# Philip P. Barbour *American jurist and politician; tenth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States* Philip Pendleton Barbour (May 25, 1783 – February 25, 1841) was a Virginia lawyer and politician. He presided over the [[United States House of Representatives]] as its tenth Speaker and later sat as an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]. No one else has held both offices.[^1] A native of Gordonsville, Virginia, Barbour studied at the College of William & Mary and then practiced law in Gordonsville. He entered the House in 1814 as a Democratic-Republican and held the Speakership for one term, 1821 to 1823. He did not run for re-election in 1824, came back to Congress in 1827 as an ally of Andrew Jackson, and remained until 1830. That year he took an appointment to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.[^1] The Wikipedia summary dates Jackson's appointment of Barbour to the Supreme Court to 1835, for the seat that [[Gabriel Duvall]] vacated by resigning that year.[^1] The same source's account of the appointment gives March 15, 1836, as the date the Senate approved him, by 30–11.[^4] He sat on the Court until his death in 1841. The summary describes him as generally siding with Jacksonian principles and states' rights.[^1] ## Early and family life Barbour's father, Thomas Barbour, was a planter and legislator in Orange County, Virginia. He was a neighbor of James Madison and among Madison's early political sponsors. Barbour was born near Gordonsville and took his name from an ancestor, Philip Pendleton, a line that also connected him to the politician and judge Edmund Pendleton. The family belonged to the First Families of Virginia.[^2] Barbour began studying law under St. George Tucker in Williamsburg. Tucker ended the arrangement in 1799 for financial reasons. Barbour then went to Kentucky, read law for a year, gained admission to the bar, and opened a practice in Bardstown. About a year later, at friends' urging, he returned to Virginia and resumed study at William & Mary. In 1802 he began practicing near the family home in Gordonsville.[^2] He married Frances Johnson, the daughter of a local planter, in 1804. They had one son, Sextus Barbour. Barbour was a slave owner.[^2] ## Political and early judicial career After eight years in law practice, Barbour served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1812 to 1814. When U.S. Representative John Dawson died, Barbour won the special election for the seat. He then sat in the U.S. House as a Jeffersonian Republican from September 19, 1814, to March 4, 1825, and was Speaker from 1821 to 1823.[^3] According to the Wikipedia account, his entry into politics coincided with a turn toward nationalist policies by figures who had earlier championed states' rights. Those figures included President James Madison, Henry Clay, and Barbour's brother James Barbour, then a U.S. Senator. Barbour himself held to "Old Republican" principles of states' rights and strict construction of the Constitution.[^3] ### First term in Congress Barbour opposed the Bonus Bill of 1817, a measure for federal funding of internal improvements. One example was a road being built to link [[Buffalo]], New York, with New Orleans by way of Washington. He treated such federally funded projects as beyond Congress's powers, unconstitutional, and damaging to state sovereignty.[^3] He described the states as sovereign political communities that were free to leave the Union if the federal government infringed their rights. He used that argument against restrictions on Missouri's entry into the Union as a slave state. He also defended Missouri's ban on free Black Americans entering the state.[^3] ## United States Supreme Court ### Appointment Two Supreme Court seats fell vacant in 1835, one through the death of Chief Justice Marshall and the other through Justice Duvall's resignation. Near the end of his second term, President Jackson nominated Barbour for Duvall's seat. The Wikipedia account states that nationalists opposed the choice. In their view, Barbour's anti-administration record in Congress and his Democratic beliefs indicated that he would work against the federal supremacy established under the Marshall Court. Two attempts were made to delay the Senate's decision. The Senate confirmed Barbour on March 15, 1836, by 30 votes to 11.[^4] ### Tenure Over five years on the bench, Barbour heard 155 cases. He wrote one major opinion and two dissents. The Wikipedia account credits his commitment to states' rights, strict construction, and limits on federal power with helping to shape the legacy of the Taney Court.[^5] In his first term, in 1837, the Court heard three cases that the same account describes as tempering Marshall's judicial nationalism. These were *Briscoe v. Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky*, *Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge*, and *New York v. Miln*.[^5] Barbour wrote for the majority in *New York v. Miln*. The case arose from an 1824 New York statute that required ship masters to report personal information about their passengers. The stated aim was to prevent smuggling and the immigration of poor people whom the state could not support. A ship master named Miln refused to comply and was jailed and fined. The question before the Court was whether the statute violated the Commerce Clause (Art. 1, § 8). Barbour held that it did not.[^5] ## Death and legacy Barbour died in his sleep from a coronary thrombosis on February 25, 1841. His death came during John Quincy Adams's argument in the *Amistad* case, in which Adams sought freedom for African captives. Justice Story opposed slavery and was more nationalist than Barbour. Story nonetheless eulogized him, crediting his personal values, persistence, and legal ability with winning his colleagues' respect.[^6] The 1840 census recorded Barbour as the owner of fifty-four enslaved people. He was a lifelong Episcopalian and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.[^6] [[Peter V. Daniel]], a fellow Virginian and long-time friend, took his seat on the Court. Daniel carried forward the same Jacksonian, states'-rights, and strict-constructionist approach.[^6] Barbour County, West Virginia, the town of Philippi, West Virginia, and Philip Barbour High School bear his name.[^6] The Wikipedia account assesses that three of Barbour's opinions left a lasting Jacksonian mark on the Taney Court:[^7] - his dissent in *Kendall*, which advanced the Jacksonian theory of departmental authority; - his majority opinion in *New York v. Miln*, which advanced states' rights; - his dissent in *Holmes*, which read the Constitution textually to separate state power from congressional power. The same account states that his opinions began to unravel the work of the Marshall Court.[^7] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Philip P. Barbour* (lead section, rev. 1363332240, retrieved 2026-10-26) — birth and death dates, sole holder of both offices, House and Speakership dates, 1824 retirement, 1827 return, 1830 district judgeship, 1835 appointment to Duvall's seat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_P._Barbour [^2]: Wikipedia, *Philip P. Barbour* ("Early and family life", retrieved 2026-10-26) — parentage, Pendleton lineage, legal training, Kentucky practice, 1802 return, 1804 marriage, slave ownership. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_P._Barbour [^3]: Wikipedia, *Philip P. Barbour* ("Political and early judicial career" and "First term in Congress", retrieved 2026-10-26) — House of Delegates service, special election, House dates, Bonus Bill of 1817, Missouri positions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_P._Barbour [^4]: Wikipedia, *Philip P. Barbour* ("United States Supreme Court — Appointment", retrieved 2026-10-26) — 1835 vacancies, nomination, delay attempts, Senate approval of March 15, 1836, by 30–11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_P._Barbour [^5]: Wikipedia, *Philip P. Barbour* ("United States Supreme Court — Tenure", retrieved 2026-10-26) — five-year tenure, 155 cases, opinions, 1837 cases, *New York v. Miln*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_P._Barbour [^6]: Wikipedia, *Philip P. Barbour* ("Death and legacy", retrieved 2026-10-26) — death, *Amistad* arguments, Story's eulogy, 1840 census, burial, successor, place names. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_P._Barbour [^7]: Wikipedia, *Philip P. Barbour* ("Death and legacy", retrieved 2026-10-26) — assessment of the *Kendall*, *Miln* and *Holmes* opinions and their effect on the Marshall Court's work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_P._Barbour