Nathan William MacChesney (1878–1954) was a prominent

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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 architect of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

Biography

Nathan William MacChesney was born in Chicago on June 2, 1878, the son of Alfred Brunson and Henrietta (Milsom) MacChesney.Profile from Northwestern University Library
/ref> He was educated at California Wesleyan College, receiving a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 1898. He later attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and the

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law scho ...

, before receiving an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a Public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of C ...

in 1902. 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 ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in 1902. After law school, MacChesney founded a Chicago

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

, ultimately known as MacChesney and Becker, where he practiced law for the next five decades. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

(1898). He was instrumental in founding the ''

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology The ''Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology'' ("JCLC") is a peer-reviewed, student-run academic journal published by the Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern ...

'' in 1910. He served as a special assistant attorney general of the United States in 1911, and as a special state's attorney for Illinois in 1912. In this capacity, he represented the War Department in, Stearns v. Wood, before the Supreme Court where the Court sided with him and reaffirmed that the federal government had the authority to set training and performance regulations for the state National Guard. He was president of the

Illinois State Bar Association The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) is among largest voluntary state bar associations in the United States. Approximately 28,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA memb ...

1915-16. He again served in the army during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and was thereafter normally referred to as "General MacChesney" by his associates. He received an LL.M. from Northwestern in 1922. He was

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

of the

National Association of Real Estate Boards The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is an American trade association for those who work in the real estate industry. It has over 1.4 million members, making it one of the biggest trade associations in the USA including NAR's institutes, so ...

in the 1920s. MacChesney drafted the "Standard Form, Chicago Restrictive Covenant," used as a model for enforcing racial segregation throughout the city. He died at his home near Libertyville on September 25, 1954.

References

Biography from genealogytrails.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacChesney, Nathan William 1878 births 1954 deaths Illinois lawyers Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni University of the Pacific (United States) alumni