Background
Benjamin Mills was born on January 12, 1779, in Worcester County, Maryland, but when quite young he was taken by his family to Washington, Pennsylvania, where he spent his youth.
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Benjamin Mills
Edit ProfileEducation
After the usual elementary education, Mills studied medicine but postponed its practice for teaching and was for a time at the head of Washington Academy, now Washington and Jefferson College. He removed with his father to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where, abandoning medicine, he studied law and began practice in Paris about 1805.
Career
Mills represented Bourbon County in the state House of Representatives for six terms, 1806, 1809, 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1816. His repeated election to the House indicated the unusual measure of public confidence that he enjoyed. During the later period, he was a member of the committee on courts of justice. In 1816, he was a candidate before the legislature for the United States Senate but was defeated by a few votes. In 1817, he was appointed judge of the Montgomery circuit court and the next year was transferred to the Fayette circuit at the request of the Fayette bar. In 1820, with his appointment as associate justice of the court of appeals, he entered on the most important phase of his career, a phase that was disastrous to his personal fortunes and popularity. The relief laws passed by the legislature to aid those who had suffered by the collapse of state banks were declared unconstitutional by the court in 1823, and this action resulted in the dissolution of the court by the angry legislature and the creation of a new court. There ensued in Kentucky the notorious "court contest" around which Kentucky politics centered for a decade. Mills and his two colleagues refused to give up their positions or to recognize the validity of the action of the legislature. Since the relief laws were popular in Kentucky he was severely denounced for his attitude. In the end the old court was sustained but he had worn himself out and had lost his usefulness as a jurist. In December 1828, he resigned. He was immediately reappointed by the governor, but the Senate refused to confirm him. He continued to reside in Frankfort, however, and devoted himself to the practice of law. He died of apoplexy.
Achievements
Personality
Mills's grandson was Benjamin Fay Mills.
Connections
Mills married Mary Read Thornton.
References
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Born
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Died
February 6, 1831 (aged 52) -
Nationality
American -
Religion
Presbyterian