Joseph Story

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Joseph Story (portrait of George PA Healy)
Statue of Joseph Story on display at Harvard Law School .

Joseph Story (born September 18, 1779 in Marblehead , Massachusetts , † September 10, 1845 in Cambridge , Massachusetts) was an American lawyer . In 1811, at just 32, he became the youngest ever Supreme Court Justice of the United States . Story is best known for its involvement in the Amistad trials .

Life

Story was born in Marblehead, Essex County, to Elisha Story (1743-1805). His father was a member of the Sons of Liberty , which participated in the Boston Tea Party in 1773 . The family moved from Boston to Marblehead during the Revolutionary War . In November 1778, Elisha Story married Mehitable Pedrick, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Joseph was the first child of the two.

As a boy, Story attended Marblehead Academy until the fall of 1794 . Then his father took him out of school because the headmaster of the school had beaten young Joseph for something small. In 1795, Story was accepted at Harvard University , where he graduated second in his class. He later studied law with Samuel Sewall and Samuel Putnam.

Story was admitted to the bar in 1801 and was the only Essex County attorney to be affiliated with Thomas Jefferson's Democratic Republican Party . Therefore, he was employed by the influential Republican shipping company George Crowninshield & Sons .

In addition to his work as a lawyer, Story was also a successful poet . For example, he wrote the poem "The Power of Solitude".

From 1805 to 1808 he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives before being elected to Congress . As early as 1809, however, he resumed work as a lawyer and was re-elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, as its speaker he then also officiated. In 1810 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Shortly after the wedding and only two months after the death of his father, Story's first wife, Mary FL Oliver, died in June 1805. In August 1808 he married Sarah Waldo Wetmore, the daughter of a judge from Boston. They had seven children, including the future publisher and sculptor William Wetmore Story .

Activity as a federal judge

Bust of Joseph Story, made by his son William Wetmore Story .

At the age of only 32, Joseph Story became a US Supreme Court Justice in 1811. Under Chairman John Marshall , Story played a major role in the work of the court. Between 1812 and 1832 he not only wrote numerous decisions, but also advocated equality for all people before the law and in the area of patent law . In 1820, Story gave a speech in Salem condemning the slave trade . The judgments written by Story in the Amistad trials are known to this day.

In 1829 he moved to Cambridge and taught at Harvard University.

Death and aftermath

Story died in his Cambridge home in 1845 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

The Story County in the state of Iowa is also named after him as one of the dormitories of Harvard Law School .

Publications (selection)

  • Commentaries on the Law of Bailments (1832)
  • Google Books: Volume I and Google Books: Volume II , Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (3 vols., 1833)
  • Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws (1834)
  • Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence (2 vols., 1835–1836)
  • Equity Pleadings (1838)
  • Law of Agency (1839)
  • Law of Partnership (1841)
  • Law of Bills of Exchange (1843)
  • Law of Promissory Notes (1845).
  • Miscellaneous Writings , first published in 1835, enlarged edition 1851.

See also

swell

  1. ^ The Life and Letters of Joseph Story
  • Story, Joseph. American National Biography , 2000, American Council of Learned Societies.

further reading

  • Henry J. Abraham: Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court , 3rd. 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, New York 1992, ISBN 0-19-506557-3 .
  • Clare Cushman, The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789-1995 , 2nd. Edition, (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books), 2001, ISBN 1-56802-126-7 .
  • John P. Frank: Leon Friedman, Fred L. Israel (Eds.): The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions . Chelsea House Publishers, 1995, ISBN 0-7910-1377-4 .
  • Kermit L. Hall (Ed.): The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States . Oxford University Press , New York 1992, ISBN 0-19-505835-6 .
  • Fenton S. Martin, Goehlert, Robert U .: The US Supreme Court: A Bibliography . Congressional Quarterly Books, Washington, DC 1990, ISBN 0-87187-554-3 .
  • Melvin I. Urofsky: The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary . Garland Publishing, New York 1994, ISBN 0-8153-1176-1 , p. 590.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Story, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH Marblehead , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 1845
Place of death Cambridge , Massachusetts