41 Facts About Levi Woodbury

Levi Woodbury was an American attorney, jurist, and Democratic politician from New Hampshire.

Levi Woodbury was promoted as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1848.

Levi Woodbury served as Governor of New Hampshire from 1823 to 1824 and represented New Hampshire in the Senate from 1825 to 1831, becoming affiliated with the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson.

Levi Woodbury served as the United States Secretary of the Navy under President Jackson and as the United States Secretary of the Treasury under Jackson and President Martin Van Buren.

Levi Woodbury served another term representing New Hampshire in the Senate from 1841 to 1845, when he accepted President James K Polk's appointment to the Supreme Court.

Levi Woodbury was the first Justice to have attended law school.

Levi Woodbury received significant support for the presidential nomination at the 1848 Democratic National Convention, particularly among New England delegates, but the nomination went to Lewis Cass of Michigan.

Levi Woodbury served on the court until his death in 1851.

Levi Woodbury was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, the son of Mary and Peter Levi Woodbury.

Levi Woodbury 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.

Levi Woodbury became the first Supreme Court justice to attend law school.

Levi Woodbury was in private practice in Francestown from 1812 to 1816.

Levi Woodbury's education contributed to his early start in law, which led to his later political positions.

Levi Woodbury defeated Dinsmoor by a wide margin, but his one year as governor was a failure.

Levi Woodbury tried to reconcile the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans but did not make a lot of progress.

Levi Woodbury served as a United States Senator from New Hampshire from 1825 until 1831, during which time he served as the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Levi Woodbury served as Secretary of the Treasury under Jackson and Martin Van Buren from 1834 to 1841, and served again as Senator from New Hampshire from 1841 to 1845.

Levi Woodbury was a justice of the US Supreme Court, 1845 to 1851.

Levi Woodbury served as chairman of the US Senate Committee on Finance during a Special Session of the 29th Congress.

Levi Woodbury believed that, unlike Cole's depiction of a cycle of rise and decline, in the United States there would only be a rise.

Formally nominated to the seat on December 23,1845, Levi Woodbury was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 3,1846.

News of Levi Woodbury's appointment was well received by the public and he was praised as a protector of constitutional rights.

Levi Woodbury was promoted as a candidate for president at the 1848 Democratic National Convention, his support was largely centered in New England.

Levi Woodbury remained on the Court until his death at age 61 in 1851, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Levi Woodbury's writings shed light on his rulings as a justice, which reflect his strict constructionist views.

Levi Woodbury was one of the few justices on the court at the time to write outside of his rulings, along with McLean and Taney.

Levi Woodbury was concerned with individual rights before those rights were the focus of the court, and thought slavery was wrong.

Levi Woodbury ruled based on the powers that exist in the Constitution.

Levi Woodbury believed that slavery was written into the Constitution but could be scaled down by Congress.

Levi Woodbury was sued for $500 for violating the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.

Levi Woodbury ruled in favor of the rights of slaveholders, arguing that the compromises in the Constitution, such as the Fugitive Slave Clause, bound the states to enforce the act.

Levi Woodbury viewed slavery as a political question that should be settled by each state.

Levi Woodbury formed the basis for the interpretation of the Commerce Clause in the License Cases, in which he developed a case-by-case method for determining the extent of state regulatory power.

Levi Woodbury's reasoning was the basis for the Cooley Doctrine, a later development by his successor, Justice Benjamin R Curtis.

Levi Woodbury's opinion focused on the context on a case-by-case basis instead of deciding based on an abstract principle of commerce power.

Levi Woodbury studied the particulars of the case instead of examining only the source of power in the Commerce Clause.

Levi Woodbury dissented from the majority's attempts to expand federal admiralty jurisdiction.

Levi Woodbury disagreed with the assertion that the federal government had jurisdiction over every river that was controlled by the ocean's tide, because citizens who had gotten into accidents on the water would have to travel greater distances if the federal government was involved rather than settling the dispute near where it happened.

Levi Woodbury urged that the government resist interfering with state power that is written into the Constitution, and went so far as to say that the extension of federal power could be troublesome when applied to issues such as slavery.

Levi Woodbury is featured on a New Hampshire historical marker along New Hampshire Route 136 in Francestown.

Levi Woodbury's son Charles L Woodbury was a lawyer who served as United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and served on the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the Massachusetts General Court.