Bushrod Washington

(b. Virginia, 5 June 1762; d. Philadelphia, 26 Nov. 1829; interred family vault, Mount Vernon, Va.), associate justice, 1798–1829. Bushrod Washington was born into one of Virginia's leading families. He was George Washington's favorite nephew, eventually inheriting Mount Vernon and becoming executor of his uncle's estate, including his public and private papers, which he loaned out to Chief Justice John Marshall for his celebratory Life of George Washington.

Bushrod graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1778 and studied law under George Wythe. He joined the Continental Army in 1781. After the end of the Revolutionary War, he returned to Virginia and was admitted to the bar in 1784. As a practicing attorney, he developed a reputation for being hard working and learned in the law. He then entered politics and was elected a delegate to the Virginia ratifying convention, where he favored the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. During the 1790s he supported the Federalist party, and in 1798 John Adams appointed him to the United States Supreme Court.

Although he served on the Supreme Court for thirty‐one years, Washington is not really known for handing down any important decisions. Rather, he tended to go along with the opinions of John Marshall and Justice Joseph Story, which increased the powers of the federal government, protected private property rights, and encouraged economic development. In fact, so closely allied was he with Marshall that another member of the Court observed that they “are commonly estimated as a single judge.”

Washington's great strength was the patience, tact, and fairness he demonstrated while riding circuit, especially in politically charged jury trials. For example, he managed to enforce the Sedition Act of 1798 without arousing the strong partisan feelings that made Samuel Chase and William Paterson so controversial. Washington also presided over the important treason case United States v. Bright (1809). The case involved Michael Bright, a brigadier general of the Pennsylvania State Militia who had been officially ordered to prevent the enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Peters (1809). When President James Madison threatened to use force, the state backed down, and Bright and a number of other officers were arrested, convicted, and fined. The trial took place amid a great deal of political tension, but Washington maintained order throughout it while upholding the power of the national government. Upon sentencing Bright, Washington warned that a state simply did not have the right “to employ force to resist the execution of a decree of a federal court.” Satisfied that the authority of the federal government had been vindicated, Madison proceeded to pardon the officers on humanitarian grounds.

Washington handed down another important circuit court decision in Golden v. Prince (1814), when he ruled that the power to pass bankruptcy laws belonged exclusively to the federal government. He abandoned this position in Ogden v. Saunders (1827), which also was one of the few times he broke with Marshall. Two other Supreme Court decisions of note are a concurring opinion in Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819), where he tried to limit the more sweeping implications of the majority opinion, and Green v. Biddle (1823), where he delivered what eventually proved an unenforceable decision declaring various Kentucky laws, passed to protect actual settlers from absentee landlords, unconstitutional.

Bibliography

• Albert P. Blaustein and Roy M. Mersky, Bushrod Washington, in The Justices of the United States Supreme Court 1789–1969, edited by Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, vol. 1 (1969), pp. 243–257

— Richard E. Ellis

• Born: June 5, 1762, Westmoreland County, Va.
• Education: College of William and Mary, B.A., 1778; read law with James Wilson in Philadelphia, Pa.
• Previous government service: Virginia House of Delegates, 1787; Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788
• Appointed by President John Adams as a recess appointment Sept. 29, 1798; replaced James Wilson, who died; nominated by Adams Dec. 19, 1798
• Supreme Court term: confirmed by the Senate Dec. 20, 1798, by a voice vote; served until Nov. 26, 1829
• Died: Nov. 26, 1829, Philadelphia, Pa.

Bushrod Washington was George Washington's favorite nephew, who inherited his uncle's property at Mount Vernon. He served in the Continental Army under his Uncle George during the War of Independence. He studied law under James Wilson, whom Bushrod Washington succeeded on the Supreme Court.

Bushrod Washington served on the Supreme Court for 31 years, but he wrote no important decisions. Rather, his contributions came as an ardent supporter of Chief Justice Marshall's opinions. His ties to John Marshall were so close that another associate justice, William Johnson, said that they “are commonly estimated as a single judge."

Justice Washington and Chief Justice Marshall were together on the Supreme Court for 29 years. They disagreed only three times.

Washington, Bushrod, 1762–1829, American jurist, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; nephew of George Washington. He was an original member of Phi Beta Kappa at the College of William and Mary, where he was graduated in 1778. Having served (1780–82) in the American Revolution, he was a member of the Virginia house of delegates and of the Virginia convention that adopted (1788) the Constitution. In 1798 he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. He was executor of George Washington's estate and aided John Marshall in writing his biography of Washington. He helped organize the American Colonization Society in 1816.

Bushrod Washington served on the U.S. Supreme Court as an associate justice from 1798 to 1829. A strong Federalist and able jurist, Washington was tolerant and well-liked by other members of the bar. His reputation, though respectable, might shine more brightly today if it was not overshadowed by that of his contemporary and friend, Chief Justice John Marshall. Washington concurred with Marshall's opinions so often that jokes were made about them being one justice. Although he wrote a handful of significant opinions on contract law, Washington is remembered primarily as a stalwart supporter of the chief justice.

Born on June 5, 1762, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Washington enjoyed the benefits of an aristocratic life. He was a nephew of George Washington, the nation's first president, and the two were close. He inherited the president's estate at Mount Vernon. Tutored at home in his childhood, Washington later attended the College of William and Mary, graduating in 1778. He studied law privately until 1781 and then served in the Revolutionary War. In 1784 he was admitted to the Virginia bar.

Washington first practiced law in Alexandria, Virginia, where he also became involved in politics. In these early years of the young lawyer's life, he specialized in chancery cases— typical lawsuits under the now-antiquated system of equity law. Yet he had an eager mind and kept expanding the range of his experience. He became a keen supporter of Federalism, embracing its belief in strong federal government, and in 1787 won election to the Virginia House of Delegates. In 1788, as the nation was preparing to ratify the Constitution, he served as a delegate to Virginia's ratifying convention. By the late 1790s, Washington had established his own practice in Richmond, trained numerous lawyers, and written two enormous volumes of reports on cases as a recorder for the state's court of appeals. His legal and political experience prompted President John Adams to appoint him to the Supreme Court in 1798.

On the Court, Washington almost always followed the lead of Chief Justice Marshall. The two had been friends since their student days and shared political sympathies. Marshall, widely viewed as the greatest leader of the Court in history, was also an ardent judicial Federalist. Only three times did Washington vote differently from Marshall, and only once did he attach a concurring opinion to the chief justice's opinion. This was in Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 518, 4 L. Ed. 629 (1819), a landmark case that upheld the inviolability of contracts. Washington's cautious concurrence sought to limit the implications of the decision.

If the two men differed philosophically, it was only by degree. Washington wished to avoid conflicts with states' rights whenever possible. He dissented only twice during thirty-one years on the Court. In fact, as a trusted supporter of the chief justice during the early tumultuous years of Marshall's tenure, he even went so far as to discourage his colleagues from writing dissents when ordinary issues were involved.

Washington also made independent contributions to the Court. He wrote the first part of the decision in Ogden v. Saunders, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 213, 6 L. Ed. 606 (1827), which stated that any law passed before the execution of a contract is a valid part of that contract. He was noted for his fairness while "circuit riding"— traveling and performing the duties of a circuit judge, a routine though difficult task for Supreme Court justices in the early nineteenth century.

Washington died in Philadelphia on November 26, 1829.

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