John Archibald Campbell

US Supreme Court justice from 1853 to 1861

For other people named John Campbell, see John Campbell (disambiguation) .

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John Archibald Campbell (June 24, 1811 – March 12, 1889) was an American jurist . He was a successful lawyer in Georgia and Alabama , where he served in the state legislature. Appointed by Franklin Pierce to the United States Supreme Court in 1853, he resigned at the beginning of the American Civil War , traveled south and became an official of the Confederate States of America . After serving six months in a military prison at war's end, he secured a pardon and resumed his law practice in New Orleans , where he also opposed Reconstruction . [_full citation needed
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Early life and education

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Campbell was born near Washington , Wilkes County, Georgia to the former Mary Williamson and her husband, Col. Duncan Greene Campbell (for whom the now-defunct Campbell County, Georgia , was named). Col. Campbell had been born in North Carolina and attended college in Chapel Hill before moving to Wilkes County, Georgia and studying law under Judge John Griffin. An attorney, he also served as a trustee for many years of Franklin College, which his son attended, and which later became the University of Georgia . In 1824, while this boy was in college, President James Monroe appointed Duncan Campbell and another man to try to buy the land of the Creek Native Americans. [_full citation needed
_] His maternal grandfather was Lt. Col. Micajah Perry Williamson (1744-1796), who was born in Isle of Wight County, Virginia and became a trusted officer serving under General Elijah Clarke during the American Revolutionary War. He received 12,000 acres in Franklin County, Georgia for his Revolutionary War service and became a wealthy landowner in Wilkes County, including helping to lay out the county seat named after General Washington, and establishing the Wilkes Academy in 1797.

Considered a child prodigy , Campbell graduated from the University of Georgia in 1825 at the age of 14, and immediately enrolled at the United States Military Academy , where he studied for three years. He would have graduated in 1830, but withdrew upon hearing of his father's death in July 1828 and returned home to Georgia.

While at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York , on December 24–25, 1826, Campbell was involved in the Eggnog Riot (also known as the "Grog Mutiny"). Campbell was among 70 cadets that were involved, but a review concluded that only 20 cadets and one enlisted soldier should be charged. Court-martial proceedings ran from December 26, 1826, to March 16, 1827. On May 3, 1827, President John Quincy Adams adjusted some of the verdicts and approved the rest, so nine cadets were expelled. Other involved cadets included Jefferson Davis (involved but not charged), and Robert E. Lee (not involved but testified). Although some called for Campbell and classmate James W. M. "Weems" Berrien to be expelled, this was rejected. Returning to Georgia, Campbell read law with his uncle, former Georgia governor John Clark , and was admitted to the bar in 1829, at the age of 18 which required a special act of the Georgia legislature. [_full citation needed
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Personal life

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In 1830, Campbell relocated to Montgomery, Alabama, and married Anna Esther Goldthwaite, a native of New Hampshire who had settled in Alabama. Together, they raised five children: one son and four daughters.

Campbell’s marriage lasted over five decades until Anna’s death in 1887, two years before Campbell himself died in 1889.

Alabama lawyer and legislator

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In 1830, Campbell moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where he met and married Anna Esther Goldthwaite and earned a reputation as a talented lawyer specializing in Spanish land grant titles. Hailed as a war hero for his involvement in the Creek Indian War of 1836, Campbell was elected state representative for that same year's term, firmly establishing himself as a Jacksonian Democrat in the state legislature. Thus Campbell aligned with Jackson on national policies, supporting the bank veto and condemning nullification, but he remained a moderate proponent of states' rights.

After his only term in office, Campbell and his young family (which eventually expanded to include five daughters and one son) relocated to Mobile, Alabama, and Campbell later served a second term as state representative in 1842. Fortunately for Campbell's law career, though, Mobile was a bustling port city that constantly generated commercial lawsuits and Spanish grant disputes. In one such grant case, Mayor of Mobile v. Eslava (1849), Campbell revealed his states-rightist attitude and first articulated his doctrine of "original sovereignty" before the state supreme court. Briefly, Campbell argued that because each of the original 13 states had retained sovereignty over the navigable waters within its borders, and the Constitution makes all new states enter the Union on equal terms with existing states, new states like Alabama thus also retain sovereignty over their navigable waters. The Supreme Court upheld original sovereignty in an 1845 decision and Campbell would later refer to it in his Dred Scott concurrence. Thereafter, Campbell's star continued to rise as one of the most sought-after attorneys in Alabama, and in 1852, he even acted as an attorney for Myra Clark Gaines against Richard Relf before the Supreme Court. In most cases, Campbell represented debtors against banks, demonstrating a Jacksonian Democratic tendency to advocate for state control of corporate deve

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