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CURTIS, GEORGE TICKNOR (1812-1894)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 652 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CURTIS, See also:GEORGE See also:TICKNOR (1812-1894) , See also:American lawyer, legal writer and constitutional historian, was See also:born in See also:Watertown, See also:Massachusetts, on the 28th of See also:November 1812. He graduated at Harvard in 1832, was admitted to the See also:bar in 1836, and practised in See also:Worcester, See also:Boston, New See also:York and See also:Washington, appearing before the See also:United States Supreme See also:Court in many important cases, including the Dred See also:Scott See also:case, in which he argued the constitutional question for Scott, and the " legal See also:tender" cases. In Boston he was for many years the United States See also:commissioner, and in this capacity, despite the vigorous protests of the abolitionists and his own opposition to See also:slavery, ordered the return to his owner of the famous fugitive slave, Thcmas See also:Sims, in 1852. He was the See also:nephew and See also:close friend of George Ticknor, the historian of See also:Spanish literature, and his association with his See also:uncle was influential in developing his scholarly tastes; while his other See also:personal friendships with eminent Bostonians during the See also:period of conservative Whig ascendancy in Massachusetts politics were of See also:direct See also:influence upon his See also:political opinions and published estimates. He is best known as the author of A See also:History of the Origin, Formation and See also:Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, with Notices of its See also:principal Framers (1854), republished, with many additions, as The Constitutional History of the United States from their See also:Declaration of See also:Independence to the Close of their See also:Civil See also:War (2 vols., 1889-1896). This history, which had been watched in its earlier progress by See also:Daniel See also:Webster, may be said to See also:present the old Federalist or " Webster-Whig " view of the formation and See also:powers of the Constitution; and it was natural that Curtis should follow it with a voluminous See also:Life of Daniel Webster (2 vols., 1870), the most valuable See also:biography of that statesman. Both these See also:works are characterized by solidity and comprehensiveness rather than by rhetorical attractiveness or See also:literary See also:perspective. In his later years Mr Curtis, like so many of the followers of Webster, turned towards the Democratic party; and he wrote, among other works of See also:minor importance, an exculpatory life of See also:President See also:James See also:Buchanan (2 vols., 1883) and two vindications of See also:General George B. McClellan's career (1886 and 1887). He died in New York on the 28th of See also:March 1894. In addition to the works above mentioned he published: See also:Digest of the See also:English and American See also:Admiralty Decisions (1839) ; Rights and Duties of See also:Merchant See also:Seamen (1841), which elicited the hearty praise of See also:Justice See also:Joseph See also:Story; See also:Law of See also:Patents (1849); See also:Equity Precedents (185o) ; Commentaries on the See also:Jurisprudence, Practice and See also:Peculiar See also:Jurisdiction of the Courts of the United States (1854—1858); Creation or See also:Evolution: A Philosophical Inquiry (1887) ; and a novel, See also:John See also:Chambers: A See also:Tale of the Civil War in See also:America (1889). His See also:brother, See also:BENJAMIN ROBBINS CURTIS (1809-1874), also an eminent jurist, was born on the 4th of November 1809, in Watertown, Massachusetts, graduated at Harvard in 1829, studied law at See also:Cambridge and at See also:Northfield, See also:Mass., where, after his See also:admission to the bar in 1832, he practised law for two years, and then in Boston in 1834-1851.

In 1851, being then a member of the See also:

lower See also:house of the Massachusetts legislature, he was on the 22nd of See also:September appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States, where he gained his greatest fame in 1857 by his dissenting See also:opinion in the Dred Scott case, in which he argued that the See also:Missouri See also:Compromise was constitutional, and that negroes could become citizens. His See also:argument was immediately published as an See also:anti-slavery document. On the 1st of September 1857 he resigned from the Supreme Court and resumed his private practice. In 1868 he was one of the counsel for President See also:Andrew See also:Johnson in his See also:impeachment trial, and opened for the See also:defence in a remarkable two-days' speech. He died at See also:Newport, Rhode See also:Island, on the 15th of September 1874. He prepared Decisions of the Supreme Court (22 vols.) and a Digest of its decisions down to 1854. A Memoir of Benjamin Robbins Curtis, with Some of his Professional and See also:Miscellaneous Papers, edited by his son Benjamin R. Curtis, was published at Boston in 1879, the Memoir being by George Ticknor Curtis.

End of Article: CURTIS, GEORGE TICKNOR (1812-1894)

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