John Macpherson Berrien (August 23, 1781January 1, 1856) was a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...

during the presidency of

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

Early life and education

Berrien was born on August 23, 1781, at Rockingham, his parents' home in Rocky Hill,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. His father was Major

John Berrien John Berrien (November 19, 1711April 22, 1772) was a farmer and merchant from Rocky Hill, New Jersey. He was appointed a justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1764 and was a trustee of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, f ...

, son of Judge

, and his mother was Margaret Macpherson. The next year his parents moved with him to

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, in 1782. His mother died three years later. Berrien graduated from

Princeton College Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

in 1796, studied law (

read the law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

) in Savannah, and was admitted to the bar at the age of 18. He moved to

Louisville, Georgia Louisville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Georgia, United States, and also a former state capital of Georgia. It is located southwest of Augusta on the Ogeechee River, and its population was 2,493 at the 2010 census, do ...

, where he started a practice in 1799. He returned to Savannah, where he was elected solicitor of the eastern judicial circuit of Georgia in 1809. He was elected as judge of the same circuit in 1810, serving until January 30, 1821, when he resigned. He served as captain of the

Georgia Hussars The Georgia Hussars are a cavalry unit founded before the American Revolution that continues today as part of the Georgia National Guard. The Hussars served the State of Georgia as part of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War ...

, a Savannah volunteer company, in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

Political career

A leader among Georgia's

Federalists The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters call themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of deep ...

, Berrien supported

Rufus King Rufus King (March 24, 1755April 29, 1827) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convent ...

in the

1816 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 1 to December 4, 1816. The Democratic-Republican Party, Democratic-Republican ticket of United States Secretary of State, secretary of stat ...

and later served a member of the

Georgia Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The Georgia State Senate and the lower house of the General Assembly, the Georgia House of Representatives, comprise the bicameral leg ...

from 1822 to 1823. He was elected as a

Jacksonian Democrat Jacksonian democracy, also known as Jacksonianism, was a 19th-century political ideology in the United States that restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson and his supporters, i ...

to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1825, succeeding his fellow Federalist John Elliott. In ''

The Antelope ''The Antelope'', 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 66 (1825), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States considered, for the first time, the legitimacy of the international slave trade, and determined "that possession on board of a vessel was ...

'' case of 1824, 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". On March 9, 1829, he resigned from the Senate to accept the position of Attorney General in the Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson. His first assignment was to prosecute former

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

Fourth Auditor

Tobias Watkins Tobias Watkins (December 12, 1780 – November 14, 1855) was an American physician, editor, writer, educator, and political appointee in the Baltimore-Washington, DC, area. He played leading roles in early American literary institutions such as ...

for embezzlement of public funds. Berrien secured a conviction at a high profile trial that same year. Later Berrien supported states' rights in the Nullification Crisis. In the case of the Negro Seamen Acts, he considered the acts to be appropriate exercises of the states' police powers, and beyond the reach of the federal government. He resigned from the office of Attorney General on June 22, 1831. 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 The Southern Rights Party, briefly known as the Resistance Party in the state of Georgia, was a political party in the United States organized in several slave states to oppose the Compromise of 1850, viewing it as inadequate protection for the Sou ...

formed to oppose the

Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that temporarily defused tensions between slave and free states during the years leading up to the American Civil War. Designe ...

and the

Wilmot Proviso The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot Proviso was one of the major events leading to the ...

. During the 1820s, Berrien was a member of the prestigious society,

Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences The Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences (1816–1838) was a literary and science institution in Washington, D.C., founded by Dr. Edward Cutbush (1772–1843), a naval surgeon. Thomas Law had earlier suggested of such a s ...

, which counted among its members presidents

and

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions. He served as the chairman of the

U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nomi ...

in the 20th,

26th 26 (twenty-six) is the natural number following 25 and preceding 27. In mathematics *26 is the seventh discrete semiprime (2 \times 13) and the fifth with 2 as the lowest non-unitary factor thus of the form (2.q), where q is a higher prime. ...

and

27th Congress The 27th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., between March 4, ...

es. He was president of the American Party convention at Milledgeville in 1855. Berrien was a slaveholder, and owned 90 according to the 1830 U.S. census. In 1840, he owned eight slaves at his house in Savannah, Georgia, and an additional 140 slaves in surrounding Chatham County. In 1850, he owned 143 slaves.

Death and legacy

Berrien died at his home, now known as the John Berrien House (named for his father), in Savannah on January 1, 1856. He is interred in

Laurel Grove Cemetery Laurel Grove Cemetery is a cemetery located in midtown Savannah, Georgia. It includes the original cemetery for white people (now known as Laurel Grove North) and a companion burial ground (called Laurel Grove South) that was reserved for slaves ...

Berrien County, Georgia Berrien County is a county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,160. The county seat is Nashville. The county was created February 25, 1856, out of portions of Coffee, ...

, and

Berrien County, Michigan Berrien County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located at the southwest corner of the state's Lower Peninsula, located on the shore of Lake Michigan and sharing a land border with Indiana. As of the 2020 Census, the population ...

(one of Michigan's

Cabinet Counties The Cabinet counties are ten counties in the southern part of the U.S. state of Michigan named after President Andrew Jackson and people who served in his Cabinet. The Michigan Territorial legislature created twelve counties on October 29, 18 ...

, organized during his term as attorney general), are named after him. Berrien was one of the

Georgia Historical Society The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia, United States. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, ex ...

's founders in 1839 and served as the organization's first president. The Georgia Historical Society holds a substantial collection o
Berrien papers
(including important material relating to the

Petticoat affair The Petticoat affair (also known as the Eaton affair) was a political scandal involving members of President Andrew Jackson's Cabinet and their wives, from 1829 to 1831. Led by Floride Calhoun, wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun, these wo ...

). The Society also annually presents th
John Macpherson Berrien Award
a lifetime achievement award recognizing outstanding contributions to Georgia history.

References

External links

in th
Digital Library of GeorgiaJohn Macpherson Berrien papers
at th
Georgia Historical Society
*

Biography

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Berrien, John M. 1781 births 1856 deaths People from Rocky Hill, New Jersey Attorneys general of the United States Jackson administration cabinet members Democratic Party United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state) Jacksonian United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state) Whig Party United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia (U.S. state) Jacksonians Georgia (U.S. state) Whigs Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Georgia (U.S. state) state court judges Politicians from Savannah, Georgia People from Louisville, Georgia Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers Erasmus Hall High School alumni Princeton University alumni American militiamen in the War of 1812 American militia officers Burials at Laurel Grove Cemetery United States senators who owned slaves 19th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly