Benjamin Robbins Curtis (November 4, 1809 – September 15, 1874) was an American lawyer and judge. He served as an
associate justice of the United States Supreme Court
An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is any member of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1 ...
from 1851 to 1857. Curtis was the first and only
Whig justice of the Supreme Court, and was also the first Supreme Court justice to have a formal law degree. He is often remembered as one of the two dissenters in ''
Dred Scott v. Sandford
''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, enslaved or free; th ...
'' (1857).
Curtis resigned from the Supreme Court in 1857 to return to private legal practice in
Boston, Massachusetts. In 1868, Curtis was President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...
's defense lawyer during
Johnson's impeachment trial.
Early life and education
Curtis was born November 4, 1809, in
Watertown, Massachusetts, the son of Lois Robbins and Benjamin Curtis, the captain of a
merchant vessel. Young Curtis attended common school in
Newton and beginning in 1825
Harvard College, where he won an essay writing contest in his junior year. At Harvard, he became a member of the
Porcellian Club. He graduated in 1829, and was a member of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ar ...
. He graduated from
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class i ...
in 1832.
First private practice
Admitted to the Massachusetts bar later that year, Curtis began his legal career. In 1834, he moved to Boston and joined the law firm of Charles P. Curtis, where he developed expertise in
admiralty law
Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...
and also became known for his familiarity with
patent law
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
.
In 1836, Curtis participated in the Massachusetts "
freedom suit" of ''
Commonwealth v. Aves'' as one of the attorneys who unsuccessfully defended a slaveholding father. When New Orleans resident Mary Slater went to Boston to visit her father, Thomas Aves, she brought with her a young
slave girl about six years of age, named Med. While Slater fell ill in Boston, she asked her father to take care of Med until she (Slater) recovered. The
Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society
The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (1833–1840) was an abolitionist, interracial organization in Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century. "During its brief history ... it orchestrated three national women's conventions, organized a mult ...
and others sought a writ of ''
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
'' against Aves, contending that Med became free by virtue of her mistress' having brought her voluntarily into Massachusetts. Aves responded to the writ, answering that Med was his daughter's slave, and that he was holding Med as his daughter's agent.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, through its Chief Justice,
Lemuel Shaw
Lemuel Shaw (January 9, 1781 – March 30, 1861) was an American jurist who served as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1830–1860). Prior to his appointment he also served for several years in the Massachusetts House ...
, ruled that Med was free, and made her a ward of the court. The Massachusetts decision was considered revolutionary at the time. Previous decisions elsewhere had ruled that slaves voluntarily brought into a free state, and who resided there many years, became free, ''Commonwealth v. Aves'' was the first decision which held that a slave voluntarily brought into a free state became free the moment they arrived. The decision in this freedom suit proved especially controversial in slaveholding southern states. As with his fellow Massachusettsan and Harvard graduate
John Adams, Curtis's willingness to serve as defense attorney for the Aves family was not necessarily reflective of his personal or legal views (''cf.'' his dissent in the 1857
Dred Scott decision
''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, enslaved or free; thu ...
, 21 years later and 6 years into his term as an Associate Supreme Court Justice.
Curtis became a member of the
Harvard Corporation
The President and Fellows of Harvard College (also called the Harvard Corporation or just the Corporation) is the smaller and more powerful of Harvard University's two governing boards, and is now the oldest corporation in America. Together with ...
, one of the two governing boards of Harvard University, in February 1846. In 1849, he was elected to the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
. Appointed chairman of a committee to reform state judicial procedures, they presented the
Massachusetts Practice Act of 1851. "It was considered a model of judicial reform and was approved by the legislature without amendment."
At the time, Curtis was viewed as a rival to
Rufus Choate, and was thought to be the preeminent leader of the
New England bar. Curtis came from a politically connected family, and had studied under
Joseph Story and
John Hooker Ashmun at Harvard Law School. His legal arguments were thought to be well-reasoned and persuasive. Curtis was a
Whig and in tune with their politics, and Whigs were in power. As a potential young appointee, he was thought to be the seed of a long and productive judicial career. He was appointed by the president, approved by the Senate, elevated to the Supreme Court bench, but was gone in six years.
Supreme Court service
Curtis received a
recess appointment to the United States Supreme Court on September 22, 1851 by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Millard Fillmore, filling the vacancy caused by the death of
Levi Woodbury. Massachusetts Senator
Daniel Webster persuaded Fillmore to nominate Curtis to the Supreme Court, and was his primary sponsor.
Formally nominated on December 11, 1851, Curtis was confirmed by the
United States Senate on December 20, 1851, and received his commission the same day. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1854.
He was the first Supreme Court Justice to have earned a law degree from a law school. His predecessors had either "
read law" (a form of
apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
in a practicing firm) or attended a law school without receiving a degree.
His opinion in ''
Cooley v. Board of Wardens'' 53 U.S. 299 (1852) held that the Commerce Power as provided in the
Commerce Clause
The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among ...
, U.S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 3, extends to laws related to
pilotage. States laws related to commerce powers can be valid so long as Congress is silent on the matter. That resolved a historic controversy over federal
interstate commerce powers. To this day, it is an important precedent in commerce cases.
The issue was whether states can regulate aspects of commerce or whether that power is exclusive to Congress. Curtis concluded that the federal government has exclusive power to regulate commerce only when national uniformity is required. Otherwise, states may regulate commerce.
Curtis was one of the two dissenters in the ''
Dred Scott'' case, in which he disagreed with essentially every holding of the court. He argued against the majority's denial of the bid for
emancipation by the slave Dred Scott. Curtis stated that, because there were black citizens in both Southern and Northern states at the time of the drafting of the federal Constitution, black people thus were clearly among the "people of the United States" contemplated thereunder. Curtis also opined that because the majority had found that Scott lacked standing, the Court could not go further and rule on the merits of Scott's case.
Curtis resigned from the court on September 30, 1857, in part because he was exasperated with the fraught atmosphere in the court engendered by the case.
As one source puts it, "a bitter disagreement and coercion by
Roger Taney
Roger Brooke Taney (; March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was the fifth chief justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. Although an opponent of slavery, believing it to be an evil practice, Taney belie ...
prompted Benjamin Curtis's departure from the Court in 1857." However, others view the cause of his resignation as having been both temperamental and financial. He did not like "
riding the circuit," as Supreme Court Justices were then required to do. He was temperamentally estranged from the court and was not inclined to work with others. He was not a team player, at least on that team. The acrimony over the Dred Scott decision had blossomed into mutual distrust. He did not want to live on $6,500 per year, much less than his earnings in private practice.
Return to private practice
Upon his resignation, Curtis returned to his Boston law practice, becoming a "leading lawyer" in the nation. During the ensuing decade and a half, he argued several cases before the Supreme Court.
Although Curtis initially was supportive of
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
as President, by 1863 he was criticizing Lincoln’s “utter incompetence”, and publicly argued that the
Emancipation Proclamation was unconstitutional. This put Curtis out of the running when Lincoln had to choose a successor to Chief Justice
Roger Taney
Roger Brooke Taney (; March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was the fifth chief justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. Although an opponent of slavery, believing it to be an evil practice, Taney belie ...
who died in October 1864. In the presidential campaign of that year, Curtis supported Democrat
George B. McClellan against Lincoln.
In 1868, Curtis acted as defense counsel for President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...
during
Johnson's impeachment trial. He read the answer to the
articles
Article often refers to:
* Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness
* Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication
Article may also refer to:
...
of
impeachment
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
, which was "largely his work". His
opening statement
An opening statement is generally the first occasion that the trier of fact (jury or judge) has to hear from a lawyer in a trial (law), trial, aside possibly from questioning during voir dire. The opening statement is generally constructed to ser ...
lasted two days, and was commended for legal prescience and clarity.
He successfully persuaded the
Senate that an
impeachment
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
was a judicial act, not a political act, so that it required a full hearing of evidence. This precedent "influenced every subsequent impeachment".
After the impeachment trial, Curtis declined President Andrew Johnson's offer of the position of
U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
.
A highly recommended candidate for the Chief Justice position upon the death of
Salmon P. Chase in 1873, Curtis was passed over by President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...
.
He was the unsuccessful
Democratic candidate for U.S. senator from Massachusetts in 1874.
From his judicial retirement in 1857 to his death in 1874, his aggregate professional income was about $650,000.
Personal life
Curtis had 12 children and was three times married.
Death and legacy
Curtis died in
Newport, Rhode Island, on September 15, 1874. He is buried at
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge and Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, west of Boston. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahm ...
, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. On October 23, 1874, Attorney General
George Henry Williams presented in the Supreme Court the resolutions submitted by the bar on Curtis's death and shared observations on Judge Curtis's defense of President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...
in the articles of impeachment against him.
Curtis's daughter, Annie Wroe Scollay Curtis, married (on December 9, 1880) future
Columbia University President and
New York Mayor Seth Low
Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885, the president of Columbia University from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of ...
.
["Seth Low" by Gerald Kurland, New York, Twayne Publishers, 1971] They had no children.
Published works
''Reports of Cases in the Circuit Courts of the United States''(2 vols., Boston, 1854)
''Judge Curtis's Edition of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States'' with notes and a digest (22 vols., Boston: Little Brown & Company, 1855).
''Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States from the origin of the court to 1854'' Little Brown & Co., (1864). ''Memoir and Writings''(2 vols., Boston, 1880), the first volume including a memoir by Curtis's brother,
George Ticknor Curtis
George Ticknor Curtis (November 28, 1812 – March 28, 1894) was an American historian, lawyer, and writer.
Biography
Curtis was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 1832 and then Harvard Law School. After ...
, and the second "Miscellaneous Writings," edited by the former Justice's son, Benjamin R. Curtis, Jr.
See also
*
Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States
*
Dual federalism
Dual federalism, also known as layer-cake federalism or divided sovereignty, is a political arrangement in which power is divided between the federal and state governments in clearly defined terms, with state governments exercising those powers ...
*
List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
*
List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office
*
Origins of the American Civil War
Historians who debate the origins of the American Civil War focus on the reasons that seven Southern states (followed by four other states after the onset of the war) declared their secession from the United States (the Union) and united to ...
*
United States Supreme Court cases during the Taney Court
References
*
Further reading
*
*
* Flanders, Henry
''The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court'' Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874 at
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
.
*
*
* Huebner, Timothy S.; Renstrom, Peter; coeditor. (2003) ''The Taney Court, Justice Rulings and Legacy''. City: ABC-Clio Inc. .
Leach, Richard H. ''Benjamin Robins Curtis, Judicial Misfit''. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Dec., 1952), pp. 507-523 (article consists of 17 pages) Published by: The New England Quarterly, Inc.
* Leach, Richard H. ''Benjamin R. Curtis: Case Study of a Supreme Court Justice'' (Ph.D. diss.,
Princeton University, 1951).
*
*
*Simon, James F. (2006) ''Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession, and the President's War Powers'' (Paperback) New York:
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
, 336 pages. .
*
External links
*
Fox, John, The First Hundred Years, Biographies of the Robes, Benjamin Robinson Curtis.'' Public Broadcasting Service.
New Publications, ''Judge Benjamin R. Curtis, A Memoir of Benjamin Robbins Curtis, LL.D. With Some of his Professional and Miscellaneous Writings, Edited by his son, Benjamin R. Curtis'', (October 19, 1879). The New York Times.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Benjamin Robbins
1809 births
1874 deaths
19th-century American Episcopalians
19th-century American judges
19th-century American politicians
American Unitarians
Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Harvard Law School alumni
Members of the defense counsel for the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson
Freedom suits in the United States
Massachusetts lawyers
Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Massachusetts Whigs
People from Watertown, Massachusetts
United States federal judges appointed by Millard Fillmore
Recess appointments
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law
19th-century American memoirists