Attorney General: John M. Berrien
John Macpherson Berrien was born in Rockhill, New Jersey, on August 23, 1781. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1796, studied law under Joseph Clay, Jr., and was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1799 at the age of 18. Berrien served as solicitor general of the Eastern Judicial Circuit of Georgia in 1809 and as judge of that district’s superior court from 1810 until 1821. During the War of 1812, he was a captain in the Chatham Light Dragoons and later a colonel in the First Georgia Cavalry. From 1822 to 1823, Berrien was a state senator from Chatham County, and from 1825 to 1829, a U.S. Senator.
President Andrew Jackson appointed Berrien as Attorney General of the United States in March 1829. He served in that office until July 1831. He was reelected to the U.S. Senate in 1841, serving until 1852. He also served on the Smithsonian Board of Regents. Berrien died in Savannah, Georgia, on January 1, 1856.
John Maier was born in Germany in 1819 and emigrated to the United States in 1840. Settling in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1850, he became noted as the first professional portraitist in Atlanta. Maier's portrait of George Troup, 32nd Governor of Georgia, is displayed in the Georgia State Capitol. His portrait of Attorney General Berrien was completed in 1870, and he died in 1877.