John Lowell

{{Short description|American judge (1743–1802)}} {{Other people|John Lowell}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = John Lowell | honorific_suffix = | image = OldJudgeLowell.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Chief Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit | term_start = February 20, 1801 | term_end = May 6, 1802 | nominator = | appointer = John Adams | predecessor = ''Seat established by 2 Stat. 89'' | successor = ''Seat abolished'' | office1 = Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts | term_start1 = September 26, 1789 | term_end1 = February 20, 1801 | nominator1 = | appointer1 = George Washington | predecessor1 = ''Seat established by 1 Stat. 73'' | successor1 = John Davis | office2 = Delegate from Massachusetts to the Congress of the Confederation | term_start2 = 1782 | term_end2 = 1783 | predecessor2 = James Lovell | successor2 = Stephen Higginson | pronunciation = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1743|06|17}} | birth_place = Newburyport,<br>{{nowrap|Province of Massachusetts Bay}},<br>British America | death_date = {{Death date and age|1802|05|06|1743|06|17}} | death_place = Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Sarah Higginson|January 8, 1767|May 5, 1772|end=died}} * {{marriage|Susanna Cabot|May 31, 1774|March 30, 1777|end=died}} * {{marriage|Rebecca Russell|December 25, 1778}} }} | partner = | relations = | children = 9, including John Jr., Francis, and Charles | parents = | mother = | father = John Lowell | relatives = Lowell family | education = Harvard University | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = Appletons' Lowell John signature.png | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''John Lowell''' (June 17, 1743 – May 6, 1802) was a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation, a judge of the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture under the Articles of Confederation, a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and a United States circuit judge of the United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit.

==Early life==

Born on June 17, 1743, in Newburyport, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America,<ref name=":0">Greenslet, Ferris. (1946) ''The Lowells and Their Seven Worlds,'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin. {{ISBN|0-89760-263-3}}.</ref><ref name=FJC>{{FJC Bio|1431|nid=1384076|name=John Lowell}}</ref> Lowell graduated from Harvard University in 1760 and read law in 1763.<ref name=FJC/>

== Career == He entered private practice in Newburyport from 1763 to 1771, 1773, and 1775.<ref name="FJC" /> He was a selectman for Newburyport from 1771 to 1772, in 1774, and in 1776.<ref name="FJC" /> In the spring of 1774, he signed addresses complimenting royal governors Thomas Hutchinson and Thomas Gage, but made a public apology for doing so at the end of the year.<ref>Ferris Greenslet,''The Lowells and Their Seven Worlds'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1946), 56-7.</ref> He served in the Massachusetts militia as a major in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War.<ref name="FJC" /> He continued private practice in Boston, Massachusetts from 1777 to 1778, and from 1779 to 1781.<ref name="FJC" /> After moving to Boston, Lowell became the leading attorney in Massachusetts representing privateer claims before the Admiralty Court, which formed the basis of his fortune.<ref name="MoneyTree">Adams, Russell B., (1977) ''The Boston Money Tree,'' Thomas Y. Crowell Co., p. 36</ref> Of the 1100 privateering claims handled in Boston, Lowell was lead counsel in approximately 700, and assistant counsel in half the rest.<ref name="MoneyTree" /> He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1778, and from 1780 to 1782.<ref name="FJC" /> He was a delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1780.<ref name="FJC" /> He was a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation (Continental Congress) from 1782 to 1783.<ref name="FJC" /> He was a judge of the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture under the Articles of Confederation starting in 1783.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(jc02376)):|title=Journals of the Continental Congress --THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1782.|website=memory.loc.gov}}</ref><ref name="FJC" /> He was a member of a commission on the boundary between Massachusetts and New York in 1784.<ref name="FJC" /> He was a member of the Massachusetts Senate from 1784 to 1785, and a U.S. Senate candidate in 1788.<ref name="FJC" /><ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Jensen |editor-first1=Merrill |editor-link1=Merrill Jensen |editor-last2=Becker |editor-first2=Robert |title=The First Federal Elections 1788-1790: Congress, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire |volume=1 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |date=1976 |url=https://archive.org/details/vitalsouthhowpre0000blac |isbn=0299066908|page=520}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Massachusetts 1788 U.S. Senate |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:ma.ussenate.1788 |access-date=February 15, 2018 |work=Tufts Digital Collations and Archives |series=A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825 |publisher=Tufts University |archive-date=July 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160704213555/http://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:ma.ussenate.1788 |url-status=dead }}</ref> From his practice of the law and shipping ventures John was able to acquire a large estate and a considerable sum of money throughout his lifetime and despite not being from the richest family growing up he was able to raise the value of the Lowell name.<ref name=":0" />

===Influence on abolition of slavery in Massachusetts===

As a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention of 1780, Lowell is best remembered for authoring Article I and his insistence upon its adoption into the Bill of Rights, "All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties..."

Lowell's son, the Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D., wrote in a personal letter eight decades later, "My father introduced into the Bill of Rights the clause by which Slavery was abolished in Massachusetts... and when it was adopted, exclaimed: 'Now there is no longer Slavery in Massachusetts, it is abolished and I will render my services as a lawyer gratis to any slave suing for his freedom if it is withheld from him...' and he did so defend the negro slave against his master under this clause of the constitution which was declared valid by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1783, and since that time Slavery in Mass. has had no legal standing."<ref>Lowell, Delmar. (1899) ''The Historic Genealogy of the Lowells of America from 1639 to 1899,'' Rutland VT: The Tuttle Company, pp 34–35. {{ISBN|978-0-7884-1567-8}}.</ref>

===Highlights of his congressional service===

During Lowell's service, the Congress of the Confederation met in the library of Nassau Hall at Princeton University and "congratulated George Washington on his successful termination of the war, received the news of the signing of the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, and welcomed the first foreign minister—from the Netherlands—accredited to the United States."<ref>Leitch, Alexander. (1978) ''A Princeton Companion,'' Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|0-691-04654-9}}</ref>

==Federal judicial service==

Lowell was nominated by President George Washington on September 24, 1789, to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, to a new seat authorized by {{USStat|1|73}}.<ref name=FJC/> He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, and received his commission on September 26, 1789.<ref name=FJC/> His service terminated on February 20, 1801, due to his elevation to the First Circuit.<ref name=FJC/>

Lowell was nominated by President John Adams on February 18, 1801, to the United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit, to the new chief judge seat authorized by {{USStat|2|89}}.<ref name=FJC/> He was confirmed by the Senate on February 20, 1801, and received his commission the same day.<ref name=FJC/> His service terminated on May 6, 1802, due to his death in Roxbury, Massachusetts.<ref name=FJC/>

==Membership==

In 1778, John Lowell became an original trustee of Phillips Academy. In 1780, Lowell became a charter member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Charter of Incorporation|url=http://www.amacad.org/about/charter.aspx#chartermbrs|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=1 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103142200/https://www.amacad.org/about/charter.aspx#chartermbrs|archive-date=3 January 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1787, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Lowell|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=john+lowell|access-date=14 December 2020|website=American Philosophical Society Member History|publisher=American Philosophical Society}}</ref>

==Personal life== upright=1|thumb|Coat of Arms of John Lowell Lowell's ancestor, Percival, a merchant, came from Bristol, England, to Newbury, province of Massachusetts Bay, in 1639, and his father, John, was the first minister of Newburyport, where he officiated from 1726 to 1767.<ref name=appletons>{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Lowell, John|year=1900|noicon=yes}}</ref>

Lowell married his first wife, Sarah Higginson (January 14, 1745 – May 5, 1772), sister of Stephen Higginson, on January 8, 1767.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} They had three children, including John Lowell Jr. (1769–1840).{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} John Lowell Jr.'s descendants include businessmen John Amory Lowell, Augustus Lowell, and Ralph Lowell; federal judges John Lowell and James Arnold Lowell; and siblings author and innovator Percival Lowell, Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell, and poet Amy Lowell.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} Lowell's wife Sarah died on May 5, 1772.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

Lowell married his second wife, Susanna Cabot (1754–1777), on May 31, 1774.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} Together they had two children, including Francis Cabot Lowell (1775–1817), a businessman and namesake of Lowell, Massachusetts.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} Descendants of Francis Cabot include businessman and philanthropist John Lowell Jr., federal judge Francis Cabot Lowell, and architect Guy Lowell.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} Susanna died on March 30, 1777.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

On December 25, 1778, Lowell married his third wife, Rebecca Russell (1747–1816).{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} They had four children, including Charles Russell Lowell Sr. (1782–1861).{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} Charles Russell's son was the American poet James Russell Lowell;{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} his grandsons included the American Civil War figure Charles Russell Lowell{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} and Boston banker and family lawyer William Lowell Putnam.<ref>[William Lowell Putnam was a cousin several times removed to General Israel Putnam. See [A History of the Putnam Family in England and America. Recording ..., Volume 1 .p.87 {Israel Putnam} and p.523 Rev George Putnam {William Lowell Putnam's grandfather)]</ref> His great-great-grandson was the poet Robert Lowell.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

Other notable children of the daughters and granddaughters of John Lowell include mathematician Julian Coolidge, and writer and biographer Ferris Greenslet.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

==Publications== * ''Pietas et Gratulatio'', a poem (1761) * Oration on James Bowdoin the elder (delivered January 26, 1795), ''Memoirs'' of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, v. 2 (prefix)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Lowell, John}} * {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Lowell, John (jurist)|display=Lowell, John, American jurist}}

==External links== * [http://www.mass.gov/legis/const.htm Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts] {{CongBio|L000475}} * {{FJC Bio|1431|nid=1384076|name=John Lowell}} * [http://www.masshist.org/welcome/ The Massachusetts Historical Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220102801/http://www.masshist.org/welcome |date=2020-02-20 }} * [http://www.amacad.org/ American Academy of Arts and Sciences]

{{s-start}} {{s-par}} {{s-bef|before=James Lovell}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Delegate from Massachusetts to the Congress of the Confederation}}|years=1782–1783}} {{s-aft|after=Stephen Higginson}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Seat established by 1 Stat. 73}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts}}|years=1789–1801}} {{s-aft|after=John Davis}} {{s-bef|before=Seat established by 2 Stat. 89}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit}}|years=1801–1802}} {{s-aft|after=Seat abolished}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowell, John}} Category:1743 births Category:1802 deaths Category:Continental Congressmen from Massachusetts Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Judges of the United States circuit courts Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Category:Lawyers from Boston Category:People from Newburyport, Massachusetts Category:People from colonial Massachusetts Category:Phillips Academy people Category:Politicians from Newburyport, Massachusetts Category:United States federal judges appointed by George Washington Category:United States federal judges appointed by John Adams Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:Candidates in the 1788–1789 United States elections John Category:American people of English descent