A Guide to the John Y. Mason Letters, 1824-1827
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 19972
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference)
Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference)
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
© 2006 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: Trenton Hizer
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Collection is open to research.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
John Y. Mason Letters, 1824-1827. Accession 19972. Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Purchased from John Hart, 10 December 1927.
Biographical Information
John Young Mason was born near Hicksford (now Emporia), Greensville County, Va., on 18 April 1799. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1816; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1819 and commenced practice in Hicksford, Va.; member of the Virginia House of Delegates 1823-1827; served in the State Senate 1827-1831; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-second, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth Congresses and served from 4 March 1831, until his resignation on 11 January 1837; chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Twenty-fourth Congress); appointed United States district judge for the eastern district of Virginia in 1837; delegate to the State constitutional conventions of 1829 and 1850; appointed Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President John Tyler and served from March 14, 1844, to March 10, 1845, and again in the Cabinet of President James K. Polk from September 9, 1846, to March 7, 1849; Attorney General of the United States from 11 March 1845 to 9 September 1846; resumed the practice of law in Richmond, Va., 1849-1854; appointed United States Minister Plenipotentiary to France on 22 January 1854, and served until his death, in Paris, France, on 3 October 1859. His remains were conveyed to the United States and interred in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.
Scope and Content
Letters, 1824-1827, from John Y. Mason (1799-1859), Southampton County delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates to William H. Brodnax (1786-1834) of Greensville County, Virginia, concerning the proceedings of the House of Delegates. Mason comments on the bill for the creation of the University of Virginia, the state council, elections for state militia generals, court reform, legislation for Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) to settle his debts by lottery, state constitutional reform efforts, assembly opposition to tariffs, the Board of Public Works, John Tyler's (1790-1862) election to the United States Senate, remarks on William B. Giles (1762-1830), and other political and legislative matters.