# Peter V. Daniel *American jurist and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1842–1860)* Peter Vivian Daniel (April 24, 1784 – May 31, 1860) was a Virginia lawyer and state official who became a federal district judge and then an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]. He sat on the Court from January 10, 1842, until his death.[^1] Martin Van Buren, a Democrat, nominated him on February 26, 1841, in the last days of his presidency. Daniel's successor as president, the Whig William Henry Harrison, was due to take office on March 4. The Senate confirmed Daniel 25–5 on March 2, 1841.[^1] On the Taney Court, Daniel wrote seventy-four opinions, and fifty of them were dissents. He also wrote a concurrence in *Prigg v. Pennsylvania* (1842), the decision that upheld the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.[^1] Census figures summarized in the cited article show that he held enslaved people throughout his adult life.[^1] ## Early life and education Daniel was born in 1784 on the Crow's Nest plantation in Stafford County, Virginia. His parents were Frances Moncure and the planter Travers Daniel, who entered the Virginia House of Delegates in 1790. He was named after his paternal grandfather.[^1] He was tutored at home until age 18 and then enrolled at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton. He left after a year and read law in Virginia under Edmund Randolph, a former Virginia [[governor]] and U.S. attorney general.[^1] ## Personal life Daniel moved to Richmond and married Randolph's daughter Lucy in 1811. They had three children: Elizabeth Randolph Daniel (1814–1879), Peter Vivian Daniel Jr. (1818–1889) and Ann Lewis Moncure (1820–1905). Lucy died in November 1847.[^1] His second wife, Elizabeth Hodgson Harris (1824–1857), was a widow born in Pennsylvania. She died in 1857 after a lit candle set her clothing on fire. Their daughter Mary lived from 1854 to 1863, and their son Travers Daniel lived from 1856 to 1911.[^1] Daniel did not run a plantation, but he held enslaved people all his life. The census returns, as the cited article summarizes them, record:[^1] - five in 1810 and in 1820; - three in Richmond in 1830, plus five he leased out in Henrico County; - seven in 1840; - five held by the household in 1850; - one 65-year-old man in the last year of his life.[^1] ## Virginia lawyer and official Daniel was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1807. He opened a practice in Falmouth, across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg.[^1] In November 1808, a dispute with John Seddon, a Fredericksburg businessman, led to a duel. Virginia prohibited dueling, so the two men fought in Maryland. Daniel was not hurt. He wounded Seddon, who died soon after returning to Virginia.[^1] Stafford County voters elected Daniel to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1809 and re-elected him once. He served alongside his relative John Moncure and then alongside William Brent.[^1] In the legislature he advanced the states'-rights principles of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, agrarian issues, and strict construction of the federal Constitution.[^1] In 1812 the legislature elected Daniel to the Virginia Council of State, the advisory privy council. He remained on the Council until 1835, and he kept that seat after his election as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1818.[^1] He lost a race for governor of Virginia in 1830.[^1] During the 1830s he belonged to the Richmond Junto, a group of Jacksonian Democrats and slaveholders, and he backed both Andrew Jackson and Van Buren.[^1] ## Judicial service ### U.S. District Court President Andrew Jackson nominated Daniel on April 6, 1836, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The seat had become vacant when [[Philip P. Barbour]] was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.[^1] The [[United States Senate]] confirmed Daniel on April 19, 1836, and he received his [[Commission]] that day. On the district bench he opposed the practice of district judges also riding the circuit courts.[^1] ### U.S. Supreme Court Barbour died in 1841. On February 26 of that year, Van Buren nominated Daniel to succeed him on the Supreme Court. Senate Whigs opposed confirmation of a nomination made so close to Harrison's March 4 inauguration. The Senate confirmed Daniel 25–5 on March 2, 1841.[^1] His service began on January 10, 1842, and ended with his death on May 31, 1860.[^1] Daniel dissented more often than any other member of the Taney Court; fifty of his seventy-four opinions were dissents.[^1] The cited article calls him arguably the Taney Court's strongest supporter of slavery. It also records his opposition to the extent of federal power.[^1] He concurred in *Prigg v. Pennsylvania* (1842), which upheld the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.[^1] ## Death Daniel died in Richmond, Virginia, on May 31, 1860, at age 76. Both of his wives had died before him, and five of his children survived him.[^1] He was buried at Hollywood Cemetery next to his first wife. His daughter Mary, his second wife and, later, his namesake son were buried there as well.[^1] Raleigh Travers Daniel had been Daniel's ward and later practiced law under his mentorship. He was elected Henrico County's Commonwealth Attorney several times and was elected Virginia's attorney general in 1873.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Peter V. Daniel* (revision 1342206429, retrieved 2026-10-26) — biography covering Daniel's birth and family, his slaveholding as recorded in the censuses, his Virginia offices, his district court and Supreme Court nominations and confirmations, his opinions, and his death and burial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_V._Daniel