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The Honourable James Francis Smith
Associate Judge of the United States Court of Customs Appeals
In office March 30, 1910 – June 29, 1928
Appointed by	William Taft
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Finis Garrett
Governor-General of the Philippines
In office September 20, 1906 – November 11, 1909
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Henry Ide
Succeeded by	William Forbes
4th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
In office June 17, 1901 – February 17, 1903
Appointed by	William McKinley
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	John McDonough
Personal details
Born	(1859-01-28)January 28, 1859 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	June 29, 1928(1928-06-29) (aged 69) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma mater	Santa Clara University University of California, Hastings

James Francis Smith (January 28, 1859 – June 29, 1928) was an American Brigadier General, associate justice to the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Governor-General of the Philippines, and associate judge of the U.S. Court of Customs Appeals until his death.

Education

Smith attended Santa Clara College, graduating with B.A. and M.A. degrees, and went to Hastings College of Law. He was admitted to the California bar in 1881 and wed to Lillie A. Dunnigan in 1885.

Military career

Smith served in the military for years prior to his involvement in politics. While serving in the Rough Riders, Smith served with friend Theodore Roosevelt.

Commissioned as a colonel of 1st California Volunteer Infantry on May 6, 1898, Smith was part of the first expeditionary force to the Philippines in the Spanish–American War.

His regiment took part in the Battle of Manila (1898). After hostilities ceased against Spain, he saw action in the Philippine–American War in the first part of 1899, and was promoted to brigadier general. In July, 1899 he was made military governor of Negros Island.

Political career

William Howard Taft who was then Governor-General, appointed Smith to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, where he served from June 17, 1901 to January, 1903. Smith later worked under the Taft Commission to devise a legal code for the Philippines.

From 1906 to 1909 he was Governor-General; the new Philippine Assembly was convened during this time, in 1907. He was close friends with Frank W. Higgins. In 1908, after the construction of a mansion in Baguio that would serve as the colonial government seat during summertime, Smith's family became the first residents of the building, with his wife wanting to escape the heat of Manila.^[1]

Smith is sometimes confused with Jacob H. Smith- a man known for his brutalization of the Filipino people. James F. Smith issued a peace certificate on March 28, 1907. He declared that, since the publication of the Philippine Census in 1905, there had been no serious disturbances of the public order (save those by outlaws and religious fanatics) and that the great mass of the Filipino people for the previous two years had been "law-abiding, peaceful and loyal to the United States.”

In March, 1910, four months after his return to the United States, Taft appointed Smith to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. He served until his death in 1928.

Smith was a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, Alcatraz Parlor No. 145.^[2]

Bibliography

• 
  A brief history of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals by Giles S. Rich. Washington, D.C. : Published by authorization of Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States : U.S. G.P.O., 1980.

References

External links

• 
  Research Center Finding Aids at www.washingtonhistory.org provides finding aid to article subject from the Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS)


• Federal Judicial Center entry on James Francis Smith