Research topic: Augustus Hill Garland

Augustus Hill Garland 1832-99, American lawyer and politician, b. Tipton co., Tenn. He became a prominent lawyer in Arkansas and during the Civil War served in the Confederate House of Representatives (1861-64) and Senate (1864-65). After the war, he was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. He could not practice law, however, because of a congressional act of Jan., 1865, that debarred former members of the Confederate government. This led to Ex parte Garland (1867), a Supreme Court case in which Garland successfully pleaded that since the act was an ex post facto law it was unconstitutional.... Read more