John C. Spencer
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John Spencer | |
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16th United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
In office March 8, 1843 – May 2, 1844 |
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President | John Tyler |
Preceded by | Walter Forward |
Succeeded by | George M. Bibb |
17th United States Secretary of War | |
In office October 12, 1841 – March 4, 1843 |
|
President | John Tyler |
Preceded by | John Bell |
Succeeded by | James Madison Porter |
Secretary of State of New York | |
In office February 4, 1839 – October 12, 1841 |
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Governor | William H. Seward |
Preceded by | John Adams Dix |
Succeeded by | Archibald Campbell (Acting) |
Speaker of the New York State Assembly | |
In office January 4, 1820 – June 30, 1820 |
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Preceded by | Obadiah German |
Succeeded by | Peter Sharpe |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 21st district |
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In office March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1819 |
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Preceded by | Archibald S. Clarke |
Succeeded by | Albert H. Tracy |
Personal details | |
Born | Hudson, New York, U.S. |
January 8, 1788
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Albany, New York, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic-Republican (Before 1825) Whig (1825–1856) |
Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Scott Smith |
Alma mater | Union College |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Years of service | 1812–1814 |
Battles/wars | War of 1812 |
John Canfield Spencer (January 8, 1788 – May 17, 1855) was an American lawyer, politician, judge and United States Cabinet secretary in the administration of President John Tyler.
Early life
John Canfield Spencer was the son of Ambrose Spencer, Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court. He graduated from Union College in 1806, became secretary to New York Governor Daniel D. Tompkins in 1807, studied law in Albany, New York, and was admitted to the bar in 1809, commencing practice in Canandaigua, New York. He married Elizabeth Scott Smith in 1809 and became a master of chancery in 1811.[citation needed]
State politics
During the War of 1812, Spencer served in the United States Army where he was appointed brigade judge advocate general for the northern frontier. He was postmaster of Canandaigua, New York in 1814, became assistant attorney general and district attorney for the five western counties of New York in 1815 and was elected a Democratic-Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1816, serving from March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1819. He was a member of the committee that reported unfavorably on the affairs of the Second Bank of the United States.
In 1819, he was the Clintonian candidate for U.S. Senator from New York, but due to a three-cornered contest with Bucktail Samuel Young and Federalist Rufus King, no-one was elected. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1820 to 1822, and was Speaker in 1820. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1825 to 1828.
In 1826, Spencer served as a special prosecutor to investigate the disappearance of William Morgan who was arrested, kidnapped and murdered for exposing secrets kept by Freemasons, thus sparking the Anti-Masonic movement. Spencer sided with the anti-Masons and was the author of a manuscript on Masonic rituals. He was again a member of the New York Assembly from 1831 to 1833 and moved to Albany, New York in 1837. He edited the English edition of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and served as Secretary of State of New York from 1839 to 1841.
Federal government
In 1841, President John Tyler appointed Spencer to be Secretary of War in his administration. As War Secretary, he proposed a chain of posts extending from Council Bluffs, Iowa to the Columbia River. He also recommended that the government adhere to arrangements made by Army commanders in the field for compensation of the Creek Indians, who had been forced to move west of the Mississippi. In 1842, his nineteen-year-old son, Philip Spencer, a midshipman, was executed without court-martial along with two other sailors aboard the brig USS Somers for allegedly attempting mutiny.
In 1843, Spencer was appointed Secretary of the Treasury after the resignation of Walter Forward. As Treasury Secretary, he was preoccupied with the tariff and believed that the deficit and other federal expenditures should be funded by duties on imports rather than by internal taxation, something he was forced to announce for the fiscal year in 1843. The expenditures of the treasury had exceeded its receipts and he advocated additional import duties on articles such as coffee and tea. To help fund the federal deficit he engaged in controversial issues of Treasury Notes. He also continued to develop a plan, originally initiated by Forward, for a Board of Exchequer to keep and disburse public funds raised by duties. The Exchequer bill, which reflected continuing interest in some form of independent treasury system, failed due to a political conflict in the United States Congress.
President Tyler nominated Spencer to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court twice, first in January 1844 to fill Smith Thompson's seat and again in June of the same year to fill Henry Baldwin's seat, but the Senate failed to confirm him both times. As one of few northerners in an administration dominated by southern interests, Spencer found it increasingly difficult to serve in his cabinet post and resigned as Treasury Secretary in May 1844. He returned to Albany where he died on May 17, 1855. He was interred in Albany Rural Cemetery beside his wife, Elizabeth.
References
- John C. Spencer at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- John C. Spencer at the United States Army
- John C. Spencer at the United States Department of the Treasury
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External links
- Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by John C. Spencer at Project Gutenberg
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- John C. Spencer at Find a Grave
United States House of Representatives | ||
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Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 21st congressional district 1817–1819 with Benjamin Ellicott |
Succeeded by Nathaniel Allen, Albert H. Tracy |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by | Speaker of the New York State Assembly 1820 |
Succeeded by Peter Sharpe |
Preceded by | Secretary of State of New York 1839–1841 |
Succeeded by Archibald Campbell Acting |
Preceded by | United States Secretary of War 1841–1843 |
Succeeded by James Madison Porter |
Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Treasury 1843–1844 |
Succeeded by George M. Bibb |
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- Articles with unsourced statements from June 2013
- Articles with Internet Archive links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1788 births
- 1855 deaths
- American people of the War of 1812
- American postmasters
- Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery
- County district attorneys in New York
- Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York
- Anti-Masonic Party politicians from New York
- New York Democratic-Republicans
- New York lawyers
- New York State Senators
- New York Whigs
- People from Albany, New York
- People from Canandaigua, New York
- People from Hudson, New York
- Secretaries of State of New York
- Speakers of the New York State Assembly
- Tyler administration cabinet members
- Union College (New York) alumni
- United States Army officers
- United States Secretaries of the Treasury
- United States Secretaries of War
- Unsuccessful nominees to the United States Supreme Court
- 19th-century American politicians