Alfred Moore
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Alfred Moore
(b. New Hanover County, N.C., 21 May 1755; d. Bladen County, N.C., 15 Oct. 1810; interred St. Philip's Churchyard, Old Brunswick, N.C.), associate justice, 1799–1804. Born into a prominent family, the son of Maurice Moore, one of three colonial judges of North Carolina, Alfred Moore was sent to Boston for his early education. He then returned home to read law under the direction of his father and was admitted to the bar in 1775. A strong supporter of the movement for independence, he served in the First North Carolina Regiment with distinction. He suffered heavy personal losses during the war as his father, brother, and uncle were killed, his plantation sacked, and his home destroyed. After the war he became a leading member of the bar and engaged in local politics; he married Suzanne Eagles. He served in the North Carolina General Assembly and in 1782 that body elected him attorney general, a post he held for almost nine years.
It was in this capacity that he argued the state's side in the case Bayard v. Singleton (1787). The case involved a North Carolina law that confiscated the property of Tories who had fled from the state. Although Moore eventually won on a technical point, the case is important because it involved one of the earliest and fullest discussions of the doctrine of judicial review.
During the 1780s Moore also supported the movement to create a stronger central government and in 1788 he played an important role in North Carolina's ratification of the United States Constitution. In the decade that followed he continued to practice law while remaining active in state and national politics. In December 1798 the North Carolina General Assembly elected him to the state's superior court; less than a year later President John Adams appointed him to the United States Supreme Court to replace fellow North Carolinian James Iredell.
Moore left only one recorded opinion as a Supreme Court justice: Bas v. Tingy (1800). His decision upheld the view that France during the undeclared naval war of 1798 and 1799 was an “enemy” nation. Moore's opinion enforced a 1799 law that allowed the recaptor of an American merchant ship seized by the French one half the value of the ship and its goods as salvage, provided it took place ninety‐six hours after the original capture. Although a member of the court at the time of Marbury v. Madison (1803), he did not participate in the decision and he acquiesced in Stuart v. Laird (1803). Moore's career made scarcely a ripple in American judicial history. Owing to ill health, Moore resigned from the Supreme Court in 1804 and returned to his home, where he helped establish the University of North Carolina.
Bibliography
- Leon Friedman,
Alfred Moore , in The Justices of the United States Supreme Court, 1789–1969, edited by Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, vol.1 (1969), pp. 269–279
— Richard E. Ellis
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Alfred Moore, Associate Justice, 1800–1804
• Born: May 21, 1755, New Hanover County, N.C.
• Education: studied law under his father
• Previous government service: North Carolina General Assembly, 1782, 1792; attorney general of North Carolina, 1782–91; judge, North Carolina Superior Court, 1799
• Appointed by President John Adams Dec. 6, 1799; replaced James Iredell, who died
• Supreme Court term: confirmed by the Senate Dec. 10, 1799, by a voice vote; resigned Jan. 26, 1804
• Died: Oct. 15, 1810, Bladen County, N.C.
Alfred Moore was a strong supporter of an independent United States of America during the 1770s conflict with the British. He served in the First North Carolina Regiment in the War of Independence and was recognized for his courage and ability as a military leader.
During the 1780s, Moore backed the movement for a strong federal government, which resulted in the framing of the Constitution of 1787. He helped to achieve ratification of the Constitution in North Carolina.
Moore served briefly on the Supreme Court because of ill health. In 1800, he wrote his only opinion for the Court in a case involving the capture of a French vessel by the U.S. navy during the undeclared naval war with France in 1798. The vessel had been owned by an American before its capture by the French. The court ruled that the former owner had to pay one-half the value of the ship in order to reclaim it from the U.S. government.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law:
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Moore, Alfred
As an associate justice, Alfred Moore served on the U.S. Supreme Court for five years. The ardent federalist, whose life and political career involved danger, controversy, and principled stands, left little mark on the Court's business during his service from 1799 to 1804. Although he fought in the Revolutionary War and later held high office in North Carolina, Moore's fire had mostly left him by the time President John Adams appointed him to the Supreme Court. Even at a time when the Court decided major cases, he either acquiesced to the majority or did not participate in certain decisions because of poor health. He wrote just one opinion, Bas v. Tingy, 4 U.S. (4 Dall.) 37, 1 L. Ed 731 (1800), important only in its historical relevance to the United States' undeclared naval war with France in the last years of the eighteenth century.
Moore was a youth during the country's difficult transition from British colony to independent nation. Born on May 21, 1755, in New Hanover County, North Carolina, he was the son of Maurice Moore, a colonial judge. Moore studied in Boston before being educated in law by his father, and he was admitted to the North Carolina bar at the age of twenty in 1775. Soon after, he fought against the British, first as a soldier and then as a saboteur. During the war, Moore's brother, father, and uncle were killed, the family plantation was ransacked, and their home was destroyed.
Moore was a member of the North Carolina legislature in 1782 and 1792. From 1782 to 1791, he served as the state's attorney general, arguing one particularly important case, Bayard v. Singleton, 1 N.C. (Mart.) 5 (1787), which marked one of the first complete discussions of the doctrine of judicial review (the authority of courts to determine the validity of legislation under the Constitution). A federalist who firmly believed in central government, he spearheaded North Carolina's ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788. In 1791 Moore took the strongest personal stand of his career when he resigned from the office of attorney general; he stepped down over the state legislature's creation of the office of solicitor general with powers equivalent to his, an action he saw as unconstitutional. He won reelection to the legislature but failed in a 1795 bid for the U.S. Senate by one vote.
In 1799 President John Adams nominated Moore to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created by the death of Associate Justice James Iredell. The next five years were pivotal ones for the Supreme Court, which expanded its powers of judicial review under the highly influential Chief Justice John Marshall. However, failing health minimized Moore's role. He did not participate in the most important decision of his day, Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 2 L. Ed. 60 (1803).
Moore's only recorded Supreme Court opinion is a five-paragraph statement on the undeclared naval war between France and the United States. This war reached its height in 1798 and 1799 and was fought chiefly over French claims to seize all cargo of British origin from both British and U.S. ships. Although Congress passed many acts in relation to the conflict, problems arose over the ownership of goods that were recaptured, and in one instance the issue was resolved by determining whether France and the United States were enemy nations. When Bas v. Tingy reached the Supreme Court in 1800, each of the four justices hearing the case agreed that the two nations were indeed foes. Moore's opinion declared, "It is for the honor and dignity of both nations … that they should be called enemies."
In 1804 Moore resigned from the Court. He died on October 15, 1810, in Bladen County, North Carolina, leaving as part of his legacy the establishment of the University of North Carolina.
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Alfred Moore
| Alfred Moore | |
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| Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court | |
| In office December 10, 1799 – January 26, 1804 |
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| Nominated by | John Adams |
| Preceded by | James Iredell |
| Succeeded by | William Johnson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 21, 1755 New Hanover County, North Carolina |
| Died | October 15, 1810 (aged 55) Bladen County, North Carolina |
| Political party | Federalist |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Alfred Moore (May 21, 1755 – October 15, 1810) was a distinguished North Carolina judge who became a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Moore Square, a park located in the Moore Square Historic District in Raleigh, North Carolina was named in his honor. Moore was buried at the St. Philip's Church near Wilmington.
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Family and early education
Moore was born in New Hanover County, North Carolina. Moore's father, Maurice, preceded him in the practice of law and served as a colonial judge in North Carolina. Alfred was sent to Boston to complete his education, but he returned to North Carolina and read law as an apprentice to his father before being admitted to the bar at the age of twenty.
Political career
In 1775 the American Revolutionary War broke out and Alfred served as a captain in the First Regiment, North Carolina Line, of which his uncle, James Moore, was colonel, and took part in the defense of Charleston, S.C. in June 1776. He resigned in 1777, but served in the militia against Cornwallis after the battle of Guilford Court House. The war was costly to the Moore family. British troops captured the Moore plantation and burned the family home, and Alfred’s father, brother, and an uncle were among those who served and died.
At the end of the war Moore was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly, which eventually elected him to serve as Attorney General; a position he held from 1782 to 1791. As Attorney General in 1787 he argued the State's case in Bayard v. Singleton [I NC (Mart) 5], which as decided (against the State) became an important early instance of the application of judicial review. Moore was an ardent Federalist favoring a strong national government and he took a leading role in securing North Carolina’s ratification of the United States Constitution after the state had initially rejected it in 1788. After North Carolina’s admission to the Union as the 12th state, Moore worked as a lawyer, was active in political affairs, and served as a judge of the superior court in 1798 and 1799. [1] He served in the North Carolina State legislature, but lost by a single vote in his run for the United States Senate.
Supreme Court Justice
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Moore was nominated by President John Adams to a seat vacated by James Iredell. Moore's service was terminated on January 26, 1804, due to resignation.
In 1799, Associate Justice James Iredell died suddenly. On December 4, 1799, President John Adams responded to the vacancy by nominating Moore, who was then confirmed by the United States Senate on December 10, 1799, receiving his commission the same day. At 4 feet 5 inches tall he is the shortest justice ever to sit on the Supreme Court and, due to poor health, Moore’s contribution to the court was abbreviated. In his five years of service he wrote only one opinion, upholding a conclusion that France was an enemy in the undeclared Quasi-War of 1798-1799. Moore's scant contribution led one Court observer to place him atop a list of the worst justices in the history of the Court.[1]
In the early 1780s, he married Suzanne Eagles. After leaving the Supreme Court in 1804, he helped found the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He died in Bladen County, North Carolina. His summer home, Moorefields, built around 1785 in Orange County, North Carolina near Hillsborough, still stands, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
References
- ^ Bernard Schwartz, "Ten Worst Supreme Court Justices", A Book of Legal Lists (1997).
- Alfred Moore at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
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| Preceded by James Iredell |
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States December 10, 1799 – January 26, 1804 |
Succeeded by William Johnson |
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- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
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Oxford Companion to the US Supreme Court
The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. Copyright © 1992, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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The Oxford Guide to the United States Government. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002 by John J. Patrick, Richard M. Pious, Donald M. Ritchie. All rights reserved.
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West's Encyclopedia of American Law
West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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