Levi Woodbury
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| Levi Woodbury | |
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| In office May 23, 1831 – June 30, 1834 |
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| Preceded by | John Branch |
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| Succeeded by | Mahlon Dickerson |
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| In office July 1, 1834 – March 3, 1841 |
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| Preceded by | Roger B. Taney |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Ewing, Sr. |
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| In office September 23, 1845 – September 4, 1851 |
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| Preceded by | Joseph Story |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Robbins Curtis |
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| Born | December 1, 1789 Francestown, New Hampshire, USA |
| Died | September 04, 1851 (aged 61) Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer, Judge |
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.
Woodbury was born in Francestown, New Hampshire. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1809, briefly attended 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 3 branches and also served as a U.S. Governor (the other being Salmon P. Chase).
As a US 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 US 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 US Supreme Court.
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 a great-great-grandfather of actor Montgomery Clift.
- Political, Judicial, and Literary Writings (edited by N. Capen, Boston, 1852)
- 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
| Preceded by Samuel Bell |
Governor of New Hampshire 1823–1824 |
Succeeded by David L. Morril |
| Preceded by John F. Parrott |
United States Senator (Class 3) from New Hampshire 1825–1831 Served alongside: Samuel Bell |
Succeeded by Isaac Hill |
| Preceded by John Branch |
United States Secretary of the Navy 1831–1834 |
Succeeded by Mahlon Dickerson |
| Preceded by Roger B. Taney |
United States Secretary of the Treasury 1834–1841 |
Succeeded by Thomas Ewing, Sr. |
| Preceded by Henry Hubbard |
United States Senator (Class 2) from New Hampshire 1841–1845 Served alongside: Franklin Pierce, Leonard Wilcox, Charles G. Atherton |
Succeeded by Benning W. Jenness |
| Preceded by Joseph Story |
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States September 23, 1845–September 4, 1851 |
Succeeded by Benjamin Robbins Curtis |
| Governors of New Hampshire | |
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| 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 |
| United States Secretaries of the Navy | |
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| 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 |
| United States Secretaries of the Treasury | |
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| 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 |
| The Taney Court | ||
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| 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 | |