Appointed by James Monroe Succeeded by James Pindall Battles and wars War of 1812 Preceded by Thomas Wilson Parents George Jackson | Succeeded by Philip C. Pendleton Name John Jackson Preceded by Position established Preceded by John Smith Siblings Edward B. Jackson | |
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Role Former U.S. Representative Died March 28, 1825, Clarksburg, West Virginia, United States Party Democratic-Republican Party Previous office Representative (VA 1st District) 1803–1810 | ||
John George Jackson (September 22, 1777 – March 28, 1825) was a U.S. Representative and federal judge from Virginia, the son of George Jackson, brother of Edward B. Jackson, and grandfather of William Thomas Bland, Jacob Beeson Jackson, James Monroe Jackson, and John Jay Jackson, Jr.
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Early life, education, and career
Born in Buckhannon, Virginia (now West Virginia), Jackson moved with his parents to Clarksburg in 1784. He received an English training and became a civil engineer. In 1793, he was appointed surveyor of public lands west of the Ohio River, in what is now the State of Ohio, conducting that office from 1796 to 1798. He served as member of the Virginia General Assembly from 1798 to 1801, during which time he supported resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts. Jackson read law to enter the bar in 1801. Besides his law practice, Jackson began a number of successful businesses.
Prior to marriage, Jackson had a son, who became General John J. Jackson, the father of John Jay Jackson, Jr. Jackson's first wife Mary "Polly" Payne was the youngest sister of Dolley Madison - they were married in 1800. She died in 1808 of tuberculosis. Jackson continued to correspond with Dolley Madison after the death of his wife and her sister. On June 11, 1810, shortly before he married Mary Sophia Meigs, the daughter of Return J. Meigs, Jr. he wrote Dolley that his new wife "is about the size of our dear Mary, [and] much such a person."
Writing under the pseudonym, "A Mountaineer," Jackson protested in the Richmond Examiner against what he perceived were the two main inequities of the Virginia Constitution - voting rights tied to land ownership, and representation in the legislature based on counties rather than population.
Congressional service
Jackson was elected to the Eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1803, to September 28, 1810. Because of their family ties, Jackson was viewed as a mouthpiece for James Madison, and Jackson's remarks from the floor of the House were often controversial. In 1809, while in Congress Jackson fought a duel with another Congressman, Joseph Pearson of North Carolina, and on the second fire was wounded in the hip. Jackson resigned because of his wounds, and was succeeded by William McKinley.
He served a second period in the Virginia General Assembly, from 1811 to 1812. On December 26, 1811, Jackson escaped a deadly fire that swept through a theater in Richmond, Virginia, killing, among others, Governor William Smith. He was a brigadier general of the Virginia Commonwealth Militia in 1812, in the early stages of the War of 1812.
Jackson was elected to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses (March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1817). He declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1816 to the Fifteenth Congress, and was succeeded by James Pindall. Jackson then returned to private practice of law in Clarksburg, Virginia from 1817 to 1819. He was a member of the Board of Commissioners who met at the tavern at Rockfish Gap in 1818 and decided to locate the University of Virginia at Charlottesville - a group that included Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Marshall and among others, Philip C. Pendleton, another future judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Elections
Federal judicial service
In 1819, St. George Tucker was the sole judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia, then covering all of what is today Virginia and West Virginia. That year, Congress divided Virginia into two federal court districts, Eastern and Western, by 3 Stat. 478. Tucker was reassigned to the Eastern District, and on February 20, 1819, Jackson was nominated by President James Monroe to serve as the first judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination on February 24, 1819, and he received his commission the same day. He served until his death in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was interred in the Old Jackson Cemetery.
He was succeeded on the bench by Philip C. Pendleton.
Two books have been written about Jackson's life.