Difference between revisions of "George Wythe"

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Revision as of 21:34, 21 February 2014

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George Wythe
Chancellor of the Commonwealth of Virginia
In office
December 24, 1788 – June 8, 1806
Preceded by
Succeeded by Creed Taylor
Judge, High Court of Chancery of Virginia
In office
14 January, 1778 – June 8, 1806
Preceded by Inaugural holder
Succeeded by
Delegate to the Second Continental Congress
from Virginia
In office
August 11, 1775 – June 13, 1776
Preceded by
Succeeded by Mann Page
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In office
Preceded by
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In office
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In office
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Personal details
Born 1726
  Elizabeth City Co., Virginia
Died June 8, 1806 (aged 80)
  Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Resting place {{{restingplace}}}
Residence(s) Chesterville Plantation, Elizabeth City Co., Virginia
Spotsylvania Co., Virginia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Education
Alma mater
Profession Lawyer
Professor of Law and Police (1779–1789)
Chancery Court Judge (1778–1806)
Spouse(s) Ann Lewis (1747-1748)
Elizabeth Taliaferro (1755–1789)
Relatives Thomas Wythe (father)
Margaret Walker Wythe (mother)
Thomas Wythe (elder brother)
Anne Wythe Sweeney (elder sister)
Known for Signer of the United States Declaration of Independence
Signature
WytheSignatureDeclarationOfIndependence1776.jpg

George Wythe was born in 1726[1] in Elizabeth City County at his family’s home of Chesterville. As a second son in a family of moderate means, he chose law as his profession and qualified to practice in 1746. From that modest beginning, Wythe launched a successful career augmented by a variety of public service positions, including a brief stint as Virginia’s youngest Attorney General. When revolution erupted, Wythe participated as a delegate to the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence, and briefly represented the Commonwealth at the Constitutional Convention. In addition to his contributions on the national stage, Wythe’s fellow Virginians selected him to help rewrite Virginia’s code of laws, to preside over Virginia’s Constitutional ratifying Convention, and, in 1778, to serve on the newly created High Court of Chancery.

Wythe originally began his teaching career in the traditional 18th century manner of instructing apprentices to his legal practice. Historians believe Wythe started instructing apprentices in his Williamsburg home before 1762 when Thomas Jefferson began to read law, but no records verify or identify earlier students. Subsequent Wythe apprentices included James Madison (president of William & Mary College) and St. George Tucker (Wythe’s successor as professor of law and police).

In 1779, William & Mary’s Board of Visitors reorganized the college and created the chair of Professor of Law and Police -- the first of its kind in America and only the second in the English-speaking world. The Board appointed George Wythe to fill the new chair, making Wythe both William & Mary’s first law professor and the first law professor in the country.

Wythe lectured twice a week and assigned readings from major legal treatises such as William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England and Matthew Bacon’s New Abridgment of the Law. He also introduced the use of mock trials and mock legislatures to American legal education in an effort to prepare his students for roles as “citizen lawyers”. Wythe’s students included John Marshall and Bushrod Washington as well as three future Virginia Supreme Court Justices and numerous future Congressmen and Senators. In 1789, the Virginia High Court of Chancery, on which Wythe had served since its inception in 1778, relocated to Richmond. This change and Wythe’s growing unhappiness with the direction of academic life at the College caused Wythe to resign his position as professor. He moved to Richmond where he continued his judicial career until his death in 1806.

Further Reading

References

  1. The exact date of Wythe's birth is unknown. Historians generally choose 1726, but Wythe may have been born in early 1727.