Augustus Brevoort Woodward (born Elias Brevoort Woodward; November 1774 – June 12, 1827) was the first
Chief Justice of the
Michigan Territory. In that position, he played a prominent role in the reconstruction of
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
following a devastating fire in 1805. He promoted an urban design based on radial avenues, as in Washington, DC and Paris. He is also known as one of the founders of the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, established by the legislature in 1817.
Early life
He was born Elias Brevoort Woodward in 1774 in New York, the son of John and Ann Silvester Woodward. His mother was of Flemish ancestry, and his father was of English descent. John Woodward was a merchant and importer, as well as a member of the Continental Army. The family lived in Manhattan on the corner of Pine and Pearl Streets.
Woodward graduated from
Columbia College. After working in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
as a clerk in the
U.S. Treasury Department
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
, he later read the law and practiced as an attorney in
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
.
Woodward never married. His biographer, Arthur M. Woodford, describes Woodward as a prototype of
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...
's
Ichabod Crane. He stood tall, and was thin, sallow, and stooped. His long, narrow face was dominated by a big nose. He had thick, black hair. His contemporaries commented on his slovenliness.
While living in Washington, D.C., Woodward was described as "a man of middle age, a hardened bachelor who wore nut-brown clothing . . . he slept in his office which was never swept ... and was eccentric and erratic. His friends were few and his practice was so small that he hardly made a living."
But while working in Washington, he got to know President Thomas Jefferson, and they shared scientific and education interests.
Michigan Territory
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
and Woodward knew each other personally. Jefferson appointed Woodward on March 3, 1805, as the
Michigan Territory's first
Chief Justice. When Woodward arrived in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
on June 30, 1805, he found the city in ruins from the devastating fire earlier that month on June 11. Few buildings were left standing.
Woodward, with
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
William Hull
William Hull (June 24, 1753 – November 29, 1825) was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolutionary War and was appointed as Governor of Michigan Territory (1805–13), gaining large land cessions from several Am ...
and associate Justices
John Griffin and
Frederick Bates, possessed all the legislative power in the Territory. Woodward and Griffin, along with the current Governor and a third judge, held this power from 1805 until the institution of a legislature in 1824. Woodward and Hull bickered almost constantly. One of Woodward's legacies is the ''Woodward Code:'' a series of statutes serving as the basis of the Territorial Supreme Court legal procedures.
Woodward protected the free status of Michigan Territory in regard to slavery. In 1807 as Territorial Justice, he refused to allow the return of two slaves owned by a man in
Windsor, Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). Woodward declared that any man "coming into this Territory is by law of the land a freeman." Detroit became a station on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
, by which fugitive slaves escaped from the South. After Canada had abolished slavery, many went across the river to escape slave catchers who operated even in the northern border areas.
During the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, Governor (and later
Brigadier General
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
) Hull surrendered Detroit to the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
without a shot being fired in the
Battle of Detroit
The siege of Detroit, also known as the surrender of Detroit or the Battle of Fort Detroit, was an early engagement in the War of 1812. A British force under Major General Isaac Brock with Native American allies under Shawnee leader Tecumseh ...
. While Hull and Justices Bates and Griffin left, Woodward stayed and maintained his judicial status in Detroit during the British
occupation
Occupation commonly refers to:
*Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, th ...
. The British offered him the office of Secretary of the Territory, but Woodward declined that offer.
Eventually, he became a problem for the British. He was asked to leave the territory and was granted safe passage to
New York. The United States regained control of Detroit in 1813.
Planning of Detroit
Following the destruction of Detroit in the
fire of 1805, it fell to Woodward and Hull to oversee the rebuilding of the then territorial capital. The resulting plan drew heavily from
Pierre L'Enfant's layout for
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Woodward proposed a system of hexagonal street blocks, with the
Grand Circus at its center. Wide avenues, alternatively 200 feet and 120 feet, were designed to radiate from large circular plazas like spokes from the hub of a wheel. Most prominent of these are the construction of the six main "spokes" of Woodward,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
,
Grand River,
Gratiot, and
Jefferson avenues and Fort Street.
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
professor of city planning John William Reps writes that this original 1807 design for Detroit was "one of the most unusual city plans ever devised.”
Woodward Avenue
A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to:
Places
;United States
* Woodward, Iowa
* Woodward, Oklahoma
* Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place
* Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...
in Detroit, originally called Court House Avenue and other names, was popularly named after the justice's work in city planning and rebuilding. Woodward, somewhat in jest, claimed the road's name was simply related to the fact that it traveled toward the wooded area to the north of the city.
[
The alignment of Woodward Avenue seems to coincide with the axis of the pre-settlement ]Saginaw Trail
Saginaw Trail is the collective name for a set of connected roads in Southeast and Central Michigan that runs from Detroit to Saginaw through Pontiac and Flint that was originally a tribal foot trail. To drive it today, drivers would follow:
* from ...
which followed a route from Detroit to Saginaw via Flint. It is likely that a series of Indian trails once radiated from the approximate location of the Campus Martius
The Campus Martius (Latin for the "Field of Mars", Italian ''Campo Marzio'') was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which cove ...
and this may have inspired the choice of a radial geometry for Woodward's city plan.
Though ambitious, Woodward's Plan for Detroit would ultimately be discarded in 1817 while he was away in Washington. Instead of following the pattern laid out by Woodward, then Territorial Governor Lewis Cass platted 10,000-acres of the surrounding countryside into a more typical (for Midwestern America) Grid Plan of 160-acre rectangular farms girded by rectangular roads. This new platting became the basis for the modern layout of Detroit. Despite this remnants of the original plan can still be found within the city's downtown, including the radial avenues emanating from the Campus Martius, the Campus itself, and the Grand Circus.
Later years
Considered a hero upon his return to Washington, DC, Woodward soon concentrated on science (a lifelong interest). He also promoted the founding of the University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
(in 1817) as a state institution. With Rev. John Monteith and Father Gabriel Richard
Gabriel Richard (pronounced rish-ARD) October 15, 1767 – September 13, 1832, was a French Roman Catholic priest who ministered to the French Catholics in the parish of Sainte Anne de Détroit, as well as Protestants and Native Americans liv ...
, Woodward drafted a charter for an institution under the name of the ''Catholepistemiad'' or the ''University of Michigania''. On August 26, 1817, the Governor and Judges of the Michigan Territory signed the university act into law. The Catholepistmiad originally had the authority to "establish colleges, academies, schools, libraries, museums, atheneums, botanical gardens, laboratories, and other useful literary and scientific institutions consonant to the laws of the United States and of Michigan, and provide for and appoint Directors, Visitors, Curators, Librarians, Instructors and Instructrixes among and throughout the various counties, cities, towns, townships, or other geographical divisions of Michigan." He urged its development along similar themes to the University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
, which was founded two years after the founding of the University of Michigan (in 1819) by Woodward's friend and former president, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
.
Woodward was described as being among the first to recognize the coming of the scientific age. In 1816, he published his seminal work, ''A System of Universal Science''.
Woodward was also a Freemason.
August 26, 1824, saw Woodward's return to the judiciary, as President James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
appointed him to a judgeship in the new Territory of Florida
The Territory of Florida was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 30, 1822, until March 3, 1845, when it was admitted to the Union as the state of Florida. Originally the major portion of the Spanish t ...
. Woodward served in that capacity until his death in Tallahassee
Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...
on June 12, 1827, at the age of 52.
Legacy and honors
*Woodward is commemorated in a Michigan Legal Milestone erected by the State Bar of Michigan.
*Woodward Avenue in Detroit is named after him.[Ronnick, Michele V. and Beaudoen, Marlise. Detroit and Rome: Building on the Past. University of Michigan, 2005, page 2]
See also
*
References
External links
A Portrait of Augustus B. Woodward
Michigan Court History
Augustus Woodward
Michigan Supreme Court History Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Augustus Brevoort
1774 births
1827 deaths
American Freemasons
American people of Dutch descent
American people of English descent
Columbia University alumni
History of Detroit
Michigan culture
Chief Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court
Legal history of Michigan
University of Michigan people
19th-century American judges
Justices of the Michigan Supreme Court