BLACK, Jeremiah Sullivan, American jurist and statesman : b. Glades, Somerset County, Pa., 10 Jan. 1810; d. York, Pa., 19 Aug. 1883. At 17 years of age he entered the law office of Chauncey Forward, in Somerset, an eminent member of the bar, and was admitted to the courts in 1830, being still in his minority.
In April 1842 he was appointed by the governor president judge of the judicial district in which he resided, and confirmed by the senate upon a strict party vote. In 1851, when a change in the State Constitution made the judges elective, he was nominated as judge of the Supreme Court by the Democratic convention, before which he was not a candidate. Of the 10 candidates named by the two parties, he obtained the largest popular vote. 'Under the mode of draw ing provided by the Constitution, a three years' term was assigned to him, and he became chief justice of the court. In 1854 he was re-elected to this place, by a majority of 47,000 votes, though the candidate forgovernor on the same 37 ticket was defeated by 37,000. On 5 March
1857, while engaged in the discharge of his judicial duties at he received a telegraphic dispatch from President Buchanan, tendering him the appointment of Attorney General of the United States. He soon after appeared on behalf of the government, in a disputed land claim of California, involving an important principle upon which hundreds of similar cases depended. He achieved a great success, at once becoming famous as a jurist. In December 1860 Mr. Black succeeded Mr. Cass as Secretary of State. After the election of Lincoln, Judge Black retired to his law prac tice. In 1868 he was counsel for President Johnson in the famous impeachment trial. In 1877 he appeared as counsel for S. J. Tilden before the Electoral Commission.Besides a great jurist, Judge Black was a brilliant con versationalist, classical scholar and powerful orator. Consult Black, C. F., 'Essays and Speeches of Jeremiah S. Black, with a Bio graphical Sketch' (New York 1885).