Wythe, George (1726-1806)

George Wythe (1726-1806)

Sources

Legal educator and innovator

Background. George Wythe (rhymes with “Smith”) was born in Elizabeth City County, Virginia, in 1726, the second son of Thomas and Margaret Wythe. His father, a prosperous farmer, died when Wythe was three years old. His mother, Margaret, a devout Quaker, taught him Latin and Greek and instilled in him an enthusiasm for learning. Wythe’s mother died when he was in his early adolescence, and he moved into the care of a family relation, a prominent lawyer named Stephen Dewey. He became an apprentice to Dewey and undertook a rigorous program of reading and self-education. In 1746, at the age of twenty, he passed the oral examination and was admitted to the practice of law.

Lawyer. Wythe joined John Lewis in the practice of law, riding the circuit through largely rural Virginia, enduring the punishing experience of travel on the primitive colonial roads. In December 1747 he married Lewis’s sister Ann, but she died a year later. Six years later he moved to Williamsburg, Virginia’s capital and educational center. Wythe brought with him a superb and wide-ranging education as well as a reputation for great legal skill and integrity. Wythe would refuse any case or client if he had the slightest doubt about the righteousness of the cause. He represented Williamsburg in the House of Burgesses in 1754 and 1755 and again from 1758 to 1761. He also served as mayor of Williamsburg in 1768. Wythe’s position as a political and social leader in the capital city was firmly established by his marriage in 1755 to Elizabeth Taliaferro, daughter of a prominent family.

Jefferson. Wythe occasionally took on young men for private instruction in the law. His most famous student was Thomas Jefferson, who began his studies in 1762. Jefferson joined Wythe’s lively social world—a world inhabited by local luminaries like Royal Governor Francis Fauquier and mathematics professor William Small—and later recalled Wythe as his “earliest and best friend” of whom “I am indebted for first impressions which have had the most salutary influence on the course of my life.”

Political Activity. When tensions began to emerge between the colonies and England, Wythe joined with those who asserted independence. In 1764 he wrote the Remonstrance to the House of Commons against the stamp tax. Wythe was a careful man not given to making quick decisions. In contrast to the more bombastic Patrick Henry, Wythe urged a calm, cautious approach. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775 and served through 1776. He signed the Declaration of Independence but then devoted himself to the reform and codification of the laws of his native Virginia.

A Loyal Son of Virginia. Wythe collaborated on a four-year project to collate the laws of the Virginia colony and participated with Jefferson and Edmund Pendleton in the process of revising the laws of the State of Virginia. As a member of a special committee to design a seal for Virginia, Wythe is believed to have been responsible for its design and motto: Sic semper tyrannis (Thus Ever to Tyrants). He was strongly against slavery, and in his will he provided for the liberation of his slaves.

Teacher of Law. Wythe’s most lasting contribution to the law was his tenure as the first law professor at the College of William and Mary. Then-governor of Virginia Thomas Jefferson recommended him for the position in December 1779. Wythe’s actual title was Professor of Law and Policy, a title reflecting the clear link between the practice of law and the maintenance of social order. Based on the William and Mary model, other law professorships were established at the College of Philadelphia and Brown College, Rhode Island, both in 1790; Columbia College, New York, in 1794; Yale College, Connecticut, in 1801; and Middlebury College, Connecticut, in 1806. Wythe referred to his classes as “a training ground for republican leadership.” Wythe’s curriculum for the study of law included Sir William Black-stone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769) and Francis Bacon’s The Elements of the Common Lawes of England (1630). Wythe’s method of instruction was notable for two reasons. First, although he used Blackstone and Bacon as the basis of readings in the law, he did not require rigid acceptance of the old common law. Rather, Wythe encouraged a process of inquiry which became one of the early efforts in adapting the common law to American needs. Wythe’s second innovation was the regular conduct of moot courts and mock legislatures to provide his students with practical experience. Through the use of mock legislatures Wythe helped his students realize the importance of lawmakers in the adaptation of laws to meet contemporary needs.

Judicial Review. Wythe resigned his position at William and Mary in 1790 and moved to Richmond, where he continued to serve as chancellor on the Virginia High Court of Chancery, a position he had held since 1778. Wythe was an early proponent of the idea of judicial review. In the case of Commonwealth v. Caton in 1782 Wythe declared that if the legislature acted improperly he would point “to the Constitution … and say to them, ‘here is the limit of your authority; and hither shall you go no further.’” His tenure as a judge is perhaps best remembered for his publication of his legal opinions, a spirited challenge to the reasoning of the Court of Appeals which often overturned him.

Last Years. Elizabeth Taliaferro Wythe died in 1787; her only child with Wythe had died in infancy. The legal scholar was alone in his last years except for three devoted household servants whom he intended to free upon his death. The old teacher continued to educate himself and took up the study of Hebrew—his seventh language—at the age of eighty. Wythe’s death was a tragic one. His grandnephew from his first marriage, George Wythe Sweeney, had run into financial difficulties. Greed compelled Sweeney to accelerate the time of his inheritance from Wythe and to eliminate the servants who were to share in his great-uncle’s will. Sweeney poisoned Wythe and the household servants with arseniclaced coffee. The youngest servant, Michael Brown, died quickly; the two others survived. Wythe lingered long enough to disinherit his murderer. He died on 8 June 1806 and was buried in Richmond.

Sources

Joyce Blackburn, George Wythe of Williamsburg (New York: Harper & Row, 1975);

Dumas Malone, Jefferson the Virginian (Boston: Little, Brown, 1948).