"Supreme Court Justice" Samuel Blatchford Hand Written Letter JG Autographs COA

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"Supreme Court Justice" Samuel Blatchford Hand Written Letter.
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ES-864A
Samuel M. Blatchford
(March 9, 1820 – July 7, 1893) was an
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
from April 3, 1882, until his death. Blatchford was born in
Auburn
,
New York
on March 9, 1820. He was the eldest of five children born to Julia Ann (
née
Mumford) Blatchford and
Richard Milford Blatchford
(1798–1875), a well known
attorney
and friend of
Daniel Webster
who served as a
New York State Assemblyman
in 1855, U.S. Minister to the
Papal States
, and New York City Park Commissioner in 1872.
[3]
After his mother's death in 1857, his father remarried to Angelica Hamilton, the daughter of
James Alexander Hamilton
and granddaughter of
Alexander Hamilton
, the first
Treasury Secretary
. Angelica died in 1868, and Blatchford married for the third time, to Katherine Hone.
His grandfather also named
Samuel Blatchford
, was born in England and was the first president of
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
. The younger Samuel Blatchford was educated at
Columbia College
, where he joined the
Philolexian Society
and graduated when he was 17 years old. In 1840, he served as the private secretary to Governor
William H. Seward
. Blatchford
read law
while working for the governor and then entered into the private practice of law with his father and uncle. In 1854, he moved to
New York City
and started a law firm, Blatchford,
Seward
& Griswold, now known as
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
. He became well known for preparing summaries of
United States circuit court
cases, serving for a time as
reporter of decisions
for the Circuit Court in New York, and developed a lucrative practice in
admiralty law
. On what he thought was inside information, Blatchford sold all his shares of stock on the eve of the
Battle of Fort Sumter
and the decline in stock prices that took place at the onset of the
American Civil War
, thus preserving his personal fortune. On May 3, 1867, Blatchford received a
recess appointment
from
President
Andrew Johnson
to a seat on the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
vacated by
Samuel R. Betts
. Formally nominated on July 13, 1867, Blatchford was confirmed by the
United States Senate
three days later, receiving his commission the same day.
On February 15, 1878, President
Rutherford B. Hayes
promoted Blatchford to serve as Circuit Judge of the
Second U.S. Judicial Circuit
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Alexander Smith Johnson
. Blatchford was confirmed by the Senate, and received his commission, on March 4, 1878. On March 13, 1882, Blatchford was nominated to the
Supreme Court of the United States
by President
Chester A. Arthur
, to a seat vacated by
Ward Hunt
, after two other candidates,
Senator
George F. Edmunds
and former Senator
Roscoe Conkling
, declined. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 22, 1882, and received his commission the same day.
[6]
Blatchford thus became the first person to serve at all three levels of the federal judiciary—as a District Judge, a Circuit Judge, and a Supreme Court Justice. When he was nominated for the Supreme Court, it was estimated that his personal wealth exceeded million (over million in 2018), mostly held in real estate.
Blatchford was an expert in
admiralty law
and
patent law
, and authored
Blatchford and Howland's Admiralty Cases
, which was considered the most complete work of its kind. During his eleven-year tenure on the High Court, he wrote 430 opinions and two dissents. His most noteworthy opinions,
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. v. Minnesota
, and
Budd v. People of New York
, were roundly criticized for their apparently contradictory conclusions about due process under the
Fourteenth Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution.
Blatchford served as a trustee of
Columbia College
.