Mortimer Melville Jackson (March 5, 1809 – October 13, 1889) was an American lawyer, judge, and diplomat. He was a justice of the original Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1848 through 1853 and was later a United States consul general in Canada for twenty years. Prior to Wisconsin statehood, he was Attorney General of the Wisconsin Territory.
Jackson was born in Rensselaerville, New York.[1] He received his education in New York City, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1838, Jackson moved to Milwaukee,[1] and then in 1839, to Mineral Point, Wisconsin Territory,[1] where he practiced law, involving the lead-mining industry.[2]
In 1842, Wisconsin Territorial Governor James Duane Doty appointed Jackson Attorney General of the Wisconsin Territory, where he served until 1846.[1] When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, Jackson was elected one of the first five Wisconsin Circuit Court judges. At the time, the Wisconsin Supreme Court was constituted of the five circuit court judges; thus, Jackson was also a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court until a separate Supreme Court was formed in 1853.[1]
Politically, Judge Jackson was involved with the Whig Party from as early as 1834, and joined the Republican Party when it was formed in the 1850s.[1] In 1857 he was a candidate for the United States Senate, but was defeated by James Rood Doolittle. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Jackson United States consul general in Halifax, Canada.[2] As consul general, he was instrumental in the seizure of about $3,000,000 worth of Confederate property during the American Civil War (about $49,000,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars).[1] He would remain in this role for 21 years until his retirement in 1882. He then returned to Madison, Wisconsin, where he died seven years later at the Park Hotel.[3][1]
Jackson's will donated $20,000 to the Law School at the University of Wisconsin to create the Mortimer M. Jackson Professorship of Law.[4][5][6][2]
