Thomas Jackson Oakley (November 10, 1783 – May 11, 1857) was a New York attorney, politician, and judge. He served as 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 ...

from 1813 to 1815, and from 1827 to 1828, and as

New York State Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...

from 1819 to 1821.

Early life

Oakley was born in

Beekman, New York Beekman is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York– Newark–Bridgeport, NY- NJ- CT- PA Combined Statistical ...

on November 10, 1783. He was the son of Jerusha (Petera) Oakley and Jesse Oakley, a farmer and veteran of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1801, studied law with attorney Philo Ruggles in

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...

, and was admitted to the bar in 1804.

Career

Oakley practiced first in Poughkeepsie, and later in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Among his notable cases, Oakley and

Thomas Addis Emmet Thomas Addis Emmet (24 April 176414 November 1827) was an Irish and American lawyer and politician. He was a senior member of the revolutionary Irish republican group United Irishmen in the 1790s. He served as Attorney General of New York from ...

represented

Aaron Ogden Aaron Ogden (December 3, 1756April 19, 1839) was an American soldier, lawyer, United States Senator and the fifth governor of New Jersey. Ogden is perhaps best known today as the complainant in '' Gibbons v. Ogden'' which destroyed the monopoly ...

in the landmark case ''

Gibbons v. Ogden ''Gibbons v. Ogden'', 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1 (1824), was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce, which was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United Sta ...

'', which the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ultimately resolved in favor of Gibbons, who was represented by

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison ...

and William Wirt. Oakley was Surrogate of Dutchess County from 1810 to 1811. He was elected as a Federalist to the

Thirteenth United States Congress The 13th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1813 ...

(March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1815). During this term, Oakley was an anti-war Federalist and opposed U.S. participation in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. Oakley was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1816, and again from 1818 to 1820. From 1819 to 1821, he was

. In 1826, he was again elected to Congress, serving from March 4, 1827, until May 9, 1828, when he resigned to accept a judgeship. He was a judge of the superior court of

from 1828 to 1847. In 1847, he was appointed chief judge, and he served until his death in office. In 1853, Oakley received the

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

from

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

Personal life

In 1808, Oakley married Lydia Williams, the daughter of Abigail ( née Sayre) Williams and Robert Williams, a prominent business and political figure in Poughkeepsie. They were the parents of a son: * Robert Williams Oakley, a

graduate, attorney, and militia officer who died unmarried in 1832. After the death of his first wife Oakley married Matilda Cruger (1809–1891); the daughter of

Henry Cruger Henry Cruger Jr. (November 22, 1739April 24, 1827) was an American and British merchant at the time of the American Revolution. He has a unique distinction of having been elected to both the Parliament of Great Britain (MP, 1774–1780, 1784– ...

, who had the unique distinction of serving as both a member of Parliament (1774–1780; 1784–1790) and as a New York State Senator (1792–1796). Thomas and Matilda were the parents of five children, three daughters and two sons. Oakley died May 11, 1857, and was buried at

Trinity Churchyard The parish of Trinity Church has three separate burial grounds associated with it in New York City. The first, Trinity Churchyard, is located in Lower Manhattan at 74 Trinity Place, near Wall Street and Broadway. Alexander Hamilton, Albert Galla ...

Descendants

Through his daughter Matilda Cruger (née Oakley) Rhinelander (1827–1914), who married William Rhinelander, he was the grandfather of

Thomas Jackson Oakley Rhinelander Thomas Jackson Oakley Rhinelander (June 5, 1858 – July 25, 1946) was an American heir and real estate magnate who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age. Early life Rhinelander was born on June 5, 1858, in New York City. He ...

(1858–1946) and Philip Jacob Rhinelander (1865–1940), both of whom were prominent in New York society during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...

References

;Notes ;Books * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Thomas Jackson 1783 births 1857 deaths Yale University alumni People from Dutchess County, New York Members of the New York State Assembly New York State Attorneys General New York (state) state court judges Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Politicians from Poughkeepsie, New York 19th-century American politicians Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)