Nathan Clifford

Details

Birth

August 18, 1803 · Rumney, New Hampshire

Death

July 25, 1881

Law school

Read law (Quincy, Josiah)

Prior experience

Various legal and public service prior to appointment

Biography

Nathan Clifford (August 18, 1803 – July 25, 1881) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1858 to 1881. Born in Rumney, New Hampshire, to a farming family, Clifford was largely self-educated and studied law independently before being admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 1827. He established a legal practice in Newfield, Maine, and quickly entered politics as a Jacksonian Democrat, serving in the Maine House of Representatives and later as the state's Attorney General from 1834 to 1838. Clifford represented Maine in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1839 to 1843, where he supported Democratic policies including territorial expansion and states' rights. President James K. Polk appointed Clifford as U.S. Attorney General in 1846, and subsequently as Minister to Mexico from 1848 to 1849, where he helped negotiate the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican-American War. President James Buchanan nominated Clifford to the Supreme Court in 1857, though his confirmation faced opposition due to his perceived pro-slavery stance and limited judicial experience. On the Court, Clifford generally aligned with Southern Democrats and supported states' rights, most notably in his dissent in the Legal Tender Cases, where he opposed the federal government's authority to issue paper money as legal tender. He also wrote the majority opinion in Ex parte Yerger (1869), which limited federal court jurisdiction over military tribunals during Reconstruction. Despite suffering a stroke in 1877, Clifford remained on the Court hoping a Democratic president would appoint his successor, ultimately serving until his death in 1881. His legacy reflects the judicial conservatism of the antebellum period and resistance to expanding federal power during Reconstruction.

Notable opinions

• Prize Cases
• Texas v. White