Emory Washburn (February 14, 1800 – March 18, 1877) was a United States lawyer, politician, and historian. He was
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 ...
for one term (from 1854 to 1855), and served for many years on the faculty of
Harvard Law School. His history of the early years of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is still considered a foundational work on the subject.
Born in
Leicester, Massachusetts
Leicester ( ) is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts. The population was 11,087 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
What is now Leicester was originally settled by the Nipmuc people and was known by them as ''Towtaid''. On January 27 ...
, Washburn attended
Dartmouth and
Williams before studying law. After establishing what grew to become a successful and distinguished law practice in
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
, Washburn entered politics as a
Whig. After serving several years in the
state legislature, he was elected governor in 1853. Despite his support for a reform-minded agenda, he was swept out of office on the
Know Nothing tide in 1854.
Washburn joined the faculty of Harvard Law in 1856, where he was a popular and influential figure until his retirement in 1876. His publications, in addition to his history of the SJC, include a history of his hometown of Leicester and numerous treatises on legal subjects.
Early life
Emory Washburn was born on February 14, 1800 in
Leicester, Massachusetts
Leicester ( ) is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts. The population was 11,087 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
What is now Leicester was originally settled by the Nipmuc people and was known by them as ''Towtaid''. On January 27 ...
to Joseph and Ruth (Davis) Washburn, both of whom came from families with deep roots in New England.
[Warren, p. 202] He was the sixth of seven children. His father died when he was seven years old, and the local pastor, Zephaniah Swift Moore, became a major influence in his early years. He first attended
Leicester Academy
Leicester Academy was founded on March 23, 1784, when the Act of Incorporation for Leicester Academy was passed by the Massachusetts General Court as a private, state chartered institution. The charter issued to the Academy bears the bold signatur ...
, and then entered
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
, where Moore taught languages, at the age of thirteen.
[Spector, p. 119] He accompanied Moore when the latter moved to Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
in 1815, graduating two years later in a class of seven; he was influential in establishing an alumni association at Williams, serving as its first president.[
Washburn then embarked on the study of law, first with Charles Dewey, a Williamstown judge and lawyer, and then at Harvard Law School under ]Asahel Stearns
Asahel Stearns (June 17, 1774 – February 5, 1839) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
Born in Lunenburg in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Stearns graduated from Harvard University in 1797. He studied law, was admitted to the ...
. Although he did not graduate from Harvard, he was admitted to the bar
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...
and opened a practice in Charlemont, Massachusetts
Charlemont is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,185 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Charlemont was first colonized by Moses R ...
. After six months there he returned to his hometown of Leicester, where he practiced until 1828. In that year he moved to Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
, where he would live and practice for the next thirty years.[ In 1830 he married Marianne Cornelia Giles, with whom he had three sons and one daughter.][Spector, p. 120]
Political career
Washburn was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
in 1826, serving two terms; his only notable activity was in committee work preparing a feasibility study for a railroad from 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 ...
to the Connecticut River. He was a regular supporter of the Western Railroad in its efforts to develop the railroad westward from Boston.[Spector, p. 122] Washburn asserted that railroads could "... ward off the attack of any invader." He would serve in the state legislature again in 1838 and 1877. From 1830 to 1834 he served on the staff of Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr., and in 1841 he was elected to the State Senate
A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...
, where he served two years. In the second of those years he was chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1844 he was appointed a justice of the Court of Common Pleas
A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...
, a post he held until 1847. During these years he also established and maintained what was described by one of his peers, George Frisbie Hoar
George Frisbie Hoar (August 29, 1826 – September 30, 1904) was an American attorney and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1877 to 1904. He belonged to an extended family that became politically prominen ...
, as one of the largest and most successful law practices in Worcester County, partnering with John Davis among others.
In 1853 Washburn traveled to England to research English constitutional law. While he was away, the Whig Party nominated him as its gubernatorial candidate; he did not learn of his nomination until his ship reached Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...
.[Spector, p. 124] In the election he defeated Henry W. Bishop (Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
) and Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...
(Free Soil
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into ...
) with 46% of the vote. Since a majority of votes was at the time required to win, the election was determined in the state senate. Washburn was the last governor elected in this fashion (plurality voting was enacted in 1855); he would also be the last Whig governor. During his one year in office, he successfully promoted and enacted significant pieces of legislation on a broad social welfare agenda, including measures concerning debt relief, assistance to the poor and insane, and financial aid for female medical students.[
One major event that took place during Washburn's tenure was Anthony Burns' arrest and trial under the terms of 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 ...
. The case galvanized anti-slavery activists, who protested outside the courthouse and sought both legal and extra-legal remedies to secure Burns' release. Washburn refused to intercede in the matter, bringing criticism, and Burns remained in custody at the time Washburn left office. Burns was eventually returned to slavery, after which abolitionists purchased his freedom.
The 1854 campaign saw the rise of the secretive Know Nothing movement in Massachusetts politics. Washburn stood for reelection, but the Whig party apparatus was generally unaware of Know Nothing strength and dismissive of its candidates. One commentator described the Know Nothing slate as "spavined ministers, lying tooth-pullers, and buggering priests", and Washburn's opponent, former Whig Henry J. Gardner, as a "rickety vermin" who stood no chance of winning. The outcome of the November election was a landslide: Washburn received only 21% of the vote, and Know Nothing candidates won every major state and Congressional office, as well as most of the seats in the state legislature.
Law professor
The following year he was offered a position as a lecturer at Harvard Law School, which became a full professorship in 1856. The seat had previously been occupied by Judge Edward G. Loring, who Harvard's Overseers refused to retain after he ruled that Burns be returned to slavery. For the next twenty years, Washburn served as one of three dominant figures (along with Theophilus Parsons
Theophilus Parsons (February 24, 1750October 30, 1813) was an American jurist.
Life
Born in Newbury, Massachusetts to a clergyman father, Parsons was one of the early students at the Dummer Academy (now The Governor's Academy) before matricu ...
and Joel Parker) in shaping the law school's practices and curriculum. Legal historian Charles Warren
General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...
wrote of the three, "Parker was the great lawyer; Parsons the great teacher; and Washburn, the great man." The three men established a collegial and open learning environment at the law school. Washburn produced a significant number of legal treatises and books during his Harvard tenure; his ''Treatise on the American Law of Real Property'' formed the basis for Harvard's courses and later textbooks on the subject for the next century. His interests in history and the law were comingled in these years, with a number of his publications covering aspects of both subjects.
In 1860 Washburn joined in public calls for the repeal of the state's personal liberty laws
In the context of slavery in the United States, the personal liberty laws were laws passed by several U.S. states in the North to counter the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Different laws did this in different ways, including allowing j ...
. These laws, which were designed to make enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as difficult as possible, were characterized by their opponents as an affront to the interests of slave owners, and as a source of heightened tension between north and south. When the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
broke out in 1861, Washburn led calls for harmony in the law school, which had students from both northern and southern states. He also served, despite his relatively advanced age, in a home guard
Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...
militia unit, and supported the war effort by writing, giving speeches, and donating money.
Washburn was a popular and dedicated teacher. Students would sometimes attend his lectures just to hear him speak, and he was always willing to help students with matters both academic and personal. He also regularly assisted recent graduates as they made their way into the profession.
In 1870 the Law School hired Christopher Langdell to be its first dean. Langdell began to institute significant changes in the school, which Washburn for the most part went along with. He finally resigned his professorship in 1876, and opened a law practice in Cambridge. He was encouraged to run for United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, but refused. He was instead convinced to stand once again for the Massachusetts House, to which he was elected. He died in office on March 18, 1877 in Cambridge, and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Historian
Washburn had a long and abiding interest in local and state history. In 1826 he published a short history of Leicester in a Worcester magazine. This work formed the basis for his ''Historical Sketches of the Town of Leicester, Massachusetts'', published in 1860.[ He was elected a member of the ]American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...
in 1827, beginning a lifelong association with that organization.[ He served as the society's secretary for foreign correspondence from 1866 to 1867, and then secretary of domestic correspondence from 1867 to 1877. A large portion of his personal and business papers also resides within its collections. He later became a contributing member to the New England Historical and Genealogical Society and was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the ]American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
. In 1840 he published ''Sketches of the Judicial History of Massachusetts'', which provides a basic history of the colonial Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functi ...
(antecedent to the current Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court) and its justices. Biographer Robert Spector describes it as "the starting point and basis" for legal historical work relating to the court.[Spector, p. 121] Washburn considered himself to be more of an antiquarian than a historian: he believed it important to conserve artifacts and historical information, leaving the interpretation of those to others. He wrote of the importance, for example, of the need for the state to preserve its own historical documents (something not given much attention in its early years).[Spector, p. 128]
Publications
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
* 1877 Massachusetts legislature
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washburn, Emory
Governors of Massachusetts
People from Leicester, Massachusetts
Leicester Academy alumni
Williams College alumni
Harvard Law School faculty
Historians of the United States
1800 births
1877 deaths
Massachusetts Whigs
Whig Party state governors of the United States
19th-century American politicians
Members of the American Antiquarian Society
Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Massachusetts state senators
Harvard Law School alumni