Hugh Maxwell

Hugh Maxwell (1787 – March 31, 1873) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Early life Maxwell was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1787. He was the son of William Maxwell.

After immigrating to the United States in 1790 around the age of three, he graduated from Columbia College in 1808 where he was classmates and close friends with Gulian C. Verplanck, later a New York State Senator and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career After graduating from Columbia, he studied law and was admitted to the bar and built up a lucrative practice. In 1814, during the War of 1812, he was appointed Assistant Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army.

New York County District Attorney From 1817 to 1818 and again from 1821 to 1829, he was New York County District Attorney. On September 15, 1826, Jacob Barker, Henry Eckford, and other leaders of Tammany Hall were indicted for allegedly committing millions of dollars in acts of fraud against banks, insurance companies, and private citizens, and Maxwell subsequently prosecuted them for "conspiracy to defraud." The first trial ended in a hung jury in October 1826, although some defendants were convicted in a second trial. Eckford, a famous shipbuilder and entrepreneur of the time, was not prosecuted again after the first trial and sought an apology and public statement of his innocence from Maxwell, but succeeded only in getting Maxwell to make a statement that Eckford had been duped by others into illegal acts. Eckford challenged Maxwell to a duel in December 1827, but Maxwell ignored him.

Collector of the Port of New York After his term as New York County District Attorney ended in 1829, he resumed his law practice for the next twenty years, occupying a prominent position in the New York bar,

An ardent Whig, in 1849, Maxwell was appointed by President Zachary Taylor as Collector of the Port of New York and remained in office through the Fillmore Administration until 1853, when his term expired. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law, but retired after a few years.

Personal life Maxwell was married to Agnes Stevenson (1796–1866), with whom he had four children: Hugh Maxwell, John Stevenson Maxwell (1847–1918), Ann Eliza Maxwell, and Agnes Maxwell.