Edward Greely Loring (January 28, 1802 – June 18, 1890) was a Judge of Probate in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, a United States Commissioner of the

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was he ...

and a judge of the Court of Claims. He was reviled in Massachusetts and much of the North for his ordering the return of fugitive slaves

Thomas Sims Thomas Sims was an African American who escaped from slavery in Georgia and fled to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1851. He was arrested the same year under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, had a court hearing, and was forced to return to enslavement. ...

and Anthony Burns to slavery in compliance with the

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one of the most cont ...

. His action would result in his being removed as Judge of Probate.

Education and career

Born on January 28, 1802, in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Loring received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1821 from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and read law with Charles Greely Loring in Boston in 1824. He entered private practice and concurrently served as a master in chancery in Suffolk County, Massachusetts starting in 1824. He was a United States Commissioner for the

from 1840 to 1855. He was a Judge of Probate for Suffolk County from 1847 to 1858. He was a lecturer for Dane Law School (now Harvard Law School) at Harvard University from 1852 to 1855.

Fugitive slave ruling and aftermath

As United States Commissioner of the United States District Court, Loring was responsible for issuing warrants for arrest and ruling in cases under the

Fugitive Slave Act A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also kno ...

of 1850, which was widely opposed in Boston and the North. In 1851, an escaped slave named

was captured in

; Loring ordered his return to slavery in the South, as required by the new law. Boston

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

s were outraged. In 1854, Loring ordered another escaped slave, Anthony Burns, returned to slavery in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. During the prosecution of this case there was an attack on the courthouse in which James Batchelder, a 24-year-old police officer temporarily employed by the

United States Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforc ...

, was stabbed to death. Widespread protests marked the trial and its aftermath. President Franklin Pierce felt obliged to send United States troops to ensure that the ruling be carried out. Following the Burns decision, abolitionists led by

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...

and

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...

agitated for Loring to be removed from his office as probate judge. Forming a

Vigilance Committee A vigilance committee was a group formed of private citizens to administer law and order or exercise power through violence in places where they considered governmental structures or actions inadequate. A form of vigilantism and often a more stru ...

to monitor judges' activities under the law, they circulated petitions and lobbied against Loring with the Massachusetts legislature. Though he had assisted Burns in his court case, attorney

Richard Henry Dana Jr. Richard Henry Dana Jr. (August 1, 1815 – January 6, 1882) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family, who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir ''Two Years Before the Mast''. ...

defended Loring before the legislature. Under pressure from an increasingly antislavery public, the legislature made two unsuccessful attempts to remove Loring from office by passing
Bill of Address
in 1855 and 1856. Governor Henry J. Gardner, elected as a candidate of the

Know-Nothing Party The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

, declined to remove him. In 1857, after the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Nathaniel Prentice Banks Nathaniel Prentice (or Prentiss) Banks (January 30, 1816 – September 1, 1894) was an American politician from Massachusetts and a Union general during the Civil War. A millworker by background, Banks was prominent in local debating societies, ...

was elected

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

, the legislature passed another Bill of Address against Loring. The new governor complied and removed Loring from office.

Federal judicial service

Loring was nominated by President James Buchanan on May 3, 1858, to a seat on the Court of Claims (later the United States Court of Claims) vacated by Judge John Gilchrist. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on May 6, 1858, by a vote of 27 to 13, and received his commission the same day. He served as Presiding Judge from 1859 to 1863. His service terminated on December 14, 1877, due to his resignation.

Death

Loring died on June 19, 1890, in Winthrop, Massachusetts.

Family

Loring was a fourth great grandson of New England pioneer

Thomas Loring Thomas Loring was an early settler of Hingham and Hull, Massachusetts. He was present at some of the key moments in the earliest history of Hingham, Massachusetts. But later " e large Loring families were prominent in the town f Hull and remain ...

. His double cousin, also a lawyer, Charles Greely Loring, defended Thomas Sims in the 1851 action.Pope, Charles Henry ''Loring Genealogy''. Cambridge, MA: Murray and Emery Co., 1917. (pp. 170-2)

References

Sources

* William E. Cain (1995), ''William Lloyd Garrison and the Fight against Slavery: Selections from The Liberator''. Boston: Bedford Books. 150, note. * Charles Emery Stevens (1855)
''Anthony Burns: A History''
* Henry David Thoreau (July 4, 1854)
"Slavery in Massachusetts"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loring, Edward G. Massachusetts state court judges Slavery in the United States Judges of the United States Court of Claims Harvard University alumni 1802 births 1890 deaths United States Article I federal judges appointed by James Buchanan 19th-century American judges