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Nathan Clifford
Clifford c. 1855–65
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office January 21, 1858 – July 25, 1881[1]
Nominated by	James Buchanan
Preceded by	Benjamin Curtis
Succeeded by	Horace Gray
United States Ambassador to Mexico
In office October 2, 1848 – September 6, 1849
President	James Polk Zachary Taylor
Preceded by	John Slidell
Succeeded by	Robert Letcher
19thUnited States Attorney General
In office October 17, 1846 – March 17, 1848
President	James Polk
Preceded by	John Mason
Succeeded by	Isaac Toucey
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMaine's1st district
In office March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843
Preceded by	John Fairfield
Succeeded by	Joshua Herrick
Attorney General of Maine
In office January 1, 1834 – January 3, 1838
Governor	Robert Dunlap
Preceded by	Jonathan Rogers
Succeeded by	Daniel Goodenow
Member of theMaine House of Representatives
In office 1830-1834
Personal details
Born	(1803-08-18)August 18, 1803 Rumney, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died	July 25, 1881(1881-07-25) (aged 77) Cornish, Maine, U.S.
Resting place	Evergreen Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Hannah Ayer
Signature

Nathan Clifford (August 18, 1803 – July 25, 1881) was an Americanstatesman,diplomat andjurist.

Clifford is one of the few people who haveheld a constitutional office in each of the three branches of the U.S. federal government. He representedMaine in theU.S. House of Representatives from 1839 to 1843, then served in the administration of PresidentJames K. Polk as theU.S. Attorney General from 1846 to 1848 and as theU.S. Ambassador to Mexico from 1848 to 1849. In the latter office, he signed theTreaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo. In 1858, PresidentJames Buchanan appointed Clifford to be anassociate justice of theU.S. Supreme Court. Clifford served on the Supreme Court until his death in 1881.

Clifford was born on August 18, 1803, inRumney, New Hampshire, to Deacon Nathaniel Clifford and his wife Lydia (née Simpson).^[2] He was the eldest and only son of seven children. His family were of oldYankee stock. As a young girl in 1672, his great-great-grandmother Ann Smith was an accuser ofGoody Cole, the only woman in New Hampshire convicted of witchcraft.^[3]

He attended the public schools of that town, then the Haverhill Academy inNew Hampshire, and finally theNew Hampton Literary Institute^[4] (now known as theNew Hampton School).

After teaching school for a time, he studied law in the offices ofJosiah Quincy III and was admitted to the bar inMaine in 1827, establishing his first practice inNewfield, Maine.

He served in theMaine House of Representatives from 1830 to 1834 and served as Speaker of the House from 1833 to 1834. He was then Maine Attorney General from 1834 to 1838, when he entered national politics.

Initially, Clifford ran for the Senate and lost.^[5] Then, Clifford was elected as aDemocratic Representative to the26th and27th Congresses, serving March 4, 1839 through March 3, 1843.

InWashington, D.C., he followed the Democratic party line on policies, and was a strong supporter of theVan Buren administration. Clifford was opposed to a high tariff, supported internal improvements, endorsed state banking, and was in favor of federal retrenchment. He also criticized abolition, saying that its supporters were well intentioned but denounced the "mean and incendiary schemes of political Abolitionists."^[5]

Due to re-redistricting and political infighting,^{[citation needed]} Clifford was not a candidate for re-election in 1842.

In 1846, PresidentJames K. Polk appointed him 19thAttorney General of the United States after his predecessor,John Y. Mason, returned to beingNaval Secretary. Clifford served in Polk'sCabinet from October 17, 1846, to March 17, 1848.

Clifford resigned his post with theJustice Department to become the U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary toMexico, serving from March 18, 1848, to September 6, 1849. It was through Clifford that theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was arranged with Mexico, by which California became a part of the United States.

AWhig Presidential victory meant that Clifford was recalled to the United States.^[6] Following his service in the diplomatic corps, Clifford resumed the practice of law inPortland, Maine.

On December 9, 1857, PresidentJames Buchanannominated Clifford as anassociate justice of the United States Supreme Court, to a seat vacated byBenjamin R. Curtis.^[7] Clifford's nomination came in the immediate wake of theDred Scott v. Sandford decision and was hotly contested. As a longtime partisan Democrat, the opposition labeled Clifford a political hack and a "doughface" — a Northern man with Southern sympathies.^[8] Anti-slavery representatives in theUnited States Senate fiercely opposed Clifford due to his pro-slavery record.^{[citation needed]} After a 34-day-long confirmation process, the U.S. senate narrowly confirmed Clifford on January 12, 1858, by a26–23 vote.^[9] He wassworn into office on January 21, 1858.^[1]

At the time Clifford joined the Court, all but one of the justices were affiliated with the Democratic Party. By 1872, Clifford had outlived his Democratic colleagues, and his new Republican colleagues tended to outvote him for his remaining nine years on the Court. Therefore, about one-fifth of all his opinions werein dissent.^[10] He wrote the majority opinion in 398 cases.^[11] His opinions were comprehensive essays on law and have sometimes been criticized as overly lengthy and digressive.

Justice Clifford rarely declared any legal philosophy about theU.S. Constitution but believed in a sharp dividing line between federal and state authority.^{[citation needed]} One admirer, U.S. SenatorJames W. Bradbury, said Clifford's view was that the Constitution was not an "elastic instrument to be enlarged or impaired by construction, but to be fairly interpreted according to its terms, and sacredly maintained in all its provisions and limitations, as the best guaranty for the perpetuity of our republican institutions."^[10] Clifford supported a mechanical jurisprudence adhering to the strict text of the Constitution.^{[citation needed]}

Clifford's fields of expertise were commercial andmaritime law, Mexican land grants, and procedure and practice. Clifford's major contribution to constitutional interpretation may have been his dissent inLoan Association v. Topeka rejecting "natural law" or any ground other than clear constitutional provision as a basis for the Court to use to strike down legislative acts.

During theCivil War, Clifford remained loyal to theUnion. He distrusted federal authority, but generally upheld federal power as far as was necessary to prosecute the war. Some exceptions were thePrize Cases, where he joined the dissent in arguing that the blockade of theConfederacy was illegal without a declaration of war, andEx parte Milligan, where he joined the majority to limit the use of military tribunals to prosecute citizens when civilian courts were available.

During Reconstruction, Clifford continued his skepticism of the federal government, now unrestrained by any consideration for the exigencies of wartime emergency powers. He more readily voted to limit federal power and make it easier for the South to rejoin the Union. InCummings v. Missouri andEx parte Garland, Clifford joined the majority in outlawingtest oaths as part of the conditions of returning to the Union.^[12]

Perhaps Clifford's most prominent declaration against exercise of federal authority came in the Legal Tender cases. The cases dealt with theLegal Tender Act of 1862, passed to permit the issuance of paper money to pay war debts and establishing that paper currency would be valid aslegal tender.^[13] InHepburn v. Griswold (1870), a debtor whose note was made prior to the Act's passage challenged its application to her debt.^[14] Clifford joined the majority in a 5–3 decision holding that the Legal Tender Act could not constitutionally apply to preexisting debts.^[15]

Almost immediately afterGriswold, the composition of the Supreme Court changed. Terminally ill Justice Robert Grier, who had joined the majority inHepburn, resigned. PresidentUlysses S. Grant filled his seat withWilliam Strong. The Court was also expanded by an Act of Congress from eight to nine members, withJoseph Bradley filling the new seat.^[16]

This change had an immediate impact on the pending caseKnox v. Lee (1871). The case dealt withremuneration for goods confiscated by the Confederate Army. The lower court ruled that the plaintiff must be repaid in paper money and that the defendant had to pay the difference in the valuation of the goods in gold to greenbacks.^[17] Justice Clifford, joined by Justices Field and Nelson, dissented from the grant ofcertiorari, stating publicly, "I dissent from the order of the Court in these cases, especially from that part of it which opens for re-argument the question whether... the Legal Tender Act is constitutional as to contracts made before its passage—as I hold that the question is conclusively settled by the case of Hepburn vs Griswold..."^[18]

On May 1, 1871, the Court ruled 5–4 to overturnHepburn v. Griswold and find the Legal Tender Act constitutional —facially and as applied to pre-existing debt. The four justices who formed the majority inHepburn (minus the late Justice Grier) all dissented inKnox. The new justices, Bradley and Strong, were the deciding factor.^[19] Clifford submitted an 18,000 word dissent, angered that the Court would reverse its opinion in such a short amount of time. He also argued that the Legal Tender Act was facially unconstitutional, arguing that onlyhard money (gold and silver) with intrinsic value could serve as legal tender.^[20]

Clifford held to a limited interpretation of theReconstruction amendments. He joined the majority in theSlaughter-House Cases (1873), which distinguished state and federal citizenship and held that theFourteenth Amendment only protects the narrower rights of federal citizens. InHall v. DeCuir (1878), Justice Clifford wrote a separate concurrence to uphold segregation on steamships, coining the phrase "equality is not identity." His concurrence may have foreshadowed the principle of "separate but equal" laid down after his death, inPlessy v. Ferguson (1893).^[12]

Clifford was president of theElectoral Commission convened in 1877 to determine the outcome of the1876 presidential election. Clifford voted for fellow DemocratSamuel Tilden, butRutherford B. Hayes won by a single vote.

Clifford believed that the commission erred in nullifying Tilden's apparent victory and never accepted Hayes as the lawful president.^[21] Still, he signed off on Hayes' order for inauguration. In this instance Clifford put the country before his strong party beliefs, and his personal hope of having a Democratic president choose his successor.^[22]

By 1877, Clifford's mental faculties had declined and impaired his ability to be an effective Justice. JusticeSamuel Miller wrote that Clifford's mental deterioration was "obvious to all of the Court" and "in the work we do, no man ought to be there after 70." (Clifford was 74.) In 1880, Clifford experienced a stroke that, according to Miller, "rendered him a babbling idiot." He did not participate in any cases during that year, but still refused to step down, hoping that a Democratic president would be elected in 1880 and appoint a successor. He died on July 25, 1881, his successor on the bench,Horace Gray, instead being appointed by Republican presidentChester Arthur.^[23][24]

As a young lawyer in Newfield, Clifford met his wife, Hannah Ayer. They had six children.^[25]

Clifford died on July 25, 1881, inCornish, Maine, and is interred inEvergreen Cemetery inPortland.^[26][27]

The Nathan Clifford Elementary School in Portland is named for him. Clifford's son, William Henry Clifford, was a successful lawyer and an unsuccessful candidate for the Maine State House of Representatives. His grandson, also namedNathan Clifford, was also a lawyer and briefly president of the Maine State Senate.

• List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

• Clifford, Philip G.,Nathan Clifford, Democrat from 1803 to 1881, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1922.

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Nathan Clifford

• United States Congress."Nathan Clifford (id: C000518)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Nathan Clifford at theBiographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of theFederal Judicial Center.

• 1803 births
• 1881 deaths
• 19th-century American diplomats
• 19th-century American judges
• Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico
• American Congregationalists
• American Unitarians
• Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine)
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine
• Maine attorneys general
• Maine lawyers
• People from Rumney, New Hampshire
• People from Newfield, Maine
• Polk administration cabinet members
• Speakers of the Maine House of Representatives
• United States federal judges appointed by James Buchanan
• Attorneys general of the United States
• Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
• New Hampton School alumni
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
• 19th-century members of the Maine Legislature

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