27 Facts About Nathan Clifford

Nathan Clifford was an American statesman, diplomat and jurist.

Nathan Clifford represented Maine in the US House of Representatives from 1839 to 1843, then served in the administration of President James K Polk as the US Attorney General from 1846 to 1848 and as the US Ambassador to Mexico from 1848 to 1849.

In 1858, President James Buchanan appointed Nathan Clifford to be an associate justice of the US Supreme Court.

Nathan Clifford served on the Supreme Court until his death in 1881.

Nathan Clifford was the eldest and only son of seven children.

Nathan Clifford attended the public schools of that town, then the Haverhill Academy in New Hampshire, and finally the New Hampton Literary Institute.

Nathan Clifford served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1830 to 1834 and served as Speaker of the House from 1833 to 1834.

Nathan Clifford was then Maine Attorney General from 1834 to 1838, when he entered national politics.

Nathan Clifford was opposed to a high tariff, supported internal improvements, endorsed state banking, and was in favor of federal retrenchment.

Nathan Clifford served in Polk's Cabinet from October 17,1846, to March 17,1848.

Nathan Clifford resigned his post with the Justice Department to become the US Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico, serving from March 18,1848, to September 6,1849.

Nathan Clifford was sworn into office on January 21,1858.

At the time Nathan Clifford joined the Court, all but one of the justices were affiliated with the Democratic Party.

Nathan Clifford's opinions were comprehensive essays on law and have sometimes been criticized as overly lengthy and digressive.

Justice Nathan Clifford rarely declared any legal philosophy about the US Constitution but believed in a sharp dividing line between federal and state authority.

Nathan Clifford distrusted federal authority, but generally upheld federal power as far as was necessary to prosecute the war.

In Cummings v Missouri and Ex parte Garland, Clifford joined the majority in outlawing test oaths as part of the conditions of returning to the Union.

Nathan Clifford submitted an 18,000 word dissent, angered that the Court would reverse its opinion in such a short amount of time.

Nathan Clifford argued that the Legal Tender Act was facially unconstitutional, arguing that only hard money with intrinsic value could serve as legal tender.

Nathan Clifford held to a limited interpretation of the Reconstruction amendments.

Nathan Clifford joined the majority in the Slaughter-House Cases, which distinguished state and federal citizenship and held that the Fourteenth Amendment only protects the narrower rights of federal citizens.

Nathan Clifford was president of the Electoral Commission convened in 1877 to determine the outcome of the 1876 presidential election.

Nathan Clifford believed that the commission erred in nullifying Tilden's apparent victory and never accepted Hayes as the lawful president.

Nathan Clifford died on July 25,1881, his successor on the bench, Horace Gray, instead being appointed by Republican president Chester Arthur.

Nathan Clifford died on July 25,1881, in Cornish, Maine, and is interred in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.

Nathan Clifford's son, William Henry Nathan Clifford, was a successful lawyer and an unsuccessful candidate for the Maine State House of Representatives.

Nathan Clifford's grandson, named Nathan Clifford, was a lawyer and briefly president of the Maine State Senate.