 1, 1834 – March 4, 1841
President Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
Preceded by Roger Taney
Succeeded by Thomas Ewing
9th United States Secretary of the Navy
In office
May 23, 1831 – June 30, 1834
President Andrew Jackson
Preceded by John Branch
Succeeded by Mahlon Dickerson
9th Governor of New Hampshire
In office
June 5, 1823 – June 3, 1824
Preceded by Samuel Bell
Succeeded by David Morril
United States Senator
from New Hampshire
In office
March 4, 1841 – November 20, 1845
Preceded by Henry Hubbard
Succeeded by Benning Jenness
In office
March 16, 1825 – March 3, 1831
Preceded by John Parrott
Succeeded by Isaac Hill
Personal details
Born (1789-12-22)December 22, 1789
Francestown, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died September 4, 1851(1851-09-04) (aged 61)
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S.
Political party Democratic-Republican (Before 1825)
Democratic (1828–1852)
Education Dartmouth College (BA)
Litchfield Law School
Signature

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

Woodbury was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, the son of Mary and Peter Woodbury. He began his education at Atkinson Academy. He graduated from Dartmouth College, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1809, briefly attended Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, and read law to be admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1812. He became the first Supreme Court justice to attend law school. Later, he was in private practice in Francestown from 1812 to 1816. He also joined the Freemasons.

His education contributed to his early start in law, which led to his later political positions. He was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1812 and began practicing law in his hometown. During his time in Francestown, he wrote the Hillsborough Resolves to defend the Madison administration for their decisions in the War of 1812, which marked the beginning of his political involvement. Following the publication of his defense, he gained the recognition he needed to receive an appointment to the state senate in 1816. In quick succession, he was appointed to the state supreme court a year later, and in 1823, he was elected as the Governor of New Hampshire. During the time of his gubernatorial election, there was factionalism within the party. The caucus chose Samuel Dinsmoor as the candidate for governor, but an "irregular" public convention elected Woodbury as the other candidate. Woodbury defeated Dinsmoor by a wide margin, but his one year as governor was a failure. He tried to reconcile the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans but did not make a lot of progress. Eventually he became a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire, during which time he served as the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Throughout Woodbury’s political career, he was characterized as being independent and moderate, which some scholars interpret as indecisiveness and hesitancy.


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