John Nelson Biography

John Nelson served as U.S attorney general from 1843 to 1845 under President John Tyler. In a long life of public service, Nelson served as a congressman and a diplomat, as well as an interim secretary of state. Nelson was born on June 1, 1791 in Frederick, Maryland. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1811 and then studied law under the guidance of lawyers in Virginia and Maryland. This type of legal apprenticeship was common at the time and led to Nelson's admission to the Maryland bar in 1813. Upon admission, Nelson established a private law practice in Frederick.

Nelson soon became active in Democratic Party politics and was elected in 1820 to the U.S. House of Representatives. He did not run for reelection in 1822 but in 1828 supported the presidential candidacy of Andrew Jackson. Jackson rewarded Nelson in 1831 by appointing him to a diplomatic post in Naples. Until 1832 he served as U.S. charge d'affaires to the Two Sicilies, an independent kingdom located in southern Italy prior to that country's unification in the mid-1860s. The kingdom's capitol was Naples.

Nelson's fortunes improved when John Tyler assumed the presidency following the death of President William Henry Harrison. Tyler appointed Nelson attorney general in July 1843. Nelson also held a cabinet post as interim secretary of state, following the resignation of Daniel Webster. He served in both positions until 1845. At the time, the position of attorney general was not a cabinet-level post.

The Tyler administration was largely ineffective. A political maverick and proponent of states' rights, Tyler was the first vice-president to succeed to the office because of the death of a president. Though his administration was marked by political upheaval, Tyler established the right of the vice president to assume the powers and duties of president thus rejecting the concept of an acting president. The elderly Harrison died 31 days after becoming president, with Tyler assuming the presidency on April 4, 1841. As the first vice-president to become president due to the death of the chief executive, Tyler rejected the idea that he serve as acting president. Though the Constitution was silent on the matter of succession, Tyler announced that he would assume the full powers and duties of the office, setting a precedent that would be followed by other vice-presidents. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment added the matter of presidential succession to the Constitution in 1967.

Tyler was a political maverick, having abandoned the Democrats for the Whig Party. As president, however, he soon offended the Whigs. A staunch supporter of states' rights, Tyler twice vetoed a Whig-sponsored act establishing a national bank. In protest, all but one member of his cabinet resigned, paving the way for the appointment of Nelson. For the remainder of his term, Tyler was a chief executive without a political party. Consequently, Tyler had few accomplishments. He did approve the annexation of Texas, and he signed legislation that gave squatters on government land the right to buy 160 acres of land at the minimum auction price, without competitive bidding. Nelson resumed his law practice after leaving office in 1845. He died on January 8, 1860 in Baltimore, Maryland.