John Catron

US Supreme Court justice from 1837 to 1865

For the member of the Virginia Senate, see John H. Catron .

"Justice Catron" redirects here. For New Mexico Supreme Court justice, see Charles C. Catron .

John Catron (January 7, 1786 – May 30, 1865) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1837 to 1865, during the Taney Court .

Early and family life

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Catron&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Early and family life")
]

Little is known of Catron's early life, other than that all of his grandparents emigrated from Germany to Virginia, as part of the extensive emigration of Swiss and Germans from Hesse and the Palatinate due to wars, and economic and religious insecurity in the area. His father, Peter (Catron) Kettering, immigrated as a child with his parents from Mittelbrun in the German Palatinate and settled in Montgomery County (later Wythe County ), Virginia. His mother, Maria Elizabetha Houck, was the daughter of immigrants from the Palatinate who settled in Virginia by way of Pennsylvania.

Catron's only sibling, Mary, married Thomas Swift and eventually moved west to Missouri and then Oregon. He was also a second cousin of Thomas Benton Catron , one of New Mexico's first U.S. Senators. Catron's father, Peter Catron, served in Captain William Doack's militia company from Montgomery County during the Revolutionary War . The family relocated to Kentucky in the early 19th century.

Military service

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Catron&action=edit&section=2 "Edit section: Military service")
]

When the War of 1812 broke out, Catron enlisted in the United States Army . He was sent south to participate in the Natchez Expedition and served under General Andrew Jackson in the Alabama campaigns during the Creek War . Catron saw action in notable engagements, including the Battle of Talladega , the Battle of Tallushatchee , and Fort Strother . According to some accounts, he also participated in the Battle of New Orleans.

Catron's military service was cut short when he was granted a release from the Army due to illness. Despite his brief time in the military, his service earned him the respect of influential figures, including Andrew Jackson and Attorney General Isaac Thomas. These relationships would prove significant in his later career.

Law career and personal life

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Catron&action=edit&section=3 "Edit section: Law career and personal life")
]

After leaving the military, Catron returned to Sparta, Tennessee , where he read law and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1815. He began practicing law in the Cumberland Mountains of Sparta and later established a land-law practice in Nashville in 1818. Catron was appointed prosecuting attorney for Sparta and, from 1824 to 1834, served on the Tennessee Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals , eventually becoming its Chief Justice in 1831. He retired in 1834 after the Tennessee state legislature abolished the chief-justice position. He returned to private practice in Nashville. During the election of 1836, Catron directed Martin Van Buren 's presidential campaign in Tennessee against native son Hugh Lawson White .

Catron married Matilda Childress, daughter of U.S. Marshal for western Tennessee, John Childress . Matilda Childress was the sister of George C. Childress , a political leader of the Texas Republic and chair of the committee that drafted the Constitution of the Republic of Texas . John and Matilda Catron had no children.

A lifelong slaveholder , Catron had a relationship with Sally Thomas, an enslaved woman in Tennessee who operated a laundry in Nashville. Catron fathered her third mixed-race son, James P. Thomas, who was born into slavery. Although Catron only gave Thomas 25 cents in his lifetime, Sally effectively secured her son's freedom when James was six. James later built a successful business as a barber in Nashville, gained manumission permission from the Tennessee legislature to stay in the state in 1851 due to his achievements, and eventually owned property in St. Louis valued at $250,000. Thomas was Catron's only known child.

Supreme Court tenure

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Catron&action=edit&section=4 "Edit section: Supreme Court tenure")
]

The number of seats on the Supreme Court was expanded from seven to nine in 1837, as a result of the Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act . This allowed President Andrew Jackson the opportunity to appoint two new justices, which he did on March 3, 1837, his last full day in office. The newly seated Senate of the 25th Congress confirmed Catron's nomination five days later by a vote of 28–15. The nominee for the other seat, William Smith , was also confirmed, but he subsequently declined to serve. Catron took the judicial oath on May 1, 1837, and served for 28 years, until his death in May 1865.

Catron supported slavery and sided with the majority in the _Dred Scott v. Sandford _ case (exchanging letters with president-elect James Buchanan in February 1857). However, he opposed secession and urged Tennessee to remain with the Union. For a brief time after Tennessee seceded from the Union but prior to Nashville being occupied by Federal troops, Catron left his residence in Nashville and temporarily lived in Louisville, Kentucky.

Some thoughts on freedom and slavery, from Justice Catron (Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky., Dec. 13, 1859)

While he wrote few opinions, it is still possible to decipher his stance on certain political issues and determine his importance to the court. John Catron's political views primarily coincided with the views of his fellow Tennessean Andrew Jackson. Just as Jackson opposed the idea of the national bank, Catron also became an outspoken critic of the national bank. This view coincides with his political view on corporations. While Catron ultimately believed that corporate po

…