John Curtiss Underwood was the son of John and Mary (Curtiss) Underwood of Litchfield, Herkimer County, N. Y. On his father's side he was a direct descendant of William Underwood, who came from England to Concord, Massachussets, probably prior to 1640, and in 1652 moved to Chelmsford. One of William's descendants, Parker Underwood, removed from Chelmsford to Litchfield, where his grandson, John Curtiss Underwood, was subsequently born and reared.
He was graduated from Hamilton College in 1832. While there he became one of the founders of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
After his graduation Underwood went to Virginia, obtained employment as a tutor, began the study of law and later returned to Herkimer County to begin practice. He soon acquired about eight hundred acres of land in Clarke County, established his home there, and sought to introduce dairying into that portion of Virginia (Underwood Families, post, I, 364-77).
A Free-soiler in politics, Underwood was a delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1856, and during the ensuing campaign incurred such unpopularity by his utterances on the subject of slavery that he removed from Virginia.
In 1860 he was a delegate to the convention which nominated Lincoln, in behalf of whose candidacy he stumped New England and the Middle States. After the election he was nominated as United States consul to Callao, Peru, the nomination being confirmed July 26, 1861. On July 25, however, Lincoln nominated him fifth auditor of the Treasury and the appointment was confirmed on August 1.
On January 25, 1864, he was appointed judge of the district court of Virginia. The most noteworthy case with which he was connected was that of Jefferson Davis. At the session of the grand jury held at Norfolk in May 1866, at which Davis was indicted for treason, Underwood delivered a charge of some length and severity. The session adjourned to meet in Richmond on June 5, and local feeling was running so high that there was speculation as to whether Underwood would risk assassination by appearing. He was present at the appointed time, however, and in another charge to the grand jury scathingly denounced the press and many residents of Richmond. Later, he refused to admit Davis to bail, on the ground that he was a military prisoner, and not, in consequence, within the power of the civil authorities (New York Herald, May 12, June 6, 7, 12, 1866).
When the drastic Reconstruction acts of March 1867 were applied to Virginia, Underwood was chosen delegate to, and president of, the constitutional convention which assembled at Richmond, December 3, 1867. This convention drew up what came to be known as the "Underwood Constitution" (Underwood Families, I, 376). Certain of its provisions, subsequently eliminated by popular vote on ratification in 1869, would have placed the government "based on such a constitution, in the hands of Negroes, 'scalawags' and 'carpet-bag' adventurers" (Burgess, post, p. 227). With its proscriptive features removed, however, the constitution proved to be satisfactory, and remained the organic law of Virginia from 1869 until 1902.
Underwood eventually acquired several thousand acres of land. To a portion of this he obtained title at the close of the war by methods which evoked widespread criticism, involved him in litigation, and even caused him to be subjected to physical assault. His death from apoplexy occurred at his residence in Washington, D. C.
In the capacity of the federal judge Underwood asserted the right of the United States to confiscate property of "persons in rebellion, " and advocated extension and protection of Negro civic rights. His vigorous enforcement of the Second Confiscation Act contributed to some important legal disputes. The most famous controversy involved the indictment of Jefferson Davis for treason. The event that gave Underwood's name a permanent place in Virginia history was the Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868. His speech in the convention was almost certainly the first by an important Virginia officeholder to support granting women the right to vote. This Convention was often referred as the Underwood Convention and the constitution that it prepared as the Underwood Constitution.
On October 24, 1839, Underwood married Maria Gloria Jackson of Clarksburg, Virginia, a double cousin of "Stonewall" Jackson, and a member of the family in which Underwood had served as tutor. Three children were born to them.
