John M. Berrien

John Macpherson Berrien


United States Senator from Georgia
In office March 4, 1841 – May 28, 1852 (temporarily resigned his seat from May 1845 to November 1845)
Preceded by	Wilson Lumpkin
Succeeded by	Robert M. Charlton
10th United States Attorney General
In office March 9, 1829 – June 22, 1831
President	Andrew Jackson
Preceded by	William Wirt
Succeeded by	Roger B. Taney
United States Senator from Georgia
In office March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1829
Preceded by	John Elliott
Succeeded by	John Forsyth
Member of the Georgia Senate
In office 1822-1823
Personal details
Born	(1781-08-23)August 23, 1781 Rocky Hill, New Jersey
Died	January 1, 1856(1856-01-01) (aged 74) Savannah, Georgia
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Eliza Richardson Anciaux (b. September 19, 1783 at Newport, RI; d. August 27, 1828) Eliza Cecil Hunter

John Macpherson Berrien (August 23, 1781 – January 1, 1856) of Georgia was a United States senator and Andrew Jackson's Attorney General.

Biography

Born at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, to a family of Huguenot ancestry, Berrien moved with his parents to Savannah, Georgia, in 1782; was graduated from Princeton College in 1796; studied law in Savannah; was admitted to the bar at the age of 18, and began practice in Louisville, Georgia, in 1799. After he returned to Savannah he was elected solicitor of the eastern judicial circuit of Georgia in 1809; judge of the same circuit from 1810 until January 30, 1821, when he resigned. He served as captain of the Georgia Hussars, a Savannah volunteer company, in the War of 1812.

Berrien was a member of the Georgia Senate from 1822 to 1823. He was elected as a Jacksonian Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1825. In 1824, in The Antelope case he argued against the freedom of slaves captured at sea noting slavery "lay at the foundation of the Constitution" and that slaves "constitute the very foundation of your union".^[1] On March 9, 1829, he resigned from the Senate to accept the position of Attorney General in the Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson. He held that post from March 9, 1829, until June 22, 1831, when he resigned. After leaving the Cabinet he resumed the practice of law until he was again elected, as a Whig, to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1841, until May 1845, when he again resigned to accept an appointment to the supreme court of Georgia; again elected in 1845 to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by his second resignation; reelected in 1846 and served from November 13, 1845, until May 28, 1852, when he resigned for the third time.

Berrien's views on sectional issues hardened during his tenure in the Senate and he became aligned with the short-lived Southern Rights Party formed to oppose the Compromise of 1850 and the Wilmot Proviso.

During the 1820s, Berrien was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, which counted among its members former presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.^[2]

He served as the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in the 20th, 26th and 27th Congresses. He was president of the American Party convention at Milledgeville in 1855; and died in Savannah on January 1, 1856. He is interred in Laurel Grove Cemetery.

He was also a slave owner. In 1830, he owned 90 slaves.^[3] In 1840, he owned 8 slaves at his house in Savannah, Georgia,^[4] and an additional 140 slaves in surrounding Chatham County.^[5] In 1850, he owned 143 slaves.^[6]

Legacy

Berrien County, Georgia, and Berrien County, Michigan (one of Michigan's Cabinet Counties, organized during his term as attorney general), are named in his honor.

References

↑ Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction; by Allen C. Guelzo, May 18, 2012, kindle location 935
↑ William Dawson Johnson (1904). History of the Library of Congress: Volume I, 1800–1864, Volume 1. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
↑ 1830 United States Census, 1830; Cherokee Hill District, Chatham, Georgia;. Retrieved on 6 March 2016.
↑ 1840 United States Census, 1840; Savannah, Georgia;. Retrieved on 6 March 2016.
↑ 1840 United States Census, 1840; District 8, Chatham, Georgia;. Retrieved on 6 March 2016.
↑ "1850 United States Census,Slave Schedules", 1850; District 13, Chatham, Georgia;.

Biography

United States Congress. "John M. Berrien (id: B000413)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

United States Senate
Preceded by John Elliott	U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Georgia March 4, 1825 – March 9, 1829 Served alongside: Thomas W. Cobb, Oliver H. Prince, George Troup	Succeeded by John Forsyth
Preceded by Wilson Lumpkin	U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Georgia March 4, 1841 – May, 1845 Served alongside: Alfred Cuthbert, Walter T. Colquitt	Succeeded by John M. Berrien
Preceded by John M. Berrien	U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Georgia November 13, 1845 – May 28, 1852 Served alongside: Walter T. Colquitt, Herschel V. Johnson, William C. Dawson	Succeeded by Robert M. Charlton
Legal offices
Preceded by William Wirt	U.S. Attorney General Served under: Andrew Jackson March 9, 1829 – June 22, 1831	Succeeded by Roger B. Taney

United States Senators from Georgia

Class 2	Few Jackson Walton Tattnall Baldwin Jones Crawford Bulloch Bibb Troup Forsyth Walker Ware Cobb Prince Troup King Lumpkin Berrien Charlton Toombs H. Miller Norwood B. Hill Barrow A. Colquitt Walsh Bacon West Hardwick Harris Cohen Russell Gambrell Nunn Cleland Chambliss Perdue

Class 3	Gunn Jackson Milledge Tait Elliott Berrien Forsyth Cuthbert W. Colquitt Johnson Dawson Iverson J. Hill Gordon Brown Gordon Clay Terrell Smith Watson Felton George Talmadge Mattingly Fowler Coverdell Z. Miller Isakson

United States Attorneys General

18th Century	Randolph Bradford Lee

19th Century	Lincoln Breckinridge Rodney Pinkney Rush Wirt Berrien Taney Butler Grundy Gilpin Crittenden Legaré Nelson Mason Clifford Toucey Johnson Crittenden Cushing Black Stanton Bates Speed Stanbery Evarts Hoar Akerman Williams Pierrepont Taft Devens MacVeagh Brewster Garland Miller Olney Harmon McKenna Griggs

20th Century	Knox Moody Bonaparte Wickersham McReynolds Gregory Palmer Daugherty Stone Sargent W D Mitchell Cummings Murphy Jackson Biddle T C Clark McGrath McGranery Brownell Rogers Kennedy Katzenbach W R Clark J N Mitchell Kleindienst Richardson Saxbe Levi Bell Civiletti Smith Meese Thornburgh Barr Reno

21st Century	Ashcroft Gonzales Mukasey Holder Lynch

Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Chase Crittenden Burrill Smith Van Buren Berrien Rowan Marcy Wilkins Clayton Grundy Wall Berrien Ashley Butler Bayard Trumbull Edmunds Thurman Edmunds Hoar Pugh Hoar Platt Clark Culberson Nelson Brandegee Cummins Norris Ashurst Van Nuys McCarran Wiley McCarran Langer Kilgore Eastland Kennedy Thurmond Biden Hatch Leahy Hatch Leahy Hatch Specter Leahy Grassley

Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson (1829–37)

Secretary of State	Martin Van Buren (1829–31) Edward Livingston (1831–33) Louis McLane (1833–34) John Forsyth (1834–37)

Secretary of the Treasury	Samuel D. Ingham (1829–31) Louis McLane (1831–33) William J. Duane (1833) Roger B. Taney (1833–34) Levi Woodbury (1834–37)

Secretary of War	John H. Eaton (1829–31) Lewis Cass (1831–36)

Attorney General	John M. Berrien (1829–31) Roger B. Taney (1831–33) Benjamin F. Butler (1833–37)

Postmaster General	William T. Barry (1829–35) Amos Kendall (1835–37)

Secretary of the Navy	John Branch (1829–31) Levi Woodbury (1831–34) Mahlon Dickerson (1834–37)

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 4029377 LCCN: n88175063 US Congress: B000413

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