John MacPherson Berrien was an American politician. He also served as the 10th United States Attorney General from 1829 to 1831.
Background
John Berrien was born on August 23, 1781, at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, United States. His forebears were men of some prominence, his grandfather, John Berrien, having been a judge of the supreme court of New Jersey, and his father, also named John, a major in the American Revolution. The family was of Huguenot descent. His mother, Margaret MacPherson, of Scotch lineage, was the sister of John MacPherson, who, as aide-de-camp to Montgomery, was killed in the battle of Quebec. His parents removed to Georgia in 1782.
Education
Berrien attended preparatory schooling in New York. Later he matriculated at Princeton and was graduated in 1796. Returning to Savannah he studied law in the office of Joseph Clay, a federal judge and was admitted to the bar in 1799. In 1830 he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from his alma mater - Princeton University, as well as a doctorate of laws from the University of Georgia.
Career
John Berrien began the law practice in Louisville, Georgia, in 1799. In 1809 he was elected solicitor of the eastern circuit. A year later he became judge of the same circuit and held office until 1821; served one term (1822 - 1823) in the state Senate; and, in 1824, was elected United States senator. In 1829 he resigned to take office as attorney-general in Jackson's first cabinet, but, becoming estranged from the President on account of the Eaton affair, resigned on June 22, 1831.
After ten years in private life Berrien was returned to the Senate in 1841 as a Whig and served until May 28, 1852. The period of his second session in the Senate was a momentous one in American history, and Berrien, then in the prime of his intellectual powers, became an outstanding leader in his party. He supported the Whig positions on the Bank question, protective tariffs, territorial extension, and compromise of the slavery issue. Thus he at first opposed the annexation of Texas, alleging unconstitutionality in the attempted mode of admission.
But in the next session, after the joint resolution of Congress had been passed committing the United States to the admission of Texas on certain conditions, and after these conditions had been met, he felt obliged to sustain the pledge of the country. Furthermore, he was then able to discover good reasons why Texas should be admitted, and so voted.
Berrien opposed the Mexican War, speaking against the bill declaring war and refusing, though present, to cast a vote on the final passage of the bill. On the bill to provide $3, 000, 000 to be used in effecting a peace with Mexico, Berrien introduced an amendment against taking any territory from Mexico, basing his opposition on the ground that the free states, by reason of their numerical superiority, would exclude slavery and thus deny to the South equal participation in the benefits of such acquisition of territory. He appealed to senators to exclude "this direful question" (slavery) from the national councils. When it began to look as if all factions in the antislavery North would combine to adopt the Wilmot Proviso, excluding slavery from the new territories, Calhoun called a caucus of Southern representatives and senators, Democrats and Whigs, and sought to form a Southern party. Calhoun's Address was adopted, the Whigs voting against it.
Berrien also issued an Address to the People of the United States in which he pleaded for a compromise of the slavery problem. The next year, however, he altered his position. He came out against Clay's Compromise, abandoning his long-sustained position of moderation and shifting over to a strong pro-Southern attitude. On the final passage of the various component parts of the Omnibus Bill he voted against the admission of California and the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and for the organization of territorial government in New Mexico and Utah and the new Fugitive Slave Law. Convinced that the Whig party could no longer be relied on to protect Southern interests, he withdrew from the party in 1850.
In the stirring gubernatorial campaign in Georgia in 1851, in which the "finality" of the Compromise of 1850 was the issue, Berrien, in a half-hearted manner, accepted the "Georgia Platform, " on which the Union candidate, Howell Cobb, ran, but took no active part in the campaign. A few weeks after the election it became incumbent upon the legislature to elect a United States senator, Berrien's term approaching a close. Berrien at first declined to become a candidate for reelection, but later on announced that he would accept, if elected. The Union Democrats and Whigs combined to defeat him and elected Robert Toombs in his place. Berrien thereupon resigned his senatorship. When the American or Know-Nothing party was organized, he joined it; and his last political activity was to preside over a state convention of the new party held at the Capital in December 1855. Shortly after this meeting, he died on January 1, 1856.
Achievements
John Berrien was a well-known and influential politician of his time. During his career he achieved success while serving as United States Senator from Georgia and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. For many years Berrien was regarded as the ablest constitutional lawyer in the Senate. And he also proved himself an eloquent debater on a number of the era's great issues. Berrien had many honors conferred upon him during his long career, including Princeton University Honorary Degree (1830) and University of Georgia Honorary Degree (1830).
Politics
While in Senate, Berrien was an adherent of the Jackson faction of the Democratic-Republican party. In his speeches he advocated the current Georgia views in the controversy over the final Creek land cession. He opposed the Tariff of 1828, presenting a protest of the Georgia legislature against it. In 1834 he changed his views and became a Whig. In 1855 he joined the American or Know-Nothing party. He strongly advocated "Non-Intercourse" in a business way as a form of resistance against Northern encroachment on Southern rights. He rejected secession, but believed resistance within the Union a necessity.
Membership
John Berrien was a founding member of the Georgia Historical Society.
Personality
Berrien was a man of commanding personal appearance, a learned and skilful advocate, and an orator of unusual power.
Connections
Berrien's first wife, Eliza Anciaux, was the daughter of an army major in the American Revolution; they had nine children before she died in 1828. Five years later Berrien married the much younger Eliza C. Hunter, the daughter of James Hunter of Savannah. The couple had six children before she died in 1852.
