John Curtiss Underwood
John Curtiss Underwood | |
---|---|
United States District Court for the District of Virginia | |
In office June 11, 1864 – February 3, 1871 | |
Appointed by | operation of law |
Preceded by | Seat established by 13 Stat. 124 |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia | |
In office March 27, 1863 – June 11, 1864 | |
Appointed by | Abraham Lincoln |
Preceded by | James Dandridge Halyburton |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | John Curtiss Underwood March 14, 1809 read law |
John Curtiss Underwood (March 14, 1809 – December 7, 1873) was an
Early and family life
Born in
On October 21, 1839, in Fauquier County, Virginia, Underwood married Maria Gloria Jackson, one of his former pupils. She was a granddaughter of Edward B. Jackson (whose brother John G. Jackson and great-nephew John Jay Jackson Jr. were also federal judges); her cousin (on both sides) Stonewall Jackson became a distinguished Confederate general. The Underwoods farmed in Herkimer County, New York, for about a decade. They had two daughters and a son, Edward J. Underwood (1842–1907), before moving to Clarke County, Virginia, near Maria's family.[3][1]
Politics and abolition
Underwood had been a
When the
Underwood became Secretary of the Emigrant Aid and Homestead Society (which he incorporated with Massachusetts congressman
The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, which Underwood supported financially, became the most influential Republican paper in any major slaveholding state. In 1860, Underwood was a delegate to the Republican Convention in Chicago, Illinois, that selected Abraham Lincoln as its candidate. He campaigned for Lincoln in border states, and on October 17, 1860, made possibly the only speech in favor of that Republican candidate in Virginia, in Bellton, (now West Virginia). The New York Tribune published that endorsement speech, which extolled the superiority of free over slave labor, about a week later.[1]
Proposed diplomatic post
In 1861, although the Senate approved Underwood's appointment to the position of United States Consul at Callao, Peru, Underwood declined the post, accepting instead the office of fifth auditor in the United States Department of the Treasury, a position in which he served from 1861 to 1864, under Treasury secretary Salmon P. Chase.[citation needed] He lived in Alexandria, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., for the rest of his life.[citation needed]
Federal judicial service
Underwood received a
Judicial tenure
In this position, in May 1866, Underwood presided over the grand jury that indicted Confederate president
Early in the
In 1865, Underwood was elected to replace retiring
Underwood continued his highly critical and public remarks against former Confederates and their sympathizers, who had regained power in the state, and in favor of African American
In May 1867 Underwood was responsible for recruiting a jury of 12 African-American and 12 Anglo-American men in preparation for the abortive trial for treason of
Underwood Constitutional Convention
Underwood also served as one of 5 delegates from Henrico County (Richmond, although he did not live in either the city or county), at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868, the first legislative body in the Commonwealth's history to include African-American delegates (20 served). Fellow delegates elected him their president and James W. Hunnicutt of Fredericksburg as chairman of the suffrage committee.[16] At the convention (held December 3, 1867, through April 17, 1868), Judge Underwood dominated the convention. Some were uncomfortable with his conduct as de facto political boss of Virginia, especially his seeming sale of political offices in exchange for political contributions to the local Republican party.[17] Furthermore, Underwood and later the convention proposed to give the right to vote to black citizens as well as women, and he also advocated that schools be open to all regardless of color.[citation needed]
Many whites detested Negro suffrage, and in a three day meeting in December 1868 in Richmond, formed the Conservative Party of Virginia to oppose the new Constitution being drafted by the Underwood Convention.
Nonetheless, the convention ultimately did its work and passed what became the first Virginia constitution to grant suffrage to all males older than 21. It also established (and funded) universal public education, and provided for judges to be elected by the General Assembly rather than directly by voters.[19] Moreover, it reorganized Virginia's county government to resemble that of New England townships, with more elected officials and voting by ballot rather than voice.
However, the convention's proposed continuation of restrictions on voting rights of Confederate veterans proved extremely controversial, especially since Virginia's voters would elect a Governor, legislators and other state officials in 1869 if military rule ended. The radical Republicans selected former New Yorker
This allowed Virginians to abandon the rump constitution of 1864,[21] and elect a legislature including some African-American delegates by year's end.[22] Ultimately, Conservative Gilbert C. Walker was elected to a full term, defeating, and Radical Republican Wells (who lost the popular vote). The provisional governor then resigned, allowing Walker's appointment as provisional governor until his elected term began. The constitution's passage also allowed Virginia to once again send congressmen and senators to serve on the federal level. This constitution (which remained in effect for three decades, until disenfranchisement of black voters in 1902) is often referred to as the "Underwood Constitution."[23]
At the Convention, Underwood was almost alone in promoting women's suffrage. On May 6, 1870, he and Maria were among those helping Richmond resident Anna Whitehead Bodeker organize the short-lived Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association. Maria Underwood received an invitation to the Seneca Falls organizing convention, which occurred only a few months after her husband's death.[24]
Final years
Judge Underwood continued to promote rights of African Americans through his judicial office, but was again overruled by the Chief Justice Chase (as Circuit Justice) in Cesar Griffin's Case,[25] in which he had freed a black man who was sentenced for assault in Rockbridge County by a local judge who was a former delegate to the Confederate General Assembly. Furthermore, in Robert Stevens v. Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad, Judge Underwood charged the jury that racial segregation on railroad cars was barbaric.[1] President Grant nominated former Confederate and unsuccessful candidate for Virginia governor, Robert William Hughes as his successor.[26] Unlike Judge Underwood, Hughes failed to protect the rights of African Americans in the developing Jim Crow legal culture.[citation needed]
Death and legacy
Underwood died in 1873 of a seizure in Washington, D.C., where he spent the winter months. He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., as are his wife, son Edward, daughter Alice and her husband (Alexander Cameron Hunt, former Territorial Governor of Colorado replaced by President Grant after his inauguration). Harriet Beecher Stowe published a eulogy of Underwood in the Christian Union on January 7, 1874, and the Washington Evening Star on December 8 and Washington New National Era and Citizen on December 18, 1873, also published favorable obituary notices.[citation needed]
However, many Virginia newspapers condemned him and Readjuster leader William Mahone, making their names the most reviled in the state for decades.[1] Despite his residence and business in Clarke County well before the Civil War, he was labelled a carpetbagger. After her husband's death, Maria Underwood never again set foot in Virginia, but resided at 1446 Rhode Island Avenue in the District of Columbia during her final years, and attended the Methodist church of Rev. Nailor.[8] The gravestone is inscribed, "Nor ever shall he be in praise by wise and good forsaken Named softly, as the household name of one whom God has taken" and on the reverse "A quiet bed harbored where none can be misled wronged or distrest, and surely here it may be said that such are blest."[sic][citation needed]
The Constitution which Underwood helped draft and considered his legacy was amended in November 1872 (with its usery clause stricken), and again in 1874 (capitation tax imposed), 1876 (office and electoral qualifications changed), 1882 (capitation tax stricken) and 1894 (criminal trial changes).[27]
The Library of Congress acquired some of his papers in 1919.[28] The Library of Virginia has microfiche of other papers now held by the Huntington Library.[29]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Underwood, John C. (1809–1873)". www.encyclopediavirginia.org.
- ^ a b c d e f g h John Curtiss Underwood at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- ^ Patricia Hickin, "John C. Underwood and the Antislavery Movement in Virginia, 1847-60," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 73, No. 2 (Apr., 1965), p. 157.
- ^ Richard G. Lowe, "The Republican Party in Antebellum Virginia, 1856–1860," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 81 (1973): 259–279.
- ^ "Proscription in Virginia, Letter from John C. Underwood," New York Times, Jan or Feb. 6, 1857
- ^ Listed as an associate judge of the Supreme Court under the erroneous name "J.W. Underwood" in Complete Session Laws, 1855-87, Vol. 1, Page 370.
- ^ "Omaha Correspondence: Supreme Court", Nebraska Advertiser (June 17, 1858), p. 2: "Judges have been appointed for this Territory, and all made their appearance except Judge Underwood".
- ^ a b Little Falls Journal and Courier clipping at p. 267 of Vol. II of John C. Underwood papers in the Library of Congress.
- ^ Daniel W. Hamilton, "A New Right to Property: Civil War Confiscation in the Reconstruction Supreme Court," Journal of Supreme Court History, Vol. 29, No. 3 (2004), pp. 270-274.
- ^ 76 U.S. 339; 9 Wall. 339 (1869)
- ^ 78 U.S. 259, 11 Wall 259 (1870)
- ^ 23 Gratt. 409, 418, 64 Va. 409, 418
- ^ "Musical Chairs (1861–1869)". United States Senate. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
- ^ Watts, Jennifer A. (10 April 2017). "The Power of Touch". Huntington Library. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ "Chief Justice Salmon Chase on the permanency of the Union, and Cynthia Nicoletti on Chase's political ambitions - SCOTUSblog". 20 October 2017.
- ^ Allen W. Moger, Virginia: Bourbonism toByrd: 1870-1925 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1968) p. 6
- ^ Virginia (16 March 1867). "Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Virginia, Convened in the City of Richmond, December 3, 1867, and an Order of General Schofield, Dated Nov. 2, 1867, in Pursuance of the Act of Congress of March 23, 1867". Retrieved 16 March 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Moger pp. 7-8
- ^ "Virginia Civics - Virginia Constitution, 1870". vagovernmentmatters.org. Archived from the original on 2015-07-13. Retrieved 2015-07-13.
- ^ Moger p. 8
- ^ "Constitutional Convention, Virginia (1864)". www.encyclopediavirginia.org.
- ^ "Education from LVA: African American Virginia State Legislators". www.virginiamemory.com.
- ^ "Constitutions of Virginia". www.virginiaplaces.org.
- ^ Underwood file at Library of Congress; also includes correspondence from Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
- ^ "Reports of Cases Decided by Chief Justice Chase in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Fourth Circuit, During the Years 1865-1869, Both Inclusive, in the Districts of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina". Diossy & Company. 8 March 1876 – via Google Books.
- ^ Robert William Hughes at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- ^ William H. Van Schreeven. The Conventions and Constitutions of Virginia 1776-1966 (Virginia State Library 1967).
- ^ Underwood, John C. John C. Underwood papers – via catalog.loc.gov Library Catalog.
- ^ "Basic Search: Full Catalog". lva1.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com.[permanent dead link]
Sources
- John Curtiss Underwood at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.