John Pettit (June 24, 1807January 17, 1877) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician. A

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

and

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the ...

from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...

, he also served in the court systems of Indiana and Kansas. Born in

Sackets Harbor, New York Sackets Harbor (earlier spelled Sacketts Harbor) is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States, on Lake Ontario. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who ...

, he completed preparatory studies and admitted to the bar in 1831. He moved to

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, Indiana, West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home t ...

, where he commenced practice in 1838; he was a member of the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House memb ...

in 1838-1839 and was

United States district attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

from 1839 to 1843. Pettit was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1843 - March 3, 1849); he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1848. In 1850 he was a delegate to the Indiana state constitutional convention and a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

on the Democratic ticket in 1852. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of

James Whitcomb James Whitcomb (December 1, 1795 – October 4, 1852) was a Democratic United States senator and the eighth governor of Indiana. As governor during the Mexican–American War, he oversaw the formation and deployment of the state's levies. He l ...

and served from January 18, 1853, to March 4, 1855; he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims (Thirty-third Congress). During the Senate debate on the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, Pettit argued in favor of expanding slavery to Kansas, and famously said that Jefferson's idea (in the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

) that "all men are created equal" was not a "self-evident truth" but instead "is nothing more to me than a self-evident lie."Codevilla, Angelo (2010-07-16
America's Ruling Class
''

The American Spectator ''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell, who remains its editor- ...

'' The debate over Pettit's inflammatory words is credited with reviving Abraham Lincoln's interest in national politics. After his time in Congress, Pettit was chief justice of the United States courts in the

Territory of Kansas The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the free state of Kansas. ...

from 1859 to 1861, and was a judge of the

Indiana Supreme Court The Indiana Supreme Court, established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution, is the highest judicial authority in the state of Indiana. Located in Indianapolis, the Court's chambers are in the north wing of the Indiana Statehouse. In Decem ...

from 1870 to 1877. He died in

, aged 69, and was interred in Greenbush Cemetery.

References

External links

*
Text of 1854 speech by Abraham Lincoln against the extension of slavery, quoting Pettit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettit, John Kansas Territory judges Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court Democratic Party members of the Indiana House of Representatives People from Sackets Harbor, New York 1807 births 1877 deaths American proslavery activists Union College (New York) alumni Delegates to the 1851 Indiana constitutional convention Democratic Party United States senators from Indiana United States Attorneys for the District of Indiana 19th-century American politicians American white supremacists 19th-century American judges