Marcus Morton

Marcus Morton

Marcus Morton (born December 19, 1784 in Freetown , Massachusetts , †  February 6, 1864 in Taunton , Massachusetts) was an American lawyer and politician and between 1825 and 1844 multiple governor of the state of Massachusetts. Between 1817 and 1821 he represented his state in the US House of Representatives .

Early years

Marcus Morton attended Brown University in Providence , Rhode Island , until 1804 . After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer, he began to work in Taunton in 1807 in his new profession. In 1811, Morton was secretary in the Massachusetts Senate .

Political rise

Morton first became a member of the Democratic Republican Party , as its candidate he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1816. After a re-election in 1818 he was able to represent his state between March 4, 1817 and March 3, 1821 as a member of Congress . From 1819 to 1821 he was chairman of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business there . In 1820, Morton failed to be re-elected. From 1824 to 1825 he was lieutenant governor of his state. After the death of Governor William Eustis on February 6, 1825, Morton had to end his term in office. So he was between February 6, 1825 and May 26, 1825 for the first time governor of Massachusetts. Between 1825 and 1840 he was a judge on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court . After his party disbanded in the 1820s, Morton became a member of the Democratic Party founded by Andrew Jackson . Until 1838 he was its chairman in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Governor

After he had already unsuccessfully applied for the post of governor twelve times, he was elected to this office on November 11, 1839. However, his lead was just two votes. He missed re-election in 1840, so that his second term only ran from January 18, 1840 to January 7, 1841. Also in the gubernatorial election of 1841 Morton was defeated by John Davis , the candidate of the Whig Party . The election of 1842 brought no decision and was decided by the State Senate in favor of Morton, who could thus complete a third term between January 17, 1843 and January 3, 1844. Another candidacy in 1843 failed again.

Another résumé

Despite his renewed defeat, Morton remained politically active. Between 1845 and 1849 he was in charge of customs in Boston. In 1853 he was a delegate to a meeting to revise the state constitution, and in 1858 he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives . He died in Taunton in February 1864. Marcus Morton was married to Charlotte Hodges, with whom he had two children.

Web links

• Marcus Morton in the National Governors Association (English)
• Marcus Morton in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Marcus Morton in the database of Find a Grave (English)