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Washington's Heir is the first published biography of Bushrod Washington, George Washington's nephew and a Supreme Court Justice for over thirty years. Justice Washington is one of the most underrated Founding Fathers. He was Chief Justice John Marshall's right-hand man in establishing the authority of the Supreme Court and wrote many influential opinions defining the fundamental rights of citizens and the structure of the Constitution. Justice Washington's remarkable life story and his secret journal shed new light on George Washington, John Marshall, the Constitution, and America's ongoing struggle to overcome its flaws and become a more perfect union.
Table des matières
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Keeper of the Flame
- Chapter One: Privilege and Courage
- Chapter Two: An Apprentice and a Slave
- Chapter Three: A Young Gentleman of Talents
- Chapter Four: A Lawyer's Lawyer
- Chapter Five: An Imperfect War
- Chapter Six: The Marshall Court Begins
- Chapter Seven: Master of Mount Vernon
- Chapter Eight: Riding Circuit
- Chapter Nine: The Supreme Court's Balance Wheel
- Chapter Ten: Southern Gentlemen Understand
- Chapter Eleven: Corfield v. Coryell
- Chapter Twelve: A Long Judicial Life
- Epilogue: Half-Blind Justice
- Bibliography
- Notes
- Index
A propos de l'auteur
Gerard N. Magliocca is the Samuel R. Rosen Professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He received his undergraduate degree at Stanford, his law degree at Yale, and spent one year as a law clerk for Judge Guido Calabresi on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Professor Magliocca is the author of four other books on constitutional law, including The Heart of the Constitution (Oxford, 2018).
Résumé
The first biography of George Washington's extraordinary nephew, who inherited Mount Vernon and was Chief Justice John Marshall's right-hand man on the Supreme Court for nearly thirty years.
George Washington's nephew and heir was a Supreme Court Justice for over thirty years and left an indelible mark on American law. Despite his remarkable life and notable lineage, he is unknown to most Americans because he cared more about establishing the rule of law than about personal glory.
In Washington's Heir, Gerard N. Magliocca gives us the first published biography of Bushrod Washington, one of the most underrated Founding Fathers. Born in 1762, Justice Washington fought in the Revolutionary War, served in Virginia's ratifying convention for the Constitution, and was Chief Justice John Marshall's partner in establishing the authority of the Supreme Court. Though he could only see from one eye, Justice Washington wrote many landmark decisions defining the fundamental rights of citizens and the structure of the Constitution, including Corfield v. Coryell--an influential source for the Congress that proposed the Fourteenth Amendment. As George Washington's personal heir, Bushrod inherited both Mount Vernon and the family legacy of owning other people, one of whom was almost certainly his half-brother or nephew. Yet Justice Washington alone among the Founders was criticized by journalists for selling enslaved people and, in turn, issued a public defence of his actions that laid bare the hypocrisy and cruelty of slavery.
An in-depth look at Justice Washington's extraordinary story that gives insight into his personal thoughts through his own secret journal, Washington's Heir sheds new light not only on George Washington, John Marshall, and the Constitution, but also on America's ongoing struggle to become a more perfect union.
Texte suppl.
Washington's Heir will be accessible to a wide range of readers and of great interest to scholars of southern history, legal history, and the history of the federal government.
