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William Short was born on September 30, 1759, in Surrey County, Virginia.<ref>George Green, [https://www.anb.org/articles/02/02-00287.html?a=1&n=william_short "Short, William"], ''American National Biography Online'', Feb. 2000, accessed November 1, 2013.</ref> He studied law under [[George Wythe]] at the [https://www.wm.edu College of William & Mary], where he was a founding member and president of Phi Beta Kappa.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Short described his legal education in a letter to his nephew in 1816, mentioning Wythe's lectures, readings, and moot courts:

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With respect to the study of the law there is one observation which I will make to you, or rather one caution which I will give you founded on my own experience. Scientific students [of the law] are apt to despise the mere technical and practical past of the business&mdash;that is the process or forms of pleading. I had studied with our great Chancellor Wythe, following his course of law lectures for the appointed time. I also studied particularly under the direction of Mr. [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]]&mdash;and had received the applauses of both. I had plead[ed] causes also in a simulated court, where our professor presided, and I was considered able and eloquent, etc. In point of general knowledge I am sure I may say without vanity that I [was] prepared more than most of the Lawyers who then were practicing at the bar. I had read and made copious notes on [[First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England|Coke['s] Lyttleton]]. I had done so with [[Commentaries on the Laws of England|Blackstone]], of course. I had read the best reporters, but I was miserably ignorant of the mere technical forms. These were known to the clerks of courts and to every pettifogger, and I despised them.<ref>William Short to Greenbury William Ridgely, 11 December 1816. [https://archive.org/details/msa_sc_5881_1_256/page/n27 ''Maryland Historical Magazine''] 64, no. 4 (Winter, 1969), 349-350.</ref>
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Short was related to Thomas Jefferson by marriage, and became a protégé of Jefferson's while still in school.<ref> [https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/william-short "William Short"], ''Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia'' (Monticello.org), accessed November 1, 2013.</ref> Jefferson would eventually refer to Short as his adopted son, and Short would speak of Jefferson as his "second father."<ref>Marie Goebel Kimball and Alexandre de Liancourt, "William Short, Jefferson's Only 'Son'", ''The North American Review'' 223, no. 832 (September-November, 1926), 471.</ref> In 1784, when Jefferson became Minister to France, Short served as his secretary, launching Short's career as a diplomat. He continued to look after American interests in France after Jefferson returned to the United States in 1789.<ref>Shackelford, "Short, William."</ref> Short was named Minister Resident to the Netherlands in 1792<ref>Kimball and de Liancourt, "William Short, Jefferson's Only 'Son'", 472.</ref> and also worked in Spain, where he helped negotiate the Treaty of San Lorenzo.<ref>Shackelford, "Short, William."</ref> In 1802, he returned to the United States and settled in Philadelphia, often visiting Virginia, Kentucky, and Washington, D.C., where he was a frequent guest at the Jefferson White House.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Short was given a recess appointment as Minister to Russia in 1808, but was ultimately not confirmed; the position was later filled by John Quincy Adams.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Short settled in Philadelphia and spent his time managing his investments and contributing to philanthropic causes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> He died in Philadelphia on December 5, 1849.

==See also==
[[Wythe the Teacher]]

==References==
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[[Category:Wythe's Students]]