from Independence, Missouri, and going to California in 1849. He served in the California State Senate in 1852 as a Democrat. In February 1852, his name was put forward for U.S. Senator, but he lost the Democratic Party nomination. He then was appointed by Governor John Bigler as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, serving from April 6, 1852, to January 2, 1853, before returning to Tennessee in 1853 or 1854. While in the California Supreme Court, he co-authored a ruling supporting the Fugitive Slave Act, writing, "Slaves are not parties to the Constitution, and although ‘persons,’ they are property." Anderson later practiced law in Washington, D.C., appearing before both the Court of Claims and the Supreme Court of the United States. During the American Civil War he returned to Alabama, practicing law in Mobile and Camden. Again returning to Tennessee, he died in Knoxville on May 23, 1869, and is buried in the Old Gray Cemetery. Personal life In 1821, he married Maria Hamilton in Washington, D.C., who died in 1825 in Jonesboro, Tennessee. On June 7, 1825, he remarried married to Eliza Rosa Deaderick, his cousin, and they had 11 children. She died October 15, 1866, in Knoxville, Tennessee. See also List of justices of the Supreme Court of California Hugh Murray Solomon Heydenfeldt Footnotes References Retrieved on 2008-04-02 External links Alexander Anderson. California Supreme Court Historical Society. Past & Present Justices. California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017. 1794 births 1869 deaths People from Hamblen County, Tennessee American people of Dutch descent Democratic Party United States senators from Tennessee California Democrats California state senators People of the California Gold Rush Justices of the Supreme Court of California U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law United States Attorneys Tennessee lawyers Alabama lawyers Lawyers from Washington, D.C. American slave owners Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee Politicians from Mobile, Alabama People from Dandridge, Tennessee Lawyers from Mobile, Alabama Military personnel from Mobile, Alabama 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 Burials in Tennessee United States senators who owned slaves