Life of Reverdy Johnson (Classic Reprint)

Download or read book Life of Reverdy Johnson (Classic Reprint) written by Bernard Christian Steiner and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-08 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Life of Reverdy Johnson After the argument of his first case in the Supreme Court in 1806, another Maryland lawyer (Luther Martin was the first), William Pinkney, stepped to the front, where he remained until his death in 1822 - the undisputed head of the American Bar (Warren, History of American Bar, p. 259). William Pinkney remained the undisputed head of the Bar, until his death in 1822. Thereafter Daniel Webster over shadowed all others in the importance of cases argued and in the mastery of the great principles of constitutional law (op. cit., p. 368). William Wirt of Maryland continued in constant and vigorous practise until his death in 1834, and his place at the Bar was taken by Reverdy Johnson, who, for many years after Webster's death, was regarded as the leading American lawyer (op. cit., p. 411). The paragraphs which have just been quoted show the esteem in which the subject of this biography is held as a lawyer. His eminence is by no means confined to practice at the bar. Entering politics, he was elected to the United States Senate as a Whig, and, though he supported the loose construction and protective principles of his party, he broke from it as to the Mexican War. In Taylor's cabinet he served as attorney general. At the break up of the Whig party, he became a follower of Douglas. A Border State Union man, his efforts were notable in 1861 to prevent the secession of his state. While serving a second term in the United States Senate, his mediating position was an important one. He was thoroughly loyal, yet sympathized with the Southern people and, in the difficult period of reconstruction, he did much towards ameliorating conditions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.