George Ticknor Curtis (November 28, 1812 – March 28, 1894) was an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, and writer.

Biography

Curtis was born in

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown ...

, and graduated 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 higher le ...

in 1832 and then

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

. After admittance to the

Massachusetts bar The Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA) is a voluntary, non-profit bar association in Massachusetts with a headquarters on West Street in Boston's Downtown Crossing. The MBA also has a Western Massachusetts office. The purpose of the MBA is to ...

in 1836, he practiced first 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 ...

and then in New York City. Curtis was very successful as a

patent attorney A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and op ...

, working for (among others)

Samuel F. B. Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

Charles Goodyear Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844. ...

and

Cyrus McCormick Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 – May 13, 1884) was an American inventor and businessman who founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which later became part of the International Harvester Company in 1902. Originally from the ...

. From 1840 to 1843, Curtis was a member of 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 ...

as a Whig. A political ally of

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, ...

, he was one of the "Cotton Whigs" who joined the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

when the Whig party dissolved in 1856. George Ticknor Curtis Tombstone February 2012

Later, as a U.S. commissioner at

, Curtis was compelled to send a former slave,

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. ...

, back 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 co ...

. He served as co-counsel for

Dred Scott Dred Scott (c. 1799 – September 17, 1858) was an Slavery in the United States, enslaved African Americans, African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet Robinson Scott, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for freedom for themselves and thei ...

when his case reached the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in 1857. His brother,

Benjamin Robbins Curtis Benjamin Robbins Curtis (November 4, 1809 – September 15, 1874) was an American lawyer and judge. He served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1851 to 1857. Curtis was the first and only Whig justice of the ...

, was notable as one of the two dissenters in ''

Dred Scott v. Sanford ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, enslaved or free; thu ...

''. Curtis wrote biographies of

(1870) and

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

(1883) as well as a number of legal treatises, including his oft-cited
A Treatise on the Law of Patents for Useful Inventions in the United States of America
(Curtis on Patents). Among these, his ''Constitutional History of the United States ..to the Close of the Civil War'' (2 vols, 1889 and 1896) has been called the classic

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

interpretation of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. Another notable work is ''History of the Origin, Formation and Adoption of the Constitution''. Curtis was a

creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 'th ...

; he attacked evolution in his book ''Creation or Evolution? A Philosophical Inquiry'' (1887).McIver, Thomas Allen. (1989)
''Creationism: Intellectual Origins, Cultural Context, and Theoretical Diversity''
University of California, Los Angeles. While not a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

himself (he was a member of the

Federal Street Church The Federal Street Church (established 1729) was a congregational Unitarianism, Unitarian church in Boston, Massachusetts. Organized in 1727, the originally Presbyterianism, Presbyterian congregation changed in 1786 to "Congregational church, Congr ...

, a Unitarian congregation), Curtis was also a defender of

Mormonism Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of t ...

, writing pro-Mormon articles for New York newspapers and magazines, most notably the ''

New York Evening Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established i ...

'' (July 14, 1887) and ''The Forum'' (November 1887). He died in New York City on March 28, 1894.

Selected publications

''A Treatise on the Rights and Duties of Merchant Seamen, According to the General Maritime Law, and the Statutes of the United States''
(1841)
''History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States''
(Volume 1, 1854)
''History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States''
(Volume 2, 1861)
''The Just Supremacy of Congress Over the Territories''
(1859)
''A Treatise on the Law of Patents for Useful Inventions''
(1873)
''Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States''
(Volume 1, 1883)
''Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States''
(Volume 2, 1883)
''A Plea for Religious Liberty and the Rights of Conscience''
(1886)
''Creation or Evolution?: A Philosophical Inquiry''
(1887)
''Life, Character, and Public Services of General George B. McClellan''
(1887)
''Life of Daniel Webster''
(Volume 1, 1889)
''Life of Daniel Webster''
(Volume 2, 1889)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, George Ticknor 1812 births 1894 deaths American Christian creationists American Unitarians 19th-century American politicians Burials at Kensico Cemetery Harvard Law School alumni Massachusetts lawyers Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives American patent attorneys People from Watertown, Massachusetts 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American biographers