John Breckinridge (U.S. Attorney General) - U.S. Attorney General

U.S. Attorney General

When U.S. Attorney General Levi Lincoln resigned in December 1804, Jefferson and Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin sought a replacement. Virginia's John Thomson Mason, Gallatin's first choice, declined the appointment. U.S. Navy Secretary Robert Smith desired the office, and Jefferson agreed to appoint him, contingent upon finding a suitable replacement for Smith as Secretary of the Navy. Jefferson appointed Massachusetts Congressman Jacob Crowninshield to replace Smith, and both appointments were confirmed by the Senate March 3, 1805. Crowninshield refused his appointment, however, and Smith was forced to remain as Secretary of the Navy. Jefferson then offered the position to Breckinridge, Gallatin's second choice. Breckinridge resigned from the Senate on August 7, 1805, to accept the appointment. He was the first U.S. cabinet-level official from west of the Allegheny Mountains, and his appointment boosted Jefferson's popularity in the west. Lowell Harrison called the appointment a mistake by Jefferson, not because of Breckinridge's lack of qualfications, but because Jefferson was not able to replace his leadership in the Senate. He noted that, after Breckinridge's departure from the chamber, the Federalist minority experienced a revival of influence under the leadership of Connecticut's Uriah Tracy.

Stopping to visit with friends en route to Washington, D.C., Breckinridge arrived on December 7, 1805. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on December 20. He was influential in Jefferson's infrequent cabinet meetings, where he served as the lone voice of the west. His most notable advisory opinion – that no local government in the Territory of Orleans had the power to tax federal property there, was upheld in the Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Marshall in McCulloch v. Maryland. He was sworn in to represent the federal government before the Supreme Court when it convened – about a week late because of the illness of several justices – on February 12, 1806. He was spared the awkwardness of practicing before a judge he had voted to impeach because Samuel Chase was absent for the Court's entire six-week term. The court heard only six cases during the term; most of them were cases Breckinridge had inherited from his predecessor, and none were of lasting importance. Cases such as Maley v. Shattuck involved international maritime law – an area with which Breckinridge was not familiar – and arose from the Napoleonic Wars, which complicated neutral American trade with both Great Britain and France. During the term, Breckinridge lost four cases, won one, and sent one back for retrial in a lower court.