Jeremiah S. Black

Jeremiah Sullivan Black (January 10, 1810 – August 19, 1883) was an American statesman and lawyer. He served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1851–1857) and as the Court's Chief Justice (1851–1854). He also served in the Cabinet of President James Buchanan, first as Attorney General (1857–1860), and then Secretary of State (1860–1861). Early life Jeremiah S. Black was born on January 10, 1810, in Stony Creek, Pennsylvania, near Glades, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Representative Henry Black and Mary (Sullivan) Black. Jeremiah Black was largely self-educated before beginning to study law with Chauncey Forward. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar before he was 21. He gradually became one of the leading American lawyers, and was a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1851–57), serving as Chief Justice (1851–54). James Buchanan's Cabinet (1857–1861) In 1857, he joined the administration of James Buchanan as the Attorney General. In this capacity, he successfully contested the validity of the California land claims to about 19,000 square miles (49,000 km2) of land, fraudulently alleged to have been granted to land-grabbers and others by the Mexican government prior to the close of the Mexican–American War.