John Y . Mason John Young Mason ( April 18 , 1799 – October 3 , 1859 ) was an American politician , diplomat , and United States federal judge . Early life , education , and career . Born in Hicksford , Greensville County , Virginia , Mason attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a member of Philanthropic Assembly . Mason graduated in 1816 , and then read law at Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield , Connecticut to be admitted to the Southampton County , Virginia , bar in 1819 . He had a private law practice in Southampton County from 1821 to 1831 . He married Mary Ann Fort , the daughter of a prominent land - owner , in 1821 and became a planter himself , as well as continuing as a lawyer . He owned Fortsville located near Grizzard , Sussex County , Virginia . Political activities . He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1823 to 1827 and a in the Virginia State Senate from 1827 to 1831 , was a delegate to the state constitutional of 1829 - 1830 , and from 1831 to 1837 served in the United States House of Representatives ( the 22nd , 23rd and 24th United States Congresses ) , chairing the U . S . House Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1835 to 1836 . During this time , he was an active supporter of most elements of Andrew Jackson ' s presidency , but was also a staunch advocate of states ' rights . Jackson approved the appointment of George H . Thomas to the U . S . Military Academy in 1836 on his recommendation . Mason later served as a delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention of 1850 . Federal judicial service . On February 26 , 1841 , Mason was nominated by President Martin Van Buren to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by the elevation of Peter Vivian Daniel to the Supreme Court of the United States . Mason was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 2 , 1841 , and received his commission the following day . He resigned from the bench on March 23 , 1844 , to take a cabinet post . Cabinet service . Mason was the U . S . Secretary of the Navy from 1844 to 1845 in President John Tyler ' s Cabinet and then U . S . Attorney General and then again Secretary of the Navy from 1846 to 1849 , succeeding George Bancroft , under President James K . Polk . The period of Mason ' s service as Navy Secretary was marked by intense Congressional pressure for economy , requiring the decommissioning of the Navy ' s ships of the line and making it difficult to maintain a continuous naval presence on foreign stations . The construction of floating drydocks for several Navy Yards , the simplification of the Navy ' s ordnance system , an expansion of the Navy ' s scientific endeavors and the formalization of status of the naval engineers also marked Mason ' s first term as Secretary . His second term was marked by efforts to sustain the Navy ' s combat forces in the Gulf of Mexico and along the far - distant Pacific coast , the beginning of construction of new steamers and an effort to obtain potential warships thorough the subsidization of civilian mail steamships . The latter was an early , and ultimately unsuccessful , experiment in public - private partnership . Electoral history . 1831 Mason was elected to the U . S . House of Representatives with 57 . 88 % of the vote , defeating Independent Richard Eppes . 1833 Mason was re - elected unopposed . 1835 Mason was re - elected with 72 . 13 % of the vote , defeating Whig John Urquehart . Later life . He was in private legal practice from 1849 to 1854 and served as President of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1851 and from 1853 , until his death in Paris , France in 1859 , the U . S . Minister Plenipotentiary to France . In this capacity he attracted attention by wearing at the court of Napoleon III a simple diplomatic uniform ( for this he was rebuked by U . S . Secretary of State William L . Marcy , who had ordered American ministers to wear a plain civilian costume ) , and by joining with James Buchanan and Pierre Soulé , ministers to Great Britain and Spain respectively , in drawing up ( October 1854 ) the famous Ostend Manifesto . In politics he was a typical Virginian of the old school , a states rights Democrat , upholding slavery and hating abolitionism . After his death in Paris , his remains were conveyed to the United States and interred in Hollywood Cemetery , Richmond , Virginia . USS " Mason " ( DD - 191 ) from 1920 to 1940 , was named in honor of Secretary of the Navy John Y . Mason .