Marcus Morton

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

Early years

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

Political rise

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

Governor of Massachusetts

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

Further CV

Despite his renewed defeat Morton remained politically active. From 1845 to 1849 he directed the customs authorities in Boston. In 1853 he was a delegate at a meeting to revise the State Constitution and in 1858 he was a deputy in the House of Representatives from Massachusetts. He died in February 1864 in Taunton. Marcus Morton was married to Charlotte Hodges, with whom he had two children.