USA > Ohio > Bench and bar of Ohio; a compendium of history and biography, Vol. II > Part 4
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The court and the country suffered a great loss in the death of Mr. Jus- tice Jackson. He was a great judge, and as a man and a colleague was one with whom intimate association was most delightful. He took much pleasure in the working out of the new system which he had foreshadowed so clearly in the bill he had introduced in the Senate when he represented Tennessee in that body. It is not too much to say that his reputation as a jurist gave the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals a standing at the outset, because it was known that as senior circuit judge he would be a permanent member of the court.
One effect of the establishment of the Circuit Court of Appeals has been to form a Bar of the Sixth Circuit. While its members have thus far taken united action only on funeral and festal occasions, the esprit du corps there mani- fested indicates that should need arise, the Sixth Circuit Bar can be relied on to throw a powerful professional influence in favor of legal reform. In high tone, in legal learning, in forceful argument, in brilliancy of forensic oratory, in real aid to the court, this Bar is second to none in the country.
OHIO IN THE FEDERAL COURTS.
THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT.
The Supreme Court of the United States, organized in 1789 under the Constitution of 1787, has always maintained a high standard of respectability. Originally the court was composed of six justices, but in 1863 Congress made provision for an additional member to meet the exigencies on the Pacific coast, which had been populated by Americans after the war with Mexico and the extraordinary gold discoveries. Land titles were complicated by Spanish and Mexican grants, the rights of settlers and the claims of miners. It was deemed expedient to have a member of the court familiar with these complications, and accordingly Stephen J. Field, who had been Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, was appointed. It is worthy of record here that his resig- nation was tendered in April, 1897, to take effect December 1st, and his period of service has been longer than that of any other justice. In 1869 two addi- tional members of the Supreme Court were provided for and appointed in order to secure an opinion of a majority of the judges affirming the constitutionality of the Legal Tender Act. During the one hundred and eight years of its existence the court has had but eight Chief Justices and fifty-one Associate Justices chosen from twenty-one States. Ohio enjoys the unique distinction of being twice honored by the selection of her eminent jurists to fill the office of Chief Justice. A brief general reference is appropriate in this connection. During the eight years of his administration Washington appointed three Chief Justices-John Jay, of New York, in 1789 ; John Rutledge, of South Carolina, in 1795 ; Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut, in 1796. John Adams appointed one-John Marshall, of Virginia, who served thirty-four years and achieved imperishable fame. Andrew Jackson appointed Roger Brooke Taney, of Maryland, who, although a good lawyer and a great jurist, is known chiefly in history for his extra-judicial opinion in the case of Dred Scott. Justice Taney served twenty-eight years. Lincoln appointed Salmon Portland Chase, of Ohio; and Grant appointed Morrison R. Waite, of Ohio; Cleveland appointed Melville W. Fuller, of Illinois. The State of Ohio has had repre- sentation on the Bench of the Supreme Court eighty-two years. No other State has a record equal to this except New York, which has already had a representation in the court for eighty-five years, with Justice Peck still on the Bench. Massachusetts has had a member of the court for seventy-eight years, with Justice Gray still serving. Pennsylvania has had representation sixty- three years, and Justice Shiras now in service. Twenty-nine Justices of the Supreme Court have died in office and fourteen have resigned. Ohio has had
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three Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, besides Edwin M. Stanton, who was nominated by President Grant and confirmed by the Senate, but died before taking his seat on the Bench. When it is remembered that Ohio became a State of the Union thirteen years after the Supreme Court of the United States was established, her relative share in the honors of that tribunal is the more remarkable. It certainly is a high compliment to the ability and character of her jurists.
JOHN McLEAN was the first Ohio representative on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, and he brought to the position great ability, broad learning and varied experience. He was a native of New Jersey, born in Morris county, March 1, 1785. He was really born into poverty. and the inhospitable conditions of his environment gave no promise of future greatness. His father, a poor, hard-working farmer, who was not anchored to any particular locality, changed his residence three times before the boy was a dozen years old. First, the family removed to Virginia, thence to Kentucky and thence to Ohio. Near the close of the century they settled, with some assurance of permanence, on the rich lands of Warren county, where John became familiar with toil and by the fire-light read such books as he could borrow. He was ambitious and resolute. His expanding mind refused to be satisfied with the rewards of the work of his hands. He craved better oppor- tunities for mental growth than the frontier farm afforded and was permitted to leave the home of his parents in 1803, to seek his own fortune. Prior to that time he had the advantage of two years' study under a private tutor, pay- ing his own expenses meanwhile by such work as he could find. At the age of eighteen he located in Cincinnati and found employment as copyist and writer in the office of the clerk of the court. He took up the study of the law meanwhile, improving all of his time in reading which was not employed at clerical work. His preceptor was Arthur St. Clair, son of the governor of Northwest Territory. He also availed himself of the Lyceum, in which he acquired the art of ready speaking and became strong in controversial discus- sion. His qualifications for practice were unusual for a young man of twenty- two, upon his admission to the Bar in 1807. His sholarship, obtained by the hardest, most patient work, was classical ; his mind was strong and flexible ; he was independent as to habits of thought and original as to method. His success was almost immediate and his growth rapid. Within five years he had gained a, reputation at the Bar amongst the foremost practitioners of Ohio, and then his public career opened. He was elected to Congress as a Democrat in October, 1812, and re-elected in 1814. He had no opposition in the second race and enjoyed the unique compliment of receiving the vote of every elector in the district who voted on that day. For one so young he exercised great influence as a member of the House and served on the most important com- mittees. He introduced and secured the passage of a bill providing for the payment of private citizens for property seized and appropriated to the public service. He had the courage to decline a candidacy for the United States Senate in 1815, when the election was reasonably assured. In 1816 he was
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elected judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and served six years. In 1823 he was appointed commissioner of the land office by President Monroe, and discharged the duties with such efficiency and intelligence as to hold the posi- tion during the Whig administration of John Quincy Adams. Although a strong Democrat, he did not endorse the views of Andrew Jackson regarding public office as the "spoils" of partisan victors, and declined to accept at the hands of Jackson both the war and naval porfolios which were tendered him. In the same year, however, (1829) he was nominated for associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, and the nomination was promptly confirmed by the Senate. His service on the Supreme Bench continued until his death, December 4, 1861, and he exhibited admirable judicial qualities. Among the noteworthy opinions which he wrote was the one in which he dissented from the views expressed by Chief Justice Taney in the historic Dred Scott case. Judge McLean, always benevolent in disposition and charitable in views and action, had become a Free-soiler in 1848, and joined the Republican party upon its organization in 1856. He was a man of strong character, inflexible will, and therefore opinionated. When his opinion was formed and the judg- ment expressed, it was unalterable. It is proper to add, he was conscientious and thorough. He won the regard of all who came into contact with him by the very nobility of his presence, the benignant expression of his countenance and the graciousness of his manners. On the Bench he was the incarnation of dignity, wisdom and erudition. He left one son, Nathaniel C. McLean, a suc- cessful lawyer and colonel of the Seventy-fifth Ohio Regiment in the war of the Rebellion.
NOAH HAYNES SWAYNE was one of the most distinguished jurists that Ohio has given to the nation. He was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, December 7, 1804, the youngest of five sons of Joshua Swayne, a prosperous and influential farmer, and a member of the Society of Friends. The family were Pennsylvanians, Francis Swayne, the earliest American progenitor, having come over with William Penn, and settled on a farm near Philadel- phia, which is still in the possession of his descendants. Joshua Swayne died in 1808, having, some two years previously, removed to Jefferson county, Virginia, and his widow, a woman of remarkable vigor of mind and excellence of character, carefully conducted the training and education of her sons. After being kept at school in the neighborhood until he was thirteen years old, Noah was sent to the academy of Jacob Mendenhall, at Waterford, in Loudon county, then in high repute with the Society of Friends. Two years after- wards he was placed with Dr. George A. Thornton, a prominent physician at Alexandria, Virginia, who conducted the business of an apothecary in connec- tion with his practice. It was intended that the studies begun here should be continued in a Philadelphia hospital, but the death of Dr. Thornton caused a change of plan, and fixed the mind of the student on the study of law as that of his choice. A collegiate education being regarded necessary in view of this change, he attended school at Alexandria, where he pursued his studies with great earnestness until thoroughly prepared for college, when his
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guardian found himself without the funds to send the boy through a four years' course. Ambitious and undaunted, Noah decided to enter at once the law office of Scott & Brooks at Warrenton, finding there, as a fellow student, Henry S. Foote, afterward governor of and senator from Mississippi. Admitted to the Bar in 1823, the non-slaveholding example of his father corresponding with his own views on the subject, he resolved to remove immediately to Ohio. The entire journey, as was the fashion of those days, was travelled on horseback. After passing at Zanesville the year of preliminary residence, at that time required by law before an attorney from another State could engage in practice, he opened an office in 1825 at Coshocton. His success was sudden, and during the year he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county, and held the office until elected to the legislature in 1829. In 1830 he was appointed United States attorney for the district of Ohio, and removed to Columbus, where the United States Courts for the State were then held. He declined later the office of presiding Common Pleas judge for the circuit, an office to which two years later he was elected
by the legislature. In 1832 he married at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, Miss Sarah Ann Wager of that place, and became by this marriage the owner of a number of slaves, who, by the joint act of himself and wife, were immediately manumitted. The years following until his elevation to the Supreme Bench, were devoted to his practice, and, after holding the office of district attorney nine years, he resigned. In 1837, with Alfred Kelly and Gustavus Swan as his associates, he was appointed by the legislature a commissioner to take charge of the State debt. Those commissioners faithfully applied themselves to their difficult task, and in three years restored the State credit and supplied the funds to complete the public works. Having in the most economical man- ner completed the work assigned, they resigned, after refusing to accept any compensation for their services. The controversy on the subject of the south- ern boundary of Michigan having occasioned much public excitement, Judge Swayne, with David T. Disney and William Allen, were sent by the governor of Ohio to Washington, and effected there a peaceful solution of the contro- versy. In 1840, Judge Swayne, Dr. William M. Awl and Dr. James Hoge were by the legislature appointed to ascertain and report the number of blind persons in the State, preparatory to erecting asylums for them. Their labors resulted in the establishment of the admirable asylum of Ohio for the blind, and also the asylums in Columbus for the deaf and dumb, and for lunatics and imbeciles. Noah Swayne was the confidant and assistant of Governor William Dennison and ably aided the governor in his preparation of levies of troops for the field. A complete change took place in the political opinion of Mr. Swayne in view of the war of secession, and he identified himself then and subsequently with the supporters of the Federal government. One of the law cases in which Judge Swayne achieved great celebrity was the trial of William Kissane and others in the United States Circuit Court, in 1853, for burning the steamboat Martha Washington to obtain the insurance. His opposing counsel in the case was Henry Stanbery, afterwards attorney-general of the United States.
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Among other distinguished lawyers engaged in the case were Judge Walker and Messrs. Ewing, Pugh and Pendleton. In 1839 Judge Swayne formed a partnership with James L. Bates, of Columbus, which continued until 1852. In 1853 Llewellyn Baber, a relation of Judge Swayne, succeeded Mr. Bates in the partnership. This partnership was dissolved April 1, 1860. In May, 1859, Judge Swayne appeared as co-counsel with Mr. Belden, United States district attorney in the famous fugitive slave cases, being pitted against Attor- ney-General Wolcott. The Sixth Circuit of the Supreme Court of the United States, comprising at that time Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois, was pre- sided over by the venerable Judge McLean, between whom and Judge Swayne a warm personal friendship had existed for many years, and the wish the former had often expressed that he might be succeeded by Judge Swayne was well known to leading members of the Bar within the circuit. The appearance of Judge Swayne before the Supreme Court at Washington about this time prob- ably induced members of that court to favor the appointment, and, on the unexpected death of Judge McLean, Judge Swayne was appointed by Presi- dent Lincoln in February, 1862, a justice of the United States Supreme Court, and he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate with expressions of general approval. He held the position of associate justice until 1881, when he was obliged, on account of advanced age, to resign. He died in New York City on June 8, 1884, at the age of eighty. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Yale, Dartmouth and Marietta colleges. Judge Swayne had nine children ; four sons-General Wager Swayne, Henry Foote Swayne, Noah and Frank Swayne; five daughters - Catherine, Rebecca, Virginia, Sallie and Mrs. Edward Parsons. The four daughters first named died in childhood and were buried in Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio.
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE was appointed Chief Justice by President Lin- coln in 1864, to succeed the venerable Justice Taney. Judge Chase stood a giant among men-physically, mentally, morally. He sprang from a union of English Puritans with Scotch Covenanters, and inherited the firmness and fortitude, the character and constancy which belonged to those sturdy reli- gionists. He was born at Cornish, New Hampshire, January 13, 1808, eighth of the eleven children of Ithamer Chase and Janette Ralston. His father, a farmer of very moderate means, who died too early to have any part in his rearing or education, belonged to a family of much prominence and distinc- tion. One brother, Dudley Chase, was a senator of the United States for New Hampshire ; another, Philander Chase, was a distinguished bishop of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church. Salmon was a very industrious youth, working hard in season, during the day, and studying at times when boys more favored of fortune slept. He became the protege of his uncle Philander, whom he accom- panied to the West, when that dignitary was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio. At Worthington he continued to work and at the same time con- tinued his studies under safe and wise direction. When the uncle went to Cincinnati as president of the college Salmon went with him, entered the col- lege and pursued its course of study one year. He then returned East, entered
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the Junior class at Dartmouth, completed the course and was graduated in 1826. He paid his expenses by tutoring and work outside. On leaving college, when little more than eighteen years of age, he went to Washington. D. C., where he engaged for a while in teaching a classical school. This was not an unqual- ified success, except for the extremely fortunate circumstance of having for his pupils the sons of some very distinguished Americans, among whom were Henry Clay and William Wirt. The latter, famous both as an orator and a lawyer, conceived a fancy for young Chase and induced him to take up the study of law. For three years he studied under the direction of Mr. Wirt, and then, in 1829, located in Cincinnati for practice. During the first years his time was not fully occupied with law business and he wisely employed his leis- ure in compiling a new edition of the Ohio Statutes, including the territorial enactments. This work completed bore such evidence of painstaking, such discriminating judgment and thorough knowledge of legal principles, as to give the young lawyer a definite standing in the profession and attract to him desirable clients. The historical introduction to "Chase's Statutes" arrested attention by its accuracy of statement and pure literary style. Thencefor- ward he was a busy man and a successful lawyer. All of the powers of his great mind were concentrated and devoted to acquiring a deep and thorough knowledge of the principles of the law ; and to the application of those princi- ples, as well as statutes, in the trial of causes. He won his way to the fore- front by the time he was forty years of age. One or two cases tried in the early years of his practice contributed much to his fame, evidencing as they did his independence and his disposition to antagonize slavery, no less than his original views of the constitutional rights and limitations of the system. A slave woman known as Matilda, brought to Cincinnati by her master, refused to return to bondage ; and Salmon P. Chase, then a very young practitioner, conducted her suit for freedom. He contended that slavery, being naturally wrong and repugnant to the common law, could only be maintained by special enactment, and slaveholders had no right to retain possession or control of their slaves in a free State. He was also counsel of James G. Birney, aboli- tionist publisher, in the prosecution of a mob that destroyed his presses and type in Cincinnati. His convictions on the subject of slavery were deep and firm enough to influence his political action. He was a democrat in a broad sense and acted with the Democratic party during the early part of his political career ; although he was a leader in every convention and popular movement to restrict slavery. In 1849, by a fusion of the Free-soilers and Democrats in the legislature, he was elected to the United States Senate, and soon became conspicuous as a member of that body for his powerful opposition to the compromise measures of 1850, which gave birth to the Fugitive Slave Law. He broke with the Democratic party in 1852, when the platform of its national convention endorsed that law and denounced any further discussion of slavery as a moral and political question. At the close of his term as sena- tor, in 1855, he was elected governor of Ohio by the anti-administration voters of all parties, and was re-elected in 1857. In this office he displayed rare
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executive ability. Foreseeing the issue of civil war, lie organized the militia of the State and placed it on a war footing. His name was proposed in the Republican convention of 1860 as a candidate for President, and he received the votes of forty-nine delegates. He was appointed by his gubernatorial suc- cessor a member of the Peace Conference held in Washington at the instance of Virginia early in 1861. As one of the ablest and most eminent members of that body, he labored to induce the Southern leaders to trust Mr. Lincoln, and seek redress of their alleged grievances in the Union and under the Constitu- tion. With deep feeling he urged them to halt and ponder the situation. In closing his appeal he said : "On the coming 4th of March Mr. Lincoln will be inaugurated, and take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States-of all the United States, and that oath will bind him to take care that the laws are faithfully executed throughout the United States. Will secession absolve him from that oath ? If the President does his duty, and seces- sion or revolution result, what tlien ? Civil war. Let us not plunge madly into that unfathomable gulf." When Mr. Lincoln became President he nominated Mr. Chase for secretary of the treasury, and the Senate promptly confirmed the nomination. Mr. Chase accepted the position, impressed deeply and solemnly with a sense of the responsibility it imposed. The treasury was empty, and the credit of the government was much impaired by the vacillating policy of the last administration. Secretary Chase was, at the threshold of his career as head of the treasury department, confronted by problems not less momentous and perplexing, and certainly much more embarrassing, than those which engaged Alexander Hamilton seventy years earlier. He was obliged to devise and formulate a system of raising revenue on a stupendous scale unprecedented in the history of the country. He must calmly and patiently create a fiscal policy at a time when one-third of the States had formally withdrawn from the Union and menaced the government by rebellion. The credit of the Nation must be restored so that money could be borrowed at reasonable rates of inter- est, and the chief reliance for Joans must be our own people. Theretofore Mr. Chase had not been prominent as a financier. No situation in his life had called into action talents distinctively financial; but now he rose grandly to the occasion, and his genius created a system of finance sufficiently elastic to meet the exigencies and enormous requirements of the civil war and the moderate demands of a condition of peace. He entertained some doubt as to the constitutional power of the government to issue its treasury notes except as a war measure, and his doubt was shared by half the judges of the Supreme Court. A majority of that tribunal, however, after two justices had been added, settled the question by an affirmative decision. His greatest achieve- ment for posterity was the substitution of National for State banks. Mr. Chase was ambitious. He desired the Presidency of the United States. Many of his intimate friends urged his candidacy in 1864, while a large majority of the party favored the renomination of Mr. Lincoln. In June, 1864, Mr. Chase resigned from the Cabinet, and in November of the same year President Lin- coln appointed him Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He
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was an ideal Chief Justice, possessing in the highest degree the talents and attributes which enabled him to honor the position. He was a superb speci- men of physical manhood ; his frame was large, his carriage erect and stately ; his head magnificent in its proportions and poise; his features were regular and refined, and his air altogether distinguished. Few Americans have been permitted to round out a career of equal greatness and usefulness. Mr. Chase was married three times. His first wife died in 1835, after one year of mar- ried life ; his second lived six years, dying in 1845: his third also lived six years, dying in 1852. His brilliant daughter, for whom his attachment was singularly strong, presided with charming grace in his Washington home while he was Secretary and Chief Justice. Judge Chase was a man of the most refined taste and undoubted purity. He was at all times-under perfect self-control. He died in 1873.
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