DANIEL, PETER VIVIAN

DANIEL, PETER VIVIAN

Peter Vivian Daniel served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1841 to 1860. A prominent lawyer and Democratic politician from Virginia, Daniel adhered to a Jeffersonian political philosophy that favored STATES’ RIGHTS and disfavored large economic institutions. A minor figure in the history of the Supreme Court, Daniel joined the majority in DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393, 15 L. Ed. 691 (1857), which held that freed black slaves could not be citizens under the Constitution because they had originally been property, not citizens.

Daniel was born in Stafford County, Virginia, on April 24, 1784.He came from a wealthy family and was educated at Princeton University, graduating in 1805. He read the law in the Richmond offices of EDMUND RANDOLPH, who helped draft the Constitution. He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1808.

Although Daniel maintained a law practice,
his focus was on politics and government. He
was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in
1809. In 1812 he was appointed by the house to
serve on the PRIVY COUNCIL, which acted as an
advisory board for the state governor. Daniel
remained on the council for twenty-three years,
serving as lieutenant governor for much of his
term.

Daniel was active in the DEMOCRATIC PARTY
and was a strong supporter of President
ANDREW JACKSON. In 1836 Jackson appointed
Daniel as a judge to the U.S. District Court for
Eastern Virginia. Five years later President MAR-
TIN VAN BUREN appointed Daniel to the U.S.
Supreme Court. This move sparked controversy
because it occurred at the end of Van Buren’s
term of office. The WHIG PARTY’s presidential
candidate, WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, was
elected president. Whigs in Congress tried to
block the appointment of Daniel so Harrison
could choose a justice. Daniel was confirmed by
the Senate on March 3, 1841, in the last
moments of the Van Buren administration.
Throughout his years on the Supreme
Court, Daniel maintained his commitment to
Jeffersonian government. THOMAS JEFFERSON’s
view of republican government valued an agri-
cultural economy and a limited role for govern-
ment. Daniel also adopted the Jacksonian variation,which included hostility to banks, corporations,
and the federal government. A southerner
and a believer in states’ rights, he
supported the right of states to maintain the
institution of SLAVERY.

Daniel was known more for his dissents than
for crafting majority opinions. He did, however,
join the majority in the Dred Scott case. Dred
Scott was a slave owned by an army surgeon,
John Emerson, who resided in Missouri. In 1836
Emerson took Scott to Fort Snelling, in what is
now Minnesota but was then a territory where
slavery had been expressly forbidden by the MISSOURI
COMPROMISE legislation of 1820. In 1846
Scott sued for his freedom in Missouri state
court, arguing that his residence in a free territory
released him from slavery. The Missouri
Supreme Court rejected his argument, and Scott
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Court heard arguments on Dred Scott in
1855 and 1856. A key issue was whether African
Americans could be citizens of the United States,
even if they were not slaves. Daniel was a loyal
southerner, holding in his concurring opinion
that African Americans who had been freed
since the enactment of the Constitution could
never be citizens. The Framers had not contemplated
the prospect of granting citizenship to
persons who were legally recognized as property
when the Constitution was drafted.
During his term on the Supreme Court,
Daniel’s adherence to his principles led him to
drift further from the mainstream. As the
national economy expanded, and with it both
big business and the federal government,
Daniel’s Jeffersonian beliefs lost relevance.

Daniel died May 31, 1860, in Richmond, Virginia.