User:Generalissima/John J. Beckley

John James Beckley
John James Beckley
1st Librarian of Congress
	In office; January 29, 1802 – April 8, 1807
President	Thomas Jefferson
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Patrick Magruder
1st and 4th Clerk of the United States House of Representatives
	In office; March 4, 1801 – April 8, 1807
Preceded by	John H. Oswald
Succeeded by	Patrick Magruder
	In office; April 1, 1789 – May 14, 1797
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Jonathan Condy
2nd and 7th Mayor of Richmond, Virginia
	In office; February 22, 1788 – March 9, 1789
Preceded by	Richard Adams, Jr.
Succeeded by	Alexander McRoberts
	In office; July 1, 1783 – July 6, 1784
Preceded by	William Foushee, Sr.
Succeeded by	Robert Mitchell
Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates
	In office; June 1779 – 1789
Preceded by	Edmund Randolph
Succeeded by	Charles Hay
Personal details
Born	John James Beckley; August 4, 1757; near London, England
Died	April 8, 1807 (aged 49); Washington, D.C., United States
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Signature

John James Beckley (August 4, 1757 – April 8, 1807) was an American politician who served as the first Clerk of the United States House of Representatives and Librarian of Congress.

Early life

John James Beckley was born in or around London on August 4, 1757.^[α] Little is known of his early life, family, or education. He had at least two siblings, both of whom would later immigrate to the colonies. His family had been in a relatively well-to-do position, but fell into poverty during the late 1760s.^[2]^[3] Beckley's son wrote that the family originally hailed from Exeter.^[1]

Around the end of 1758, Virginian court official and botanist John Clayton requested that the London-based John Norton & Sons mercantile firm send him a young boy to serve as a scribe in his duties as the clerk of Gloucester County, Virginia. Clayton had served as clerk for almost fifty years, but required a scribe due to his own writing abilities declining from old age and failing eyesight. James Withers, a longtime employee of the firm, sent over his eleven year old nephew Beckley, who his parents sold as an indentured servant.^[4] John Norton, writing to a relative in Virginia, described Beckley as having good writing abilities and an understanding of arithmetic. Beckley departed from England aboard the Brilliant in March 1769, arriving at the York River of Virginia in mid-May. He was delivered to Clayton's home in Gloucester Court House by fleet manager Ephraim Goosley.^[2]^[5]^[6]

Clayton, wrote favorably to Norton of the "clever, lively boy", stating that he was very skilled in arithmetic and well-behaved, noting that he "eats & drinks at my table with me like family".^[5] Clayton's further references to Beckley were limited to his import orders of shoes, clothing, and other necessities for the boy.^[7] Beckley worked diligently as a scribe at the courthouse, with Clayton sternly supervising and ensuring that Beckley improved his handwriting. Beckley witnessed Clayton's will in late October 1773. Clayton died on December 23 of that year, with Beckley proving his will on January 6. He was hired as a clerk by Thomas Adams, the clerk of Henrico County, shortly after Clayton's death.^[8]

Early political career

In February 1775, John Beckley (now seventeen) was appointed as the clerk of the Committee of Safety for Henrico County. He was reelected to the position by a meeting of freeholders that November. On August 24, 1775, a general Committee of Safety over the whole of the Colony of Virginia was established at its capital city of Williamsburg, with Edmund Pendleton serving as president. Beckley began assisting the Virginia committee's clerk soon afterwards, and was officially appointed assistant clerk on February 7, 1776. As the assistant clerk, he served under John Tazewell and Archibald Blair.^[7]^[9]

Beckley became the assistant clerk of the Council of Virginia on December 23, 1776. After being reelected as assistant clerk in July 1777, he became the clerk of the Virginia Senate by November of that year, replacing John Pendleton. He had begun to study law by this period, possibly utilizing Clayton's library. He likely also studied it at Williamsburg alongside attorney general Edmund Randolph. In June 1779, Randolph was elected to the Continental Congress, and Beckley succeeded him as Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was additionally appointed to the clerk of the High Court of Chancery and the state's Court of Appeals, and took over the operations of Randolph's law firm.^[9]^[10]

That same year, Beckley was also elected as the 32nd member of the Phi Beta Kappa society, following a rule change which allowed non-students to join. Through the society, Beckley became friends with John Brown and John Page, with whom he would design the society's seal. Less than a month after joining, he was elected as the society's clerk. Initially based at the College of William & Mary, Beckley wrote the charters of the society's first chapters at Harvard and Yale. He was also elected to the Williamsburg Lodge of Freemasons in 1779.^[9]^[10] Around this time, Beckley's sister Marry Anne arrived from England, and eventually moved in with John for some time. She later married one of Beckley's clerks.^[9]

In the early spring of 1780, the Virginia government moved from Williamsburg to Richmond. Beckley rented a house in the town and purchased several slaves. He also began to practice law and participate in city government, and established a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in the city. In January 1781, Beckley and the General Assembly briefly evacuated from Richmond due to the threat of General Benedict Arnold's forces. The assembly returned, but was soon evacuated again due to General Charles Cornwallis's Virginia campaign. The assembly was briefly located in Charlottesville before its relocation to Staunton. During his time at Staunton, he visited portions of western Virginia including Warm Springs. Impressed by the region's settlement potential, he became involved in land speculation there alongside assemblyman George Clendenin.^[11]^[12]

By the early 1780s, Beckley began to work alongside prominent Virginian politician Thomas Jefferson. In March 1781, he likely acted as a press liaison for Jefferson, bringing to The Virginia Gazette a correspondence between Jefferson and General George Washington.^[13]

A portrait of Edmund Randolph, facing right — Beckley frequently worked alongside his friend Edmund Randolph over the course of their political careers.

Beckley returned with to Richmond in the fall of 1781; although the assembly was initially planned to meet in October, this was delayed by continued presence of Cornwallis. It finally reconvened in late November.^[14] In May 1782, Richmond was incorporated as a city, and Beckley purchased a house in the city shortly afterwards, seeking to participate in the city elections. On July 2, 1782, the city's roughly 800 freeholders elected Beckley as one of Henrico County's twelve council members. The day after his election as councilor, Beckley was elected by the council as one of its four aldermen. He was judged to be very competent in this role, serving to draft meeting procedures, police regulations, and methods to record the city's vital statistics. He was elected as the city's second mayor the following year at the young age of 26.^[15]^[16]^[17] He continued to serve in city government over the next six years, alternating between positions of councilman, alderman, and mayor.^[12] By 1783, he owned eight slaves, comprising six men and two women.^[16]

In 1787, he accompanied James Madison and Edmund Randolph to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia hoping to be elected as the secretary of the convention. He stayed with Madison and Randolph at the home of Eliza House Trust during the convention, but was not chosen as secretary, with the position instead going to William Jackson. In June 1788, he was the secretary of the Virginia Ratifying Convention in Richmond, which saw the state's ratification of the Constitution. Beckley produced 15 copies of Virginia's ratification, which were delivered to the other states and Congress.^[15]^[16]^[17] Beckley again served as the mayor of Richmond from 1788 until his resignation on March 9, 1789.^[17]^[18]

Beckley delivered Virginia's votes to the capital city of New York City after the 1788–89 presidential election. Rooming with Madison in a house on Maiden Lane, Beckley solicited endorsements for the newly-created position of Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. Madison and Randolph both advocated for Beckley's appointment as a congressional clerk. In a letter of recommendation to Caleb Strong, Randolph described Beckley as a good friend and "inferior to no man in America in all of the duties of a Clerk and draughtsman."^[13]^[17]^[19] Beckley additionally gained support of Virginia's large congressional delegation. Voting began immediately after the election of the first Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg. After a tied first round, Beckley was elected Clerk on April 1, 1789, narrowly defeating the New Jerseyan William S. Stockton.^[19]^[20]

First congressional clerkship

Beckley took up a variety of administrative tasks in his role as House Clerk. He initiated roll calls, read bills and motions, applied the Seal of the House to official documents of the body, and certifying the passage of bills and resolutions. He was additionally responsible for the printing of the House Journal, as well as its distribution to the President, house members, and the state legislatures. During the 2nd Congress, he was allotted funds to hire three assistant clerks.^[20]

Through his duties, Beckley gathered political intelligence for his Jeffersonian political allies, passing on information to Jefferson, Madison, and James Monroe. He wrote a number of anonymous editorials in a prominent anti-Federalist newspaper, the Philadelphia-based Aurora General Advertiser. Writing variously as "Americanus" or "A Calm Observer", he leaked sensitive information on Federalist leaders.^[21]

Although Beckley initially sought to maintain appearances of impartiality and nonpartisanship in his official duties as Clerk, this gradually became untenable. Due to his support for the French government, he was staunchly opposed to the Jay Treaty with Great Britain. However, despite rallying Jeffersonian opposition to the treaty, it narrowly passed in the House by a margin of 51 to 48. He became increasingly open in his partisanship following this loss, becoming a party manager for Jefferson's 1796 presidential campaign in Pennsylvania. ^[21]

Due to his intense anti-Federalist partisanship, he was opposed by many among the Federalist-majority House of the 5th Congress. Beckley was voted out of office on April 1, 1797, losing to Jonathan Williams Condy in a close house vote of 40 to 41. Three days later, Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in disappointment regarding the "loss of the ablest clerk in the US".^[22]^[21]

Second congressional clerkship and Librarian of Congress

Personal life and death

On June 15, 1791, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.^[23]

Beckley died in Washington, D.C., on April 8, 1807.

Notes

^ This date comes from the memoirs of Beckley's son, Alfred Beckley, written when he was around 80 years old. Known inaccuracies with Alfred Beckley's accounts cast some doubt on the authenticity of details such as Beckley's birth date.^[1]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b Berkeley & Berkeley 1973, p. 3.
^ ^a ^b Berkeley & Berkeley 1975, p. 83.
^ Pasley 1996, pp. 536–537.
^ Berkeley & Berkeley 1973, p. 4.
^ ^a ^b Berkeley & Berkeley 1962, pp. 434–435, 444.
^ Gawalt 1995, p. 9.
^ ^a ^b Berkeley & Berkeley 1962, pp. 435–436.
^ Berkeley & Berkeley 1973, pp. 7–8.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Berkeley & Berkeley 1975, p. 84.
^ ^a ^b Berkeley & Berkeley 1962, pp. 436–437.
^ Berkeley & Berkeley 1973, pp. 22–23.
^ ^a ^b Berkeley & Berkeley 1962, p. 438.
^ ^a ^b Jahoda 1960, p. 249.
^ Berkeley & Berkeley 1973, p. 31.
^ ^a ^b Berkeley & Berkeley 1975, pp. 84–85.
^ ^a ^b ^c Gawalt 1995, p. 10.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Berkeley & Berkeley 1962, pp. 438–439.
^ "Clerk Information: John James Beckley". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
^ ^a ^b Gawalt 1995, p. 11.
^ ^a ^b Jenkins & Stewart 2004, pp. 3–4.
^ ^a ^b ^c Jenkins & Stewart 2004, pp. 9–12.
^ Berkeley & Berkeley 1962, p. 439.
^ Berkeley & Berkeley 1962, p. 440.

Bibliography

Berkeley, Edmund S.; Berkeley, Dorothy S. (1962). "'The Ablest Clerk in the U.S.': John James Beckley". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 70 (4): 434–446. JSTOR 4246892.
Berkeley, Edmund; Berkeley, Dorothy Smith (1973). John Beckley: Zealous Partisan in a Nation Divided. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 9780871691002. OCLC 00771668.
Berkeley, Edmund S.; Berkeley, Dorothy S. (1975). "The First Librarian of Congress: John Beckley". The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress. 32 (2): 83–117. JSTOR 29781617.
Cunningham, Noble E. (1956). "John Beckley: An Early American Party Manager". The William and Mary Quarterly. 13 (1): 40–52. doi:10.2307/1923388. JSTOR 1923388.
Gawalt, Gerard W., ed. (1995). Justifying Jefferson: the Political Writings of John James Beckley. Library of Congress. ISBN 9780844408750. OCLC 32432324.
Jahoda, Gloria (1960). "John Beckley: Jefferson's Campaign Manager". Bulletin of the New York Public Library. 64 (5): 247–260.
Jenkins, Jeffery A.; Stewart, Charles III (2004). More than Just a Mouthpiece: The House Clerk as Party Operative, 1789-1870 (PDF). American Political Science Association. Chicago.
Ostrowski, Carl (2004). Books, Maps, and Politics: A Cultural History of the Library of Congress, 1783–1861. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 9781613761441. JSTOR j.ctt5vk55t. OCLC 794701556.
Pasley, Jeffery L. (1996). "'A Journeyman, Either in Law or Politics': John Beckley and the Social Origins of Political Campaigning". Journal of the Early Republic. 16 (4): 531–569. doi:10.2307/3124417. JSTOR 3124417.