Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On October 13, 1890, Samuel Freeman Miller, Iowa’s first appointee to the United States Supreme Court, passed away. Only one of two Iowans ever to serve in America’s highest court, the Abraham Lincoln-appointed abolitionist joined the Supreme Court in July 1862.
Born in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1816, Miller developed anti-slavery views while earning a medical degree and practicing medicine in Barbourville, Kentucky, for a decade. Studying law in his spare time, Miller passed the bar exam in 1847 and decided to move to a more abolition-minded state.
Arriving in Keokuk in 1850, the future Supreme Court Justice put his views into action. Miller freed several enslaved people brought with his family from Kentucky. Immediately involved in Iowa politics, he proved a staunch supporter of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Nominated to the United States Supreme Court by Lincoln and confirmed by the Senate on July 15, 1862, Miller took the oath of office on July 21.
Miller authored 616 opinions during a 28-year tenure in the court, more than any of his contemporaries. Favored for the seat of Chief Justice publicly in 1873, Miller ultimately did not gain the nomination of President Ulysses Grant. Buried in Keokuk’s Oakland Cemetery, the Lee County Historical Society remembers Miller through the maintenance of the Justice Samuel Freeman Miller House Museum. #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryCalendar
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