John J. Beckley
John James Beckley was an American politician who served as the first and fourth clerk of the United States House of Representatives and the first librarian of Congress. Prior to this, he served as the mayor of Richmond, Virginia, in 1783–1784 and 1788–1789.
Born to a family in or around London that fell into poverty during the late 1760s, Beckley was sent by his family to the Colony of Virginia as an indentured servant, serving under the botanist and court official John Clayton. He became prolific in scribal and clerkship duties, and was hired by the clerk of Henrico County after Clayton's death. He was then appointed as the clerk of the county's Committee of Safety in 1775 and served as an assistant clerk for various state bodies. He followed Virginia's government as it moved from Williamsburg to Richmond, and then to the western portion of the state when it was evacuated due to the American Revolutionary War.
After the war, Beckley was elected mayor of Richmond, Virginia. He failed to become the secretary of the Constitutional Convention, but was secretary of the Virginia Ratifying Convention. He was elected the first Clerk of the House of Representatives after receiving endorsements from Edmund Randolph and James Madison. Seen as a competent and diligent clerk, he sought to maintain impartiality but secretly passed political intelligence to his Democratic-Republican allies. Infuriated by the Jay Treaty due to his support for the French Revolution, he became increasingly open in his politics. Strongly supportive of political campaigning, he managed Thomas Jefferson's campaign in Pennsylvania during the 1796 presidential election. Jefferson lost the election to John Adams, and Beckley was replaced as clerk.
Unemployed and in dire financial straits, in part due to vast land holdings in the Appalachians that he was unable to sell, Beckley returned to practicing law. Seeking revenge against the Federalist Party leader Alexander Hamilton, he leaked his confession to an extramarital affair in 1797, initiating a scandal and disrupting Hamilton's career. With the income from municipal clerkship positions he was appointed to in Philadelphia, he campaigned vigorously for Jefferson in the 1800 presidential election, which saw Jefferson's victory over Adams. Jefferson restored his position as clerk and made him the inaugural Librarian of Congress. Beckley oversaw the library's early acquisitions and encouraged authors to send copies of their work to the institution. He died in office and was succeeded in both his clerkship and librarian positions by Patrick Magruder. Beckley's son Alfred secured his land holdings after a 28-year legal dispute; on this land, he founded the town of Beckley, West Virginia, named for his father.
Early life
John James Beckley was said to have been born to John and Mary Beckley in or around London on August 4, 1757. Little is known of his early life, family, or education. He had at least two siblings, both of whom later immigrated to the Thirteen Colonies. His family, possibly hailing from Exeter, had been in a relatively well-to-do position, but fell into poverty during the late 1760s.Around the end of 1768, Virginian court official and botanist John Clayton requested that the London-based John Norton & Sons mercantile firm send him a young boy to serve as a scribe in his duties as the clerk of Gloucester County, Virginia. Clayton had served as clerk for almost fifty years, but required a scribe as his own writing abilities were declining from old age and failing eyesight. James Withers, a longtime employee of the firm, sent over his 11-year old nephew Beckley, whom his parents sold as an indentured servant. Norton, writing to a relative in Virginia, described Beckley as having good writing abilities and an understanding of arithmetic. Beckley departed from England aboard the Brilliant in March 1769, arriving at the York River of Virginia in mid-May. He was delivered to Clayton's home in Gloucester Courthouse by fleet manager Ephraim Goosley.
Clayton reported favorably to Norton of the "clever, lively boy", writing that he was very skilled in arithmetic and well-behaved, noting that he "eats & drinks at my table with me like family". Beckley worked diligently as a scribe at the courthouse, with Clayton sternly supervising and ensuring that Beckley improved his handwriting. He slowly took on more of Clayton's roles, performing most of his master's duties by his teenage years. Beckley witnessed Clayton's will in late October 1773, and Clayton died on December 23. Shortly afterwards, Beckley was hired by Thomas Adams, the clerk of Henrico County, Virginia.
Early political career
By 1775, the authority of the royal government was collapsing in the colony. In February 1775, a 17-year old Beckley was appointed as the clerk of the Committee of Safety for Henrico County. He was reelected to the position by a meeting of freeholders that November. On August 24, 1775, a general Committee of Safety over the whole of the Colony of Virginia was established at its capital city of Williamsburg, with Edmund Pendleton serving as president. Beckley began assisting the Virginia committee's clerk soon afterwards, and was officially appointed assistant clerk on February 7, 1776.State government
Beckley became the assistant clerk of the Council of Virginia on December 23, 1776, and was reelected in July 1777. He replaced John Pendleton Jr. as Clerk of the Virginia Senate by November. He began studying law, possibly utilizing Clayton's library and likely studying in Williamsburg alongside attorney general Edmund Randolph. In June 1779, Randolph was elected to the Continental Congress, and Beckley succeeded him as cerk of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was also appointed clerk of the High Court of Chancery, the state's Court of Appeals, and took over the operations of Randolph's law firm. Around this time, Beckley's sister Mary Anne arrived from England and moved in with John. She later married one of Beckley's clerks.In the early spring of 1780, the Virginia government moved from Williamsburg to Richmond. Beckley rented a house in the town and purchased several slaves. He also began to practice law, participate in city government, and established a chapter of the honor society Phi Beta Kappa in the city. In January 1781, Beckley and the General Assembly evacuated from the city due to the threat of General Benedict Arnold's forces in the region. The assembly soon returned, but evacuated again due to General Charles Cornwallis's Virginia campaign. The assembly briefly relocated to Charlottesville before its relocation to Staunton. In Staunton, Beckley visited portions of western Virginia including Warm Springs. Impressed by the region's settlement potential, he became involved in land speculation there alongside assemblyman George Clendenin.
By the early 1780s, Beckley worked alongside prominent Virginian politician Thomas Jefferson. He helped Jefferson evacuate state records to Jefferson's Monticello plantation during British military campaigns in the region. In March 1781, he likely acted as a press liaison for Jefferson, giving The Virginia Gazette a written exchange between Jefferson and General George Washington.
Postwar period
Beckley returned with the assembly to Richmond in late November 1781. In May 1782, Richmond was incorporated as a city. Beckley purchased a house in Richmond shortly afterwards, seeking to participate in the city elections. On July 2, 1782, the city's roughly 800 freeholders elected Beckley as one of Henrico County's twelve council members. The day after his election as councilor, Beckley was elected by the council as one of its four aldermen. In this role, he drafted meeting procedures, police regulations, and methods to record the city's vital statistics. He was elected as the city's second mayor in July 1783, at the age of 26.Beckley continued to serve in city government over the next six years, alternating between positions as a councilman, an alderman, and the mayor. As mayor, he oversaw street repairs and the construction of a local jail. Although he was successful in politics due to his clerical abilities, he was unable to fully enter the social circles of the Virginian elite because of his background as an indentured servant. He attempted to attain a higher status through land speculation and other investments. By 1783, Beckley owned eight slaves..
In 1787, Beckley traveled to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia with the hope to be elected as the secretary of the convention, staying with James Madison and Randolph at the home of Eliza House Trust. Madison felt that Beckley was unlikely to be elected secretary, writing to Randolph a month before the convention:
Beckley spent several weeks meeting with officials at the convention, attempting to curry favor, with such a frequent presence that some mistook him as a delegate. Beckley was unable to convince the Virginia delegates to nominate him for secretaryship; the position instead went to William Jackson. He left the convention early, and made plans to serve as a delegate to the Virginia Ratifying Convention in Richmond, where the constitution produced by the Philadelphia convention would be ratified. Unlikely to be elected as a delegate for the Richmond due to political competition, he instead ran as a delegate for Greenbrier County, a remote Appalachian county where he had significant land investments. He traveled to Greenbrier in March 1788, where he lost the election to two locals who had previously served as his surveyors. He was instead able to secure a position as the convention's secretary. Fifteen copies of Virginia's ratification were produced by Beckley and delivered to the other states and Congress. After the convention, he served as the mayor of Richmond from 1788 until his resignation on March 9, 1789.
Beckley delivered Virginia's votes to New York City after the 1788–89 presidential election. Still serving as the clerk of the House of Delegates, Beckley was faced with a proposed set of reforms which would reduce his wages. Such a pay cut threatened to disrupt his finances, which were already limited by an obligation to send money to his elderly parents in England. Seeking a higher-paying position, he attempted to secure the post of clerk of the newly-formed United States House of Representatives. He solicited endorsements for the position while staying with Madison in a house on Maiden Lane in New York. Madison and Randolph both advocated for Beckley's appointment. In a letter of recommendation to Caleb Strong, Randolph described Beckley as a good friend and "inferior to no man in America in all of the duties of a clerk and draughtsman." Beckley additionally gained the support of Virginia's large congressional delegation. After a tied first round, Beckley was elected clerk on April 1, 1789, narrowly defeating William S. Stockton of New Jersey.