Levi Woodbury

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Levi Woodbury
15th Governor of New Hampshire
In office June 5, 1823 – June 3, 1824
Preceded by	Samuel Bell
Succeeded by	David L. Morril
United States Senator from New Hampshire
In office March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1831
Preceded by	John Fabyan Parrott
Succeeded by	Isaac Hill
9th United States Secretary of the Navy
In office May 23, 1831 – June 30, 1834
Preceded by	John Branch
Succeeded by	Mahlon Dickerson
13th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office July 1, 1834 – March 3, 1841
Preceded by	Roger B. Taney
Succeeded by	Thomas Ewing
United States Senator from New Hampshire
In office March 4, 1841 – November 20, 1845
Preceded by	Henry Hubbard
Succeeded by	Benning W. Jenness
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office September 23, 1845 – September 4, 1851
Preceded by	Joseph Story
Succeeded by	Benjamin R. Curtis
Born	December 22, 1789 Francestown, New Hampshire
Died	September 4, 1851 (aged 61) Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Dartmouth College

Levi Woodbury (December 22, 1789 – September 4, 1851) was the first justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to have attended law school.

[edit] Life and career

Woodbury was born in Francestown, New Hampshire. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1809, briefly attended Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, and was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1812.

Woodbury was Justice of New Hampshire state supreme court, 1816-23; Governor of New Hampshire, 1823-24; Speaker of the New Hampshire State House of Representatives, 1825; US Senator from New Hampshire, 1825-31; US Secretary of the Navy under Andrew Jackson, 1831-34; US Secretary of the Treasury under Jackson and Martin Van Buren, 1834-41; served again as Senator from New Hampshire, 1841-45; and Justice of the US Supreme Court, 1845-51. He is one of the few individuals to serve in all three branches of U.S. government and one of two people to have served in all three branches and also served as a U.S. Governor (the other being Salmon P. Chase).

Judge Levi Woodbury

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 US 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.

In the 1844 presidential election, Woodbury and the Jackson Democrats supported the Democrats' nomination of Polk. When Polk was elected he promptly named Woodbury an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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.

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.

Woodbury was the father-in-law of Montgomery Blair and great-great-grandfather of actor Montgomery Clift.

[edit] Works

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

[edit] References

• Levi Woodbury at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Dictionary of American Biography;
• Capowski, Vincent. The Making of a Jacksonian Democrat: Levi Woodbury, 1789-1851 Ph.D. dissertation, Fordham University, 1966
• Woodbury, Levi. Writings of Levi Woodbury. 3 vols. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1852.
• Biography
• Treasury Dept. biography
• Woodbury as a liberal

[edit] External links

• Levi Woodbury at Find A Grave
• Burial site of Levi Woodbury in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

v • d • e United States Senators from New Hampshire Class 2: Wingate • Livermore • Olcott • Gilman • Thompson • Morril • S. Bell • Hubbard • Woodbury • Jenness • Cilley • Hale • Atherton • Williams • Hale • Cragin • Rollins • Pike • Cheney • Chandler • Marston • Chandler • Burnham • Hollis • Keyes • Bridges • Murphy • McIntyre • Humphrey • Smith • Sununu Class 3: Langdon • Sheafe • Plumer • Parker • Cutts • Mason • Storer • Parrott • Woodbury • Hill • Page • Pierce • Wilcox • Atherton • Norris • Wells • J. Bell • Clark • Fogg • Patterson • Wadleigh • C. Bell • Blair • Gallinger • Drew • Moses • Brown • Tobey • Upton • Cotton • Wyman • Cotton • Durkin • Rudman • Gregg

v • d • e United States Secretaries of the Treasury Hamilton • Wolcott • Dexter • Gallatin • Campbell • Dallas • Crawford • Rush • Ingham • McLane • Duane • Taney • Woodbury • Ewing • Forward • Spencer • Bibb • Walker • Meredith • Corwin • Guthrie • Cobb • Thomas • Dix • Chase • Fessenden • McCulloch • Boutwell • Richardson • Bristow • Morrill • Sherman • Windom • Folger • Gresham • McCulloch • Manning • Fairchild • Windom • Foster • Carlisle • Gage • Shaw • Cortelyou • MacVeagh • McAdoo • Glass • Houston • Mellon • Mills • Woodin • Morgenthau • Vinson • Snyder • Humphrey • Anderson • Dillon • Fowler • Barr • Kennedy • Connally • Shultz • Simon • Blumenthal • Miller • Regan • Baker • Brady • Bentsen • Rubin • Summers • O'Neill • Snow • Paulson

v • d • e United States Secretaries of the Navy Cabinet Level Stoddert • Smith • Hamilton • Jones • Crowninshield • S Thompson • Southard • Branch • Woodbury • Dickerson • Paulding • Badger • Upshur • Henshaw • Gilmer • Mason • Bancroft • Mason • Preston • Graham • Kennedy • Dobbin • Toucey • Welles • Borie • Robeson • R Thompson • Goff • Hunt • Chandler • Whitney • Tracy • Herbert • Long • Moody • Morton • Bonaparte • Metcalf • Newberry • Meyer • Daniels • Denby • Wilbur • Adams • Swanson • Knox • Forrestal Dept. of Defense Sullivan • Matthews • Kimball • Anderson • Thomas • Gates • Franke • Connally • Korth • Nitze • Ignatius • Chafee • Warner • Middendorf • Claytor • Hidalgo • Lehman • Webb • Ball • Garrett • O'Keefe • Dalton • Danzig • England • Winter

v • d • e Governors of New Hampshire Weare • Langdon • Sullivan • Langdon • Sullivan • J. Bartlett • Gilman • Langdon • J. Smith • Langdon • Plumer • Gilman • Plumer • S. Bell • Woodbury • Morril • Pierce • J. Bell • Pierce • Harvey • Dinsmoor • Badger • Hill • Page • Hubbard • Steele • Colby • Williams • Dinsmoor Jr. • Martin • Baker • Metcalf • Haile • Goodwin • Berry • Gilmore • Smyth • Harriman • Stearns • Weston • Straw • Weston • Cheney • Prescott • Head • C. Bell • Hale • Currier • Sawyer • Goodell • Tuttle • J. B. Smith • Busiel • Ramsdell • Rollins • Jordan • Bachelder • McLane • Floyd • Quinby • Bass • Felker • R. Spaulding • Keyes • J. H. Bartlett • A. Brown • F. Brown • Winant • H. Spaulding • Tobey • Winant • Bridges • Murphy • Blood • Dale • Adams • H. Gregg • Dwinell • Powell • King • Peterson • Thomson • Gallen • Roy • Sununu • J. Gregg • Merrill • Shaheen • Benson • Lynch

Supreme Court of the United States
The Taney Court Chief Justice: Roger Brooke Taney (1836–1864) 1845–1846: J. McLean | J.M. Wayne | J. Catron | J. McKinley | P.V. Daniel | S. Nelson | L. Woodbury 1846–1851: J. McLean | J.M. Wayne | J. Catron | J. McKinley | P.V. Daniel | S. Nelson | L. Woodbury | R.C. Grier