John Randolph Tucker | |
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| Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus | |
| In office March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887 | |
| Speaker | John G. Carlisle |
| Preceded by | George W. Geddes |
| Succeeded by | Samuel S. Cox |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia | |
| In office March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1887 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Whitehead (1875) District reestablished (1885) |
| Succeeded by | John W. Daniel (1885) Jacob Yost (1887) |
| Constituency | 6th district (1875–1885) 10th district (1885–1887) |
| Chairman of theCommittee on the Judiciary | |
| In office March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Brackett Reed |
| Succeeded by | David B. Culberson |
| Chairman of theCommittee on Ways and Means | |
| In office 1881 | |
| Preceded by | Fernando Wood |
| Succeeded by | William D. Kelley |
| 8thAttorney General of Virginia | |
| In office June 13, 1857 – May 9, 1865 Contested withJames S. Wheat: June 21, 1861 – December 7, 1863 Contested withThomas Russell Bowden: December 7, 1863 – May 6, 1865 | |
| Governor | Henry A. Wise John Letcher William Smith |
| Preceded by | Willis P. Bocock |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Russell Bowden |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 24, 1823 Winchester, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | February 13, 1897(1897-02-13) (aged 73) Lexington, Virginia, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mount Hebron Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Laura Holmes Powell Tucker |
| Children | Henry St. George Tucker |
| Profession |
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John Randolph Tucker (December 24, 1823 – February 13, 1897) was an American lawyer, author, and politician fromVirginia. From a distinguished family, he was elected Virginia's attorney general in 1857 and after re-election served during theAmerican Civil War (James S. Wheat served as attorney general in Union-held portions of the state). After a pardon andCongressional Reconstruction, Tucker was elected as U.S. Congressman (1875-1887), and later served as the first dean of theWashington and Lee University Law School.[1][2]
Tucker was born inWinchester, Virginia on Christmas Eve in 1823, the son of Anna Evalina Hunter Tucker (1789-1855) and her husband JudgeHenry St. George Tucker (1780-1848). A grandson ofSt. George Tucker, J.R. Tucker would become proud of his heritage among theFirst Families of Virginia. His father and many relatives owned plantations and enslaved persons. Nonetheless, several of his siblings never reached adulthood. His brothers Dr. Alfred Bland Tucker (1830-1862) and Lt.Col. St. George Hunter Tucker (1828-1863) would die of consumption while in theConfederate States Army; his brother Dr.David Hunter Tucker (1815-1871) became a professor at three medical schools including theMedical College of Virginia and survived his Confederate service. His brotherNathaniel Beverley Tucker (1820-1890) would become a Confederate diplomat and later a journalist.
John Randolph Tucker attended a private school near his Winchester home, then entered the Richmond Academy. He finished his studies at theUniversity of Virginia, graduating with a legal degree in 1844.
He married Laura Powell in 1848. They had one son who survived to adulthood,Henry St. George Tucker, III (who later became a U.S. Congressman). Their daughters who married well and survived their parents included: Anne Holmes Tucker McGuire (1850 - 1914), Gertrude Tucker Logan (1856 - 1925), and Laura Randolph Tucker Pendleton (1860 - 1946).
John Randolph Tucker was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1845, and began a private legal practice inWinchester. In 1854 he delivered a major speech to the literary societies atCollege of William and Mary which argued that slavery was consistent with republicanism. He also became active in politics and was a presidential elector on theDemocratic ticket in 1852 and 1856.
Voters elected TuckerAttorney General of theCommonwealth of Virginia in 1857, and he served during theAmerican Civil War, until the Commonwealth surrendered to Union forces in 1865. His siblings also actively supported theConfederate cause, two as Confederate doctors, Nathaniel Beverley Tucker as a Confederate diplomat, and his lawyer brother St. George Hunter Tucker recruited the Ashland Grays (part of the15th Virginia Infantry) and served at Lt. Col., winning plaudits for his conduct at theBattle of Malvern Hill before resigning his commission and dying of consumption in Charlottesville in 1863.
Tucker received a pardon and resumed his private legal practice.
Elected to theUnited States House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1875, he served until 1887. He was chairman of theHouse Committee on Ways and Means in the46th Congress and chairman of theHouse Committee on the Judiciary in the48th and49th Congresses.
He took an active part in the debates on thetariff, in opposition to the protective policy. His speeches on other questions include those on theElectoral Commission bill, the constitutional doctrine as to the presidential count, the Hawaiian treaty in 1876, the use of the army at the polls, in 1879, and Chinese emigration, in 1883. He introduced legislation broadening the power of the federalCourt of Claims to hear Constitutional claims in 1886, which became known as theTucker Act. He declined to be renominated to the House in 1886. He was co-sponsor of the 1887Edmunds–Tucker Act.
Tucker was an exemplar of the racist views of his day. Speaking on the House floor, he asserted that “We did not ordain and establish this Constitution for the Chinaman and for all the other races of the earth. . . . I hold that this Constitution was ordained and established by our fathers for their posterity of the Caucasian people of America.”[3] Not surprisingly, he was also not supportive of the post-Civil War push to grant rights to African Americans, declaring that “. . . there is not a philosophical statesman in this land who to-day does not say either that the citizenship and the voting power of the African race in the South is a failure--either that or that it is an unsolved problem of our future. We have that one disease in the body-politic, which God grant we may recover from.”[4]
Tucker made an unsuccessful but legally influential argument on behalf ofAugust Spies and the otherHaymarket Riot defendants during their appeal to theSupreme Court. Electedprofessor ofConstitutional law atWashington and Lee University in 1888, Tucker wasDean of theSchool of Law from 1893 to 1897. Tucker served as president of TheVirginia Bar Association in 1891–1892, and president of theAmerican Bar Association in 1894. He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1895.[5]
Tucker died in 1897 inLexington, Virginia and is buried in the family plot atMount Hebron Cemetery in Winchester. His widow died in 1916. Tucker's two volume treatise,The Constitution of the United States, appeared posthumously in 1899. One of his sons, Henry St. George Tucker, also became dean of the Washington and Lee Law School, and later a U.S. Congressman representing Winchester. His Lexington home,Blandome, was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 2002.[6]
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Media related toJohn Randolph Tucker (politician) at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or aboutJohn Randolph Tucker atWikisource| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Attorney General of Virginia 1857–1865 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 6th congressional district 1875–1885 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 10th congressional district 1885–1887 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by Position established | Dean ofWashington and Lee University School of Law 1893–1897 | Succeeded by |
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