John Catron

John Catron was a lawyer and later a Tennessee and United States Supreme Court justice. He was from Sparta, Tennessee. It is very much up for debate as to where the Catron family migrated from. By all accounts, Catron did not receive much education. He later claimed that he taught himself, by "reading anything that he could get his hands on." Catron eventually took an interest in law, and began to read law under Sparta attorney George Washington Gibbs. When the War of 1812 broke out, Catron enlisted. He was sent south to fight in the Natchez Expedition. Catron saw action at Talladega, Tallusatchee, and Fort Strother. He eventually was granted a release from the army due to illness. His short time in the army, proved valuable to him, allowing him to obtain respect from men such as Andrew Jackson, and Attorney General Isaac Thomas. When Catron returned to Sparta, he continued to study law, and was later admitted to the bar. He left Sparta and set up his own practice at Monroe, the county seat of Overton County. He traveled all across the Third Judicial District, or "Mountain District," trying cases. Catron was often paid in whiskey, hams, and gunpowder, among other things. The district that he worked in was so poor, that money did not exchange hands very often, they instead chose to barter.  While serving as a lawyer, Catron and Andrew Jackson often came in contact with one another. The two men had known each other during the War of 1812, and respect between the two men only continued to strengthen in the years after. Jackson encouraged Catron to move to Nashville, where he would have more opportunities to be successful as an attorney. It was also in Nashville that he met his wife Matilda Childress. She was the granddaughter of James Robertson and the first cousin of Sarah Childress, the wife of James K. Polk. The Childress family was able to open up political doors for Catron that he had never thought of. Historians say that following his marriage into the Childress family, he became a "political animal." In 1824, he was elected to the Tennessee Supreme Court, and never looked back. He took on issues surrounding the Panic of 1819, as well as Indian rights. Catron's goal was to "dispense justice as seen fit." He was not afraid of public backlash over decisions he handed down. If he thought a decision was the right one, he did not hesitate to let it be known how he felt. Many of the decisions that Justice Catron made, are still affecting state and federal laws. His attitude toward the Native Americans are perhaps the most controversial aspect of Catron's career. During early cases that he presided over, Catron was usually sympathetic to the Indians. In an 1835 case however, he took a completely different view. The case was known as The State v. Foreman, and it involved the murder of a Cherokee man by Foreman. The court ruled that the state had the right to have jurisdiction over the Cherokee tribe. The ruling in this case, led to the reopening of the Worcester v. Georgia case. This allowed Jackson the opportunity to negotiate with the Cherokee tribe, and eventually to the Trail of Tears. Following the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1836, the number of United States Supreme Court justices was increased from seven to nine. It is unknown how Catron secured a spot, but theories range, from his close relationship with Jackson, to his in laws, getting him the seat. Just like his lawyer career, and Tennessee Supreme Court service, he rode a circuit. He opposed entities such as corporations, and he presided over numerous cases involving slavery. The most famous of those was Dred Scott v. Sandford. Catron continued to serve the country well as a Supreme Court Justice. In 1860, as southern states began to hold conventions concerning secession, Catron stood firm with the United States. This rubbed many of his family, and friends in the Upper Cumberland the wrong way. He and his wife were forced to leave Nashville and move to Louisville, Kentucky. Catron believed that anyone who supported the Confederate cause was committing treason. He continued to use his platform as a Supreme Court Justice to speak out against the Confederacy. Catron died on May 30, 1865 at the age of 79. His seat in the Supreme Court was eliminated under the Judicial Courts Act, in order to prevent Andrew Johnson from appointing a new justice. John Catron has gone down in history as one of the great success stories of the Upper Cumberland.

For more on John Catron, check out the book People of the Upper Cumberland.

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