Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/504

472 1809 he was elected to the state senate, and dur- ing the same year he was again appointed to the bench of the supreme court. In 1820 he was again chosen a state senator, and he served in this capacity till 1825. During the session of 1807 he compiled the land laws of the state, and in 1817 he drafted the act against duelling. In 1815 he was elected president of the Bank of Tennessee at Knoxville. In 1822, with Judge Burnett, of Ohio, he had been chosen by Kentucky to adjust the mili- tary land claims of Virginia. In October, 1825, Judge White was elected to the U. S. senate to succeed Gen. Andrew Jackson, who had resigned. The first important effort of Judge White in the senate was on the Panama mission, in which he op- posed the measure on constitutional grounds. He delivered an able speech, 16 April, 1826, on the apportionment of the judiciary. He opposed a general system of internal improvements by the government, favored a protective tariff, prevented the recharter of the U. S. bank, and ardently supported the action of President Jackson. He served many years on the committee of Indian affairs as its chairman, and urged the policy of re- moval of the Indians west of the Mississippi. On 16 Feb., 1835, Judge White made his speech in favor of limiting executive patronage, which was regarded as an attack upon the administration. This effort was followed by an able argument against Thomas H. Benton's proposition to ex- punge from the record resolutions of censure that had been passed against the president. Judge White had voted against these, and had then de- fended the conduct of the president, but regarded it as unconstitutional to obliterate the record. He was in favor of so amending the resolution as to declare the resolutions of censure " rescinded, re- pealed, reversed, and declared null and void." From this time the breach between him and the executive became impassable. The convention that had assembled at Baltimore, 20 May, 1836, nomi- nated Martin Van Buren unanimously for presi- dent. The fifteen votes of Tennessee were cast by a single citizen of the state, who happened to be in the city ; not a single delegate had been sent by Tennessee. Both branches of the assembly of that state, on 16 and 17 Oct., 1835, pronounced in favor of Mr. White, and he accepted the nomina- tion for president. In the elections of 1824 and 1828 Gen. Jackson had practically the entire vote of the state, and the contest was now between him and Judge White, who carried the state by a ma- jority of nearly 10,000. He also secured the elec- toral vote of Georgia. In the course of three years the enemies of the judge gained the legislature and passed resolutions of instructions that he could not in conscience obey, and he therefore resigned his seat. In the following year the Whigs, under the lead of Gen. Harrison, placed Judge White upon their electoral ticket, but his failing health did not Sermit him to make the canvass. " A Memoir of udge White, with Selections from his Speeches and Correspondence," was issued by Nancy N. Scott, one of his descendants (Philadelphia. 1856).

WHITE, John, clergyman, b. in Stanton, St. John, Oxfordshire, England, in 1575 ; d. in Dor- chester, England, 21 July, 1648. He was a kins- man of Bishop John White, whom Queen Eliza- beth deprived of the see of Winchester on account of his Romanizing tendencies. The younger John was educated at Winchester and at Oxford, where he became a perpetual fellow in 1595, and in 1606 was appointed rector of Holy Trinity church, Dorchester, which post he held for forty years. In 1624 he projected the new colony of Massa- chusetts for those who could not conscientiously conform to the discipline and ceremonies of the Church of England, and in 1630 he succeeded in establishing at Mattapan, Mass.. which they re- named Dorchester, a party of 140 Puritans from Dorsetshire and the neighboring counties. He became one of the assembly of divines in 1643, and rector of Lambeth in 1645. He was known as the " Patriarch of Dorchester." Edward Everett says of him : " Like Robinson in reference to Plymouth, John White never set foot on the soil of Massachusetts, but he was the most efficient pro- moter of the undertaking, which resulted in the settlement not merely of our ancient town, but of the colony." See "Dorchester in 1630-1776, and 1855," Edward Everett's " Orations and Speeches " (3 vols., Boston, 1859). White published "The Planter's Plea, or the Grounds of Plantations Ex- amined" (London, 1630); "A Way to the Tree of Life" (1647); and "Commentary on the Three First Chapters of Genesis" (1656).

WHITE, John, English lawyer, b. in Pembroke- shire, Wales, in 1590; d. in London, England, 29 Jan., 1645. He was educated at Jesus college, Ox- ford, actively engaged against the royalists, and in 1640 became member of parliament for South- ward In that body he was chairman of the com- mittee on religion, and, says Lord Clarendon, " was notoriously affected against the church." He drew up the first charter of the Massachusetts colony in 1628, which was confirmed by the crown with pow- ers of government in 1629. He is buried in Tem- ple Court, London, and on his tomb is inscribed :

He owed his name of "Century White" to his book, " The First Century of Scandalous, Malig- nant Priests" (London. 1643). He also wrote " Speech concerning the Trial of Twelve Bishops " (1641); "Speech concerning Episcopacy" (1641); and " The Looking-Glass " (1643 or 1644).

WHITE, John, clergyman, b. in Watertown, Mass., in 1677; d. in Gloucester, Mass., 17 Jan., 1760. He was graduated at Harvard in 1698, after- ward was chaplain at Fort Saco, and on 21 April, 1703, became minister of Gloucester, Mass., which pastorate he retained till his death. He published " New England's Lamentation for the Decay of Godliness (Boston, 1734; London, 1735), and a "Funeral Sermon on John Wise" (1725).

WHITE, John, soldier, b. in England; d. in Virginia about 1780. He was of Irish parentage, and became a surgeon in the British navy, but, leaving the service, he came with his family to this country and settled in Philadelphia. He entered the Revolutionary army as a captain, and was soon promoted colonel of the 4th Georgia battalion. It is claimed that during the siege of Savannah, with a small body of men, by a successful stratagem, he made prisoners of Capt. French and 111 British regulars on Ogeechee river, about twenty-five miles from Savannah, and also the crews of five vessels, forty in number, and 130 stand of arms. He was wounded at the assault of Spring-hill redoubt, 9 Oct., 1779, and obliged to retire from the army.

WHITE, John, member of congress, b. in Kentucky in 1805 ; d. in Richmond. Ky., 22 Sept., 1845. He received an academical education, studied lav/, was admitted to the bar, and practised at Richmond, Ky. He served by successive elections in congress from 7 Dec, 1835, till 3 March, 1845, and was speaker of the 27th congress. He was then appointed judge of the 19th judicial district of his native state, but soon died by his own hand.