Difference between revisions of "George Wythe, America's First Law Professor"

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"George Wythe, America's First Law Professor" is a 1933 M.A. thesis by W. Edwin Hemphill (1912 – 1983), from Emory University.^[1] Hemphill was an archivist, historian and editor, and contributed greatly to George Wythe scholarship, among his other historical pursuits. In 1937 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, with a dissertation also on George Wythe."^[2]

The aim of Hemphill's thesis is to establish Wythe as the first professor of law in America, and provide interpretation of the documentary evidence for Wythe's own education, and his instruction of Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and Henry Clay.

Cover page

Title page

Preface

It is a surprising circumstance that no biography of George Wythe — not even a small "Life" — has ever been published. Such a treatise would be worthwhile and valuable (to mention only one reason) for the light which it would throw on the history of American education in the latter half of the eighteenth century.

The study is a preliminary step, perhaps, in that direction. Its aim is to prevent a factual and interpretative account of George Wythe's legal professsorship and of his relationships with his three greatest pupils. An adequate consideration of the influence upon American history which he exerted directly through them could not be confirmed within the present scope, but in the three chapters devoted to them we have suggested at least the main trends which future thought on the subject will follow.

The most complete edition of the writings of Jefferson, that published by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, has been used throughout whenever possible; its lacunae must be filled from a number of sources.

Table of contents

Chapter I

Page 1

Posterity has come to think of George Wythe (1726-1806), when indeed it thinks at all of him, as a Virginian eminent in three distinct respects: as a patriot and statesman, as a lawyer and judge, and as a teacher. It is without doubt true that his name deserves a considerable measure of recognition for his services in each of these phases of his career. Much disagreement might be aroused by raising a hypothetical question as to the relative importance of the three. This shall not now be done.

It is pertinent, however, to call attention to the noticeable shifting of emphasis among the three which the thought of a century or more has developed. In his own day and for half a century after his death George Wythe seemed notable primarily for his work in the political and legal fields. As the perspective has enlarged through the last fifty years, interest in Wythe has centered largely on his contribution to these prominent activities through his services as the instructor of many of their foremost leaders.¹

1. A review of the earlier biographical sketches, contrasting them with the more recently published viewpoints of S. C. Mitchell and D. R. Anderson, should suffice to indicate the justice of this conclusion.

See also

• "George Wythe, the Colonial Briton: A Biographical Study of the Pre-Revolutionary Era in Virginia"
• Wythe the Teacher

References

1. ↑ Hemphill, William Edwin, "George Wythe: America's First Law Professor and the Teacher of Jefferson, Marshall and Clay," MA thesis, Emory University, 1933.
2. ↑ Hemphill, "George Wythe the Colonial Briton: A Biographical Study of the Pre-Revolutionary Era in Virginia," PhD diss., University of Virginia, 1937.