Alfred Morrison Franklin (September 30, 1871 – after 1948) was an American

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and politician. He was the first chief justice of the

Arizona Supreme Court The Arizona Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Arizona. Sitting in the Supreme Court building in downtown Phoenix, the court consists of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justices. Each justice i ...

and served as a member of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

's 1910 constitutional convention.

Biography

Franklin was born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, on September 30, 1871, to Anne (Johnston) and

Benjamin Joseph Franklin Benjamin Joseph Franklin (March 1839 – May 19, 1898) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri, and territorial governor of Arizona. Born in Maysville, Kentucky, in March 1839, Franklin attended private schools, and Bethany College, Bethany, ...

. His early education came in the Kansas City public schools. In 1885, Franklin's father was appointed United States

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

Hankow Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers whe ...

and the younger Franklin was educated by private tutors while the family lived in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. After being

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1893, Franklin began practicing law in Phoenix, Arizona Territory. He served as

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

from 1895 to 1897 and during his father's term as

Governor of Arizona Territory The governor of Arizona is the head of government of the U.S. state of Arizona. As the top elected official, the governor is the head of the executive branch of the Arizona state government and is charged with faithfully executing state laws. The ...

acted as the senior Franklin's personal secretary. Franklin married Cora Brill in 1901. The marriage produced two children: Kathleen and Josephine. For Arizona's 1910 constitutional convention, Franklin was elected to represent

Maricopa County Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about 6 ...

. He was a member of the Committee on Style, Revision, and Compilation, which determined the final wording of the constitution. His political positions were those of a moderate progressive. During the convention he proposed including provisions supporting

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

and

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

in the document. The prohibition proposition was voted down 33 to 15. The women's suffrage proposal was likewise defeated. As statehood approached, Franklin was elected to the Arizona Supreme Court and became the first chief justice. He served a total of three terms on the bench, the first and third as chief justice while

Henry D. Ross Henry Davis Ross (September 12, 1861February 9, 1945) was an American jurist and politician. Before his election to the Arizona Supreme Court, he served as county attorney for both Coconino and Yavapai counties as well as a member of the Arizona ...

was chief justice during Franklin's second term. He was defeated in the 1918

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

by Albert C. Baker with a vote of 14,419 to 12,275. The loss was attributed to voter discontent over the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling involving the disputed 1916 election results between Governor

George W. P. Hunt George Wylie Paul Hunt (November 1, 1859 – December 24, 1934) was an American politician and businessman. He was the List of Governors of Arizona, first governor of Arizona, serving a total of seven terms, along with President of the convent ...

and challenger Thomas E. Campbell. Franklin was named Collector of Internal Revenue for the Arizona-New Mexico District on October 24, 1918, and resigned his position on the bench shortly thereafter. He held the position until February 7, 1922. Franklin's wife died from the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

on July 4, 1919. Franklin had an

introvert The traits of extraversion (also spelled extroversion Retrieved 2018-02-21.) and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. The terms ''introversion'' and ''extraversion'' were introduced into psychology by Carl J ...

ed personality and began withdrawing from society after her death. He eventually left his home and went to live alone in the desert. His last contact with his family occurred in 1938, but he is known to have lived for at least another decade. The date and place of Franklin's death are unknown.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Alfred Morrison Lawyers from Kansas City, Missouri Justices of the Arizona Supreme Court 1871 births Year of death unknown American temperance activists American suffragists Chief Justices of the Arizona Supreme Court Politicians from Kansas City, Missouri Activists from Missouri