William Short
William Short was born on September 30, 1759, in Surrey County, Virginia.[1] He studied law under George Wythe at the College of William & Mary, where he was a founding member and president of Phi Beta Kappa.[2] Short described his legal education in a letter to his nephew in 1816, mentioning Wythe's lectures, readings, and moot courts:
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—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. Jefferson—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 Coke['s] Lyttleton. I had done so with 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.[3]
Short was related to Thomas Jefferson by marriage, and became a protégé of Jefferson's while still in school.[4] Jefferson would eventually refer to Short as his adopted son, and Short would speak of Jefferson as his "second father."[5] 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.[6] Short was named Minister Resident to the Netherlands in 1792[7] and also worked in Spain, where he helped negotiate the Treaty of San Lorenzo.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] Short settled in Philadelphia and spent his time managing his investments and contributing to philanthropic causes.[11] He died in Philadelphia on December 5, 1849.
See also
References
- ↑ George Green, "Short, William", American National Biography Online, Feb. 2000, accessed November 1, 2013.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ William Short to Greenbury William Ridgely, 11 December 1816. Maryland Historical Magazine 64, no. 4 (Winter, 1969), 349-350.
- ↑ "William Short", Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia (Monticello.org), accessed November 1, 2013.
- ↑ Marie Goebel Kimball and Alexandre de Liancourt, "William Short, Jefferson's Only 'Son'", The North American Review 223, no. 832 (Sepeptember-November, 1926), 471.
- ↑ Shackelford, "Short, William."
- ↑ Kimball and de Liancourt, "William Short, Jefferson's Only 'Son'", 472.
- ↑ Shackelford, "Short, William."
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
