John Branch
Territorial Governor of Florida
In office August 11, 1844 – June 25, 1845
Preceded by	Richard K. Call
Succeeded by	William Dunn Moseley (as Governor of Florida)
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's2nd district
In office May 12, 1831 – March 3, 1833
Preceded by	Willis Alston
Succeeded by	Jesse Bynum
8thUnited States Secretary of the Navy
In office March 9, 1829 – May 12, 1831
President	Andrew Jackson
Preceded by	Samuel L. Southard
Succeeded by	Levi Woodbury
United States Senator fromNorth Carolina
In office March 4, 1823 – March 9, 1829
Preceded by	Montfort Stokes
Succeeded by	Bedford Brown
Judge for the Western District of Florida
In office 1822
Appointed by	James Monroe
19thGovernor of North Carolina
In office December 6, 1817 – December 7, 1820
Preceded by	William Miller
Succeeded by	Jesse Franklin
Speaker of theNorth Carolina Senate
In office 1815-1817
Member of theNorth Carolina Senate[1] fromHalifax County
In office 1811-1817
In office 1822
In office 1834[2]
North Carolina Commissioner for Valuation of Land, Dwellings and Enumeration of Slaves Third District[1]
In office 1799
Appointed by	William Richardson Davie
Personal details
Born	(1782-11-04)November 4, 1782 Halifax, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	January 4, 1863(1863-01-04) (aged 80) Enfield, North Carolina, C.S.
Political party	Democratic-Republican (before 1825) Jacksonian (1825–1837) Democratic (1837–1863)
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Forte(Deceased 1854) Mary Jordan Bond
Children	7
Education	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA)
Signature

John Branch Jr. (November 4, 1782 – January 4, 1863) was an American politician who served asU.S. Senator,Secretary of the Navy, the 19thGovernor of thestate ofNorth Carolina, and was the sixth and lastgovernor of theFlorida Territory.

Branch was born inHalifax County, North Carolina, on November 4, 1782, the son of wealthy landowners. Educated at theUniversity of North Carolina, where he was a member of thePhilanthropic Society, he occupied himself as a planter and civic leader. Branch served in theNorth Carolina Senate from 1811 to 1817 and was the state'sGovernor from 1817 to 1820. After further service in the state Senate, he representedNorth Carolina in theUnited States Senate from 1823 until 1829 and was a strong supporter ofAndrew Jackson.

When Jackson becamePresident, he selected Branch as hisSecretary of the Navy. In that post, Branch promoted several reforms in theNavy's policies and administration, many of which were not implemented until years later. He reduced the resources going to the construction of new ships, while increasing those applied to keeping existing vessels in good repair. Branch also sent the frigateUSSPotomac to theFar East to punish the murderers of a U.S. merchant ship's crew and to generally promote and protect American commerce in the region.

John Branch resigned as Secretary in 1831, during thePetticoat affair, which involved the social ostracism ofMargaret O'Neill Eaton, the wife of Secretary of WarJohn H. Eaton by a group of Cabinet members and their wives led byFloride Calhoun, the wife of Vice PresidentJohn C. Calhoun. Later that year, Branch was elected to theU.S. House of Representatives as aJacksonian and later toNorth Carolina state political offices. In the mid-1830s, he moved toLeon County,Florida, where he lived for much of the next decade-and-a-half on hisLive Oak Plantation. In 1844, PresidentJohn Tyler appointed him Florida's territorialgovernor until the 1845 election of a governor under the state constitution. Branch returned toNorth Carolina in the early 1850s, remaining there until his death on January 4, 1863.

Branch is buried in Elmwood Cemetery inEnfield,North Carolina.

Branch married Eliza Fort (1787–1851) and had 7 children.

Branch was an uncle of theConfederate GeneralLawrence O'Bryan Branch. His daughter, Margaret, marriedDaniel Smith Donelson, the nephew of President Jackson.^[3]

• American National Biography
• Dictionary of American Biography
• Haywood, Marshall Delancey.John Branch: 1782-1863. Raleigh, NC: Commercial Printing Co., 1915
• Hoffmann, William S.John Branch and the Origins of the Whig Party in North Carolina.North Carolina Historical Review 35 (July 1958): 299–315

• Branch County, Michigan - A county in Michigan that was named after him
• Branch, Branch County, Michigan - A village founded as the inaugural seat of that county, also named after him

•  This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNaval History and Heritage Command.

• John Branch atFind a Grave

• 1782 births
• 1863 deaths
• People from Halifax, North Carolina
• United States secretaries of the navy
• Jackson administration cabinet members
• Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from North Carolina
• Jacksonian United States senators from North Carolina
• Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina
• North Carolina Democratic-Republicans
• Democratic Party governors of North Carolina
• Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States
• Governors of Florida Territory
• Democratic Party North Carolina state senators
• 19th-century American planters
• United States senators who owned slaves
• United States representatives who owned slaves
• 19th-century United States representatives
• 19th-century United States senators
• Planters from North Carolina
• State governors of the United States who owned slaves

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2020
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Naval History & Heritage Command