Marcus Morton (December 19, 1784 – February 6, 1864) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Taunton, Massachusetts. He served two terms as the governor of Massachusetts and several months as Acting Governor following the death in 1825 of William Eustis. He served for 15 years as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, all the while running unsuccessfully as a Democrat for governor. He finally won the 1839 election, acquiring exactly the number of votes required for a majority win over Edward Everett. After losing the 1840 and 1841 elections, he was elected in a narrow victory in 1842.
The Massachusetts Democratic Party was highly factionalized, which contributed to Morton's long string of defeats. His brief periods of ascendancy, however, resulted in no substantive Democratic-supported reforms, since the dominant Whigs reversed most of the changes enacted during his terms. An opponent of the extension of slavery, he split with longtime friend John C. Calhoun over that issue, and eventually left the party for the Free Soil movement. He was considered by Martin Van Buren as a potential vice presidential running mate in 1848.
Early years Morton was born in East Freetown, Massachusetts in 1784, the only son of Nathaniel and Mary (Cary) Morton. Sources report his day of birth to be either February 19 or December 19.Swackhamer, p. 384 Morton's gravestone uses the February 19 date. His father was a farmer who was politically active, serving for a time on the Governor's Council. Morton received his early education at home, and was placed at age fourteen in the academy of Reverend Calvin Chaddock at Rochester, Massachusetts.Swackhamer, p. 385Earle, p. 63; Earle incorrectly locates Chaddock in Rochester, New York. (Leonard, p. 82 establishes Chaddock's location.)
In 1801 Morton was admitted to Brown University with the sophomore class, and graduated in 1804. During his time at Brown he came to adopt Jeffersonian ideas, making an outspoken anti-Federalist speech at his commencement.Earle, pp. 63–64 He then read law at Taunton for a year in the office of Judge Seth Padelford, after which he entered Tapping Reeve's law school in Litchfield, Connecticut.Emery, p. 62 There he was a schoolmate of John C. Calhoun, who served as a mentor and friend for many years.Earle, p. 64 Moving back to Taunton, he was admitted to the Norfolk County bar in 1807 and opened a practice. In December of that year he married Charlotte Hodges, with whom he had twelve children.Swackhamer, p. 386 He later received honorary law degrees from Brown (1826), and Harvard (1840).
Entry into politics Morton honed his partisan skills in Taunton, frequently speaking out against Federalism, which dominated Massachusetts politics. In 1808 Governor James Sullivan offered him the post of district attorney for Bristol County, but he demurred because the office was still held by his teacher, Judge Padelford.Swackhamer, p. 387 He did, however, accept the post when it was offered to him in 1811 by Elbridge Gerry.
Morton was nominated by the Democratic-Republicans to run for Congress in 1814, but lost by a wide margin to Laban Wheaton in what was then seen as a strongly Federalist district. Two years later he was, to some surprise, victorious in a rematch with Wheaton despite Federalist strength in other races.Swackhamer, p. 389 Morton was reelected in 1818, but narrowly lost to Francis Baylies in 1820.Poore, p. 545 In Congress he supported Andrew Jackson, whose actions in the Seminole Wars were being scrutinized, and opposed the Missouri Compromise. Morton was personally opposed to slavery, but did not often let it inform his political decisions until later in life; he preferred instead to focus his efforts on other priorities. Despite this, his written statements on slavery were to become a matter of contentious debate when party factions within the Democratic Party sought to use them against him in the 1840s.Earle, pp. 77–78 In these early years he was also a proponent of free trade; like many Massachusetts politicians, he later adopted a strong protectionist stance, calling the early period "the lamest ... of my life".Larson, p. 954
Supreme Judicial Court and runs for governor
In 1823 Morton was elected to the Massachusetts Governor's Council, and the following year was elected Lieutenant Governor, serving under Republican Governor William Eustis. When Eustis died in office in February 1825, Morton served as acting governor until the election a few months later.Swackhamer, p. 390 Since the 1824 election had virtually eliminated the Federalist Party as a force in the state, Federalists and wealthy Republicans were coalescing into what became known as the National Republican Party (predecessor to the Whigs).Earle, p. 66 Morton disagreed with this trend (calling the National Republicans "aristocratic"), preferring Jacksonian-style Democracy instead, and refused to stand for election as governor in 1825. He was, however, prevailed to run again for lieutenant governor, and he won the post, serving under Levi Lincoln Jr., who had been nominated by both the Republicans and a rump Federalist coalition. Morton was unhappy with what he termed Whig elitism (he accused Lincoln in 1830 of being a "tool of monied aristocracy"), and resigned the lieutenant governorship.Darling, pp. 45–47, 76 Lincoln promptly appointed Morton as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), a post he would hold until 1840.Swackhamer, pp. 390, 392
Jurisprudence
Morton was the only Democrat on the SJC, all the other justices having been appointed by Federalists. Despite this, Morton wrote a few notable decisions. He wrote the court's decision in Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, a case that eventually went to the United States Supreme Court. The plaintiffs were proprietors of the Charles River Bridge, a toll bridge constructed between Boston and Charlestown in 1786, and the defendants were proprietors of a competing bridge to which the state had issued a charter in 1828. The plaintiffs argued that the defendant's charter infringed on their charter, in which they claimed the state granted them an exclusive right to control the crossing. The SJC split 2–2, and dismissed the case so that it could be heard by the Supreme Court. Morton wrote the decision favoring the defendants, pointing out that if the state was going to grant an exclusive right, it had to do so explicitly, and it had not done so in this case. This reasoning was upheld in 1837 by the Taney Supreme Court.Johnson, pp. 344–348
In 1838 Morton was the lone dissenter in Commonwealth v. Kneeland, the last time in the nation that someone was convicted of blasphemy. Abner Kneeland, a vitriolic former Universalist minister turned pantheist, had made statements Christians found offensive. Convicted by the trial court, Kneeland had appealed, and two more highly politicized trials ended in hung juries before the conviction was upheld in appeals.Levy, pp. 414–417 The full SJC took up the case in March 1836. Kneeland, representing himself, argued that the statements he made did not rise to level specified by the statute, and argued that the statute violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.Levy, pp. 417–419 Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, writing for the court majority, found that Kneeland's speech satisfied the legal definition of blasphemy, and by narrow construction found that the law did not violate the state constitution's protections of free speech and religion.Levy, p. 421 In his dissent Morton argued for a more liberal reading of the Article 2 of the state constitution (which addressed religious freedoms), and argued that every person "has a constitutional right to discuss the subject of God, to affirm or deny his existence. I cannot agree that a man may be punished for wilfully doing what he has a legal right to do."Levy, p. 423 Governor Edward Everett refused to pardon Kneeland, who served sixty days in prison. The case is now one of the most frequently cited American cases on blasphemy.
Perennial candidate for governor The political situation in the late 1820s and 1830s was quite fluid. The Democrats were highly factionalized, with three major groups vying with one another for control of the party apparatus. Morton's support base consisted mainly of farmers, industrial and shipyard laborers, and recent immigrants.Darling, p. 98 A second faction, dominated by Theodore Lyman, consisted of merchants and wealthy coastal interests opposed to Whig interests.Hart, p. 4:80 The third faction, which successfully controlled the party apparatus in its early years, was headed by David Henshaw, who had split from the John Quincy Adams camp over political aspects of the bridge controversy.Darling, pp. 52–56 Henshaw was the principal party organizing force, while Morton became a perennial gubernatorial candidate, running for the office each year from 1828 to 1843.Earle, p. 62Darling, p. 83 The party was supported in its organizing efforts by Morton's friend John Calhoun, who served as Vice President under Adams and Jackson.Earle, p. 68 Morton generally did no overt campaigning, sensitive to maintaining the appearance of neutrality as a judge.Swackhamer, p. 392
Morton was never able to make significant electoral inroads on Lincoln's majorities in the years the latter held the governor's seat (1825–1834). This was principally because opposition to the National Republicans was fragmented, exemplified by the Free Bridge Party and the Anti-Masonic Party, the latter of which in particular siphoned off significant numbers of Democratic votes in the 1832 election.Formisano, p. 104Darling, p. 104 Despite attempts by both the National Republicans and the Democrats to woo the Anti-Masons into their fold, neither was able to. Morton was mildly anti-Mason, but Henshaw was a Freemason, and Morton apparently did not recognize the potential power of the Anti-Masons despite their significant electoral showing. As a result, the Democrats lacked the voting strength to unseat the National Republicans.Darling, pp. 95–98 The Democrats were also splintered in 1832 and 1833, when the Working Men's Party drew support by attacking both of the larger parties for their lack of attention to labor issues.Darling, pp. 99–102, 113 Morton was sufficiently disheartened by his repeated failures that he considered abandoning his quest for the governorship in 1832; Henshaw convinced him to soldier on.Darling, p. 101 In 1831 Morton broke ranks with his friend John Calhoun over the latter's support for nullification, which Morton believed was based on his support for slavery. This also caused fractures in the Massachusetts Democratic Party, with Henshaw siding with Calhoun and the southern Democrats.Earle, pp. 69–70
The closest Morton came to victory before 1839 was in the 1833 election, when Lincoln stepped down. In a four-way race involving Worcester Congressman John Davis (running as a National Republican) and John Quincy Adams (running as an Anti-Mason) as his principal opponents (along with a Working Men's candidate), none of the candidates received the required majority. The state legislature chose Davis, the largest vote-getter, after Adams withdrew in Davis's favor.Darling, pp. 110–118