# Nathan Clifford *American lawyer, diplomat, and Democratic politician from Maine (1803–1881)* Nathan Clifford (August 18, 1803 – July 25, 1881) was a Maine lawyer and diplomat who was active in politics as a member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)]].[^1] He is counted among the few people to have held a constitutional office in each of the three branches of the federal government. He served in the United States House of Representatives, as United States Attorney General, and as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.[^1] His federal service spanned the Polk administration and the years before the Civil War. He became Attorney General in 1846 and then served as envoy to Mexico, where he signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for the United States.[^1] His nomination to the Supreme Court followed the *Dred Scott v. Sandford* decision. It was contested in the Senate, which confirmed him in 1858 by a 26–23 vote.[^1] ## Early life and education Clifford was born on August 18, 1803, in Rumney, New Hampshire, to Deacon Nathaniel Clifford and Lydia (née Simpson). He was the eldest of seven children and their only son.[^1] According to the cited biography, his great-great-grandmother Ann Smith accused Goody Cole of witchcraft in 1672. Cole was the only woman in New Hampshire convicted of that offense.[^1] He was educated in Rumney's public schools, at the Haverhill Academy in New Hampshire, and at the New Hampton Literary Institute, the present-day New Hampton School.[^1] ## Early career Clifford taught school for a time. He then read law in the offices of Josiah Quincy III and was admitted to the Maine bar in 1827. His first law practice was in Newfield, Maine.[^1] He sat in the Maine House of Representatives from 1830 to 1834 and was its Speaker in 1833–1834.[^1] In 1834 the Maine [[Legislature]] elected him state Attorney General, and he held that post until 1838.[^1] ### U.S. House of Representatives (1839–43) In 1836, U.S. Senator Ether Shepley resigned to join the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Clifford sought election to the vacant seat, but in March 1837 the legislature chose Reuel Williams.[^1] Voters in Maine's 1st congressional district elected Clifford to the U.S. House in 1838 and re-elected him in 1840. He served in the 26th and 27th Congresses, from March 4, 1839, to March 3, 1843.[^1] In the House he followed the Democratic line and supported the Van Buren administration. He opposed a high tariff, supported internal improvements and state banking, and favored federal retrenchment. He also criticized abolitionism, though he described its supporters as well-intentioned.[^1] Redistricting and political infighting led him not to stand for re-election in 1842.[^1] ## Polk administration ### U.S. Attorney General (1846–48) President James K. Polk named Clifford the 19th Attorney General of the United States in 1846. He succeeded John Y. Mason, who had returned to the post of Secretary of the Navy. Clifford sat in Polk's Cabinet from October 17, 1846, to March 17, 1848.[^1] ### Envoy to Mexico (1848–49) Clifford left the Attorney General's office to become U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico. He held that post from March 18, 1848, to September 6, 1849.[^1] He signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for the United States. Under the treaty the United States acquired the Mexican Cession, from which New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah were later formed.[^1] After the Whigs won the presidency he was recalled. He then returned to practicing law in Portland, Maine.[^1] ## Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1858–81) ### Appointment President James Buchanan nominated Clifford on December 9, 1857, to the Supreme Court seat vacated by Benjamin R. Curtis. The nomination followed closely on the *Dred Scott v. Sandford* decision and was contested.[^1] Opponents called Clifford, a longtime partisan Democrat, a political hack and a "doughface," meaning a Northern man with Southern sympathies. Anti-slavery members of the [[United States Senate]] opposed him over what the cited biography calls his pro-slavery record.[^1] The confirmation process lasted 34 days. The Senate confirmed him on January 12, 1858, by a 26–23 vote, and he took the oath on January 21, 1858.[^1] When Clifford joined the Court, every justice but one was affiliated with the Democratic Party. By 1872 he had outlived his Democratic colleagues. For his last nine years on the bench, his Republican colleagues tended to outvote him, and roughly one-fifth of his opinions were dissents.[^1] He wrote the opinion of the Court in 398 cases. His opinions read as comprehensive legal essays, and critics have at times found them too long and digressive.[^1] ### Legal philosophy Clifford seldom stated a general philosophy of the Constitution. He did hold that federal and state authority were sharply divided.[^1] Senator James W. Bradbury, an admirer, said Clifford regarded the Constitution as not an "elastic instrument to be enlarged or impaired by construction." In Clifford's view, it was to be interpreted fairly according to its terms.[^1] The cited biography also describes him as an adherent of mechanical jurisprudence.[^1] ## Personal life Clifford met his wife, Hannah Ayer, while he was a young lawyer in Newfield. The couple had six children.[^1] ## Death and legacy Clifford died in Cornish, Maine, on July 25, 1881. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.[^1] Portland's Nathan Clifford Elementary School bears his name.[^1] His son, William Henry Clifford, practiced law and ran unsuccessfully for the Maine House of Representatives. A grandson, also named Nathan Clifford, was a lawyer and served briefly as president of the Maine State Senate.[^1] A World War II Liberty ship, the SS *Nathan Clifford*, was named for him.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Nathan Clifford* (revision 1378487042, retrieved 2026-10-26) — biographical summary of Clifford's offices, dates, Court appointment and confirmation vote, and family; CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Clifford