# Samuel Nelson *American jurist; New York state judge and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1845–1872)* Samuel Nelson (November 10, 1792 – December 13, 1873) was an American lawyer who sat on New York's state courts and then served on the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] from 1845 to 1872.[^1] In the 1857 *Dred Scott* case he joined the result, but his reasoning differed from that of Chief Justice Taney.[^1] His connection to [[Minnesota]] runs through his family. His son, Rensselaer Russell Nelson, became the first judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.[^1] The pack contains no record of Samuel Nelson acting in Minnesota himself.[^1] ## Early life Nelson's parents, John Rodgers Nelson and Jean McArthur, were Scotch-Irish immigrants. He was born to them in Hebron, New York, on November 10, 1792.[^1] The family owned a farm. He attended Hebron's public schools and then had three years of private college preparation before enrolling at Middlebury College in Vermont.[^1] He first meant to enter the ministry. After graduating in 1813 he turned to the law instead. He trained as an apprentice under John Savage and David Woods in Salem, New York, and followed Woods into partnership in Madison County after the Salem firm dissolved two years later.[^1] He was licensed in 1817 and opened a practice in Cortland, concentrating on real estate and commercial matters.[^1] ## Career Nelson was a presidential elector in 1820 and cast his votes for James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins. From 1820 to 1823 he was postmaster of Cortland.[^1] At the 1821 New York Constitutional Convention he sat with the "Bucktails," the faction led by Martin van Buren. He supported a wider suffrage and a reorganized state judiciary.[^1] The revised constitution was adopted, and it created eight new circuit courts.[^1] ### New York State judge Nelson's judicial career began in 1823, when Governor Joseph Yates named him to the newly created Sixth Circuit.[^1] There he built a reputation in admiralty and maritime law, and few of his rulings were appealed.[^1] In 1831 Governor Enos Throop placed him on the New York Supreme Court, then known as the Supreme Court of Judicature. In 1837 Governor William Marcy elevated him to chief justice in succession to John Savage.[^1] In 1845 the New York State Legislature held a special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat of [[Silas Wright]]. Nelson was a candidate and lost.[^1] At the time the state's Democrats were divided between Barnburners and Hunkers, and Nelson was identified with the Hunkers.[^1] That same year he was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served until 1872.[^1] ## Slavery and states' rights Nelson wrote opinions in large numbers during the Taney era. Few of them reached slavery and states' rights, the leading constitutional questions of the period.[^1] ### Jack v. Martin In *Jack v. Martin* (1834), Mary Martin sued for the return to Louisiana of Jack Martin, whom she claimed as her slave there. Jack argued that New York law had abolished slavery and that both parties now lived in New York, so he was free.[^1] The Recorder of New York City issued a certificate for his recovery. On Jack's petition, the Recorder also issued a [[writ of habeas corpus]].[^1] The circuit court decided for Mary Martin, and the case went to the New York Supreme Court.[^1] Nelson wrote that court's opinion. It held that only Congress could legislate under the Constitution's fugitive slave clause, and that the New York statute was therefore void.[^1] The U.S. Supreme Court adopted the same position in *Prigg v. Pennsylvania* (1842).[^1] ### Dred Scott The majority opinion in *Dred Scott* was first assigned to Nelson.[^1] His draft affirmed the Missouri court's judgment against Scott from *Scott v. Emerson*. It rested on one narrow question: whether Scott's temporary residence in a free state had made him free.[^1] The draft left aside the case's other questions, including citizenship and the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise.[^1] Justices McLean and Curtis then decided to write dissents. Chief Justice Taney, backed by the other southern justices, took a different course; the cached Wikipedia text is cut off at that point.[^1] ## Personal life In 1819 Nelson married Pamela Woods, the daughter of his former partner David Woods. They had two children before she died.[^1] In 1825 he married Catharine Ann Russell, whose father was U.S. Representative John Russell. The couple had six children.[^1] Their son Rensselaer Russell Nelson was the fourth of those six. He became a lawyer and was named the first United States District Court Judge for the District of Minnesota.[^1] Nelson died on December 13, 1873, in Cooperstown, New York. He was buried in Cooperstown's Lakewood Cemetery.[^1] ## Legacy and honors Geneva College awarded Nelson an honorary LL.D. in 1837, and Middlebury College did the same in 1841. Columbia University and Hamilton College each gave him one in 1870.[^1] His law office survives within the Farmers' Museum at Cooperstown.[^1] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - Rensselaer Russell Nelson, a son of Samuel Nelson, was the first judge appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Samuel Nelson* (revision 1357638757, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Nelson's birth, education, New York and federal judicial career, *Jack v. Martin*, *Dred Scott*, family including Rensselaer Russell Nelson's appointment in Minnesota, death and honors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Nelson