Levi Woodbury

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**Levi Woodbury**<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="2">
</td></tr><tr><th style="border-bottom: none; text-align: center;" colspan="2">Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Term in office</th></tr><tr><td style="border-top: none; text-align: center;" colspan="2">September 23, 1845 – September 4, 1851</td></tr><tr><th>Preceded by</th><td>Joseph Story</td></tr><tr><th>Succeeded by</th><td>Benjamin Robbins Curtis</td></tr><tr><th>Nominated by</th><td>James K. Polk</td></tr>
Born	December 1, 1789 Francestown, New Hampshire<tr><th>Died</th><td>September 4, 1851 </td></tr>

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.

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 It was largely repealed under the new administration the following year, but the foundation was laid for an independent US Treasury, finally established in 1846, under President James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.

[edit] Works

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

[edit] References

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

Burial site of Levi Woodbury in Portsmouth, NH

Preceded by: Samuel Bell	Governor of New Hampshire 1823–1824	Succeeded by: David L. Morril
Preceded by: John F. Parrott	United States Senator 1825–1831	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
Preceded by: Henry Hubbard	United States Senator 1841–1845	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

<td style="vertical-align: middle; width: 1px" rowspan="2"> Image:Flag of New Hampshire.svg </td>

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 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

The Taney Court		Image:Seal of the United States Supreme Court.png
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