Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion

by David Barton

  Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785; Rhode Island) Public official and jurist; an avid reader, but without a formal education; member of the General Assembly (1732-52,1770-75) and its speaker (1738-44, 1749); Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas (1739); founder of the town library of Providence (1750); Chief Justice of the Superior Court (1751-54); delegate to the Colonial Congress (1754); Colonial Governor of Rhode Island (1755- 56, 1758-61, 1763-64, 1767); Chief Justice of the Superior Court (1773); member of the Continental Congress (1774-76) where he signed the Declaration of Independence (1776); member of the committee to prepare the Articles of Confederation (1777); member of the General Assembly (1777-79).

  Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791; Pennsylvania, New Jersey) Attorney, public official, jurist and poet; graduated from University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia (1757); admitted to the bar (1761); secretary of a commission of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania which formed a treaty with several Indian tribes (1761); member of the Provincial Council in New Jersey (1774-76); declined the office of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey (1776); member of the Continental Congress (1776) where he signed the Declaration of Independence (1776); judge of Pennsylvania admiralty court (1779-89); U. S. federal Judge (1789-91); first president of the American Philosophical Society (1769); noted literary figure, poet, and satirist; author of the first purely American hymn book, setting the Psalms to music.

  William Churchill Houston (1746-1788; New Jersey) Graduated from Princeton (1768); Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Princeton (1771); deputy secretary of the Continental Congress (1775-76); Captain during the Revolution; member of the New Jersey Assembly (1777-79); member of the New Jersey Council of Safety (1778); admitted to the bar (1781); member of the Continental Congress (1784-85); delegate to the Annapolis Convention which preceded the Constitutional Convention (1786); delegate to the Constitutional Convention but he did not sign the Constitution because of illness (1787).

  Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948; New York) Public official and jurist; father was a methodist preacher, but Hughes converted to the Baptist church; Hughes entered Madison University at fourteen, then graduated from Brown University (1881); graduated from Columbia Law School and began practice (1884); taught law at Cornell University (1891-93); served as legislative council (1905); Governor of New York (1906-10); appointed as Associate Justice to the U. S. Supreme Court by President Howard Taft (1910-16); Secretary of State under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge (1921-25); appointed Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court by President Herbert Hoover (1930-41).

  David Hume (1711-1776; Scotland) Scottish political philosopher, educator, and soldier; unsuccessful in both law and business; spent a year in England as a tutor then became an officer and an aide-de-camp on an expedition to France, Vienna and Turin; authored A Treatise of Human Nature (1739) in three volumes later republished as An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), and Part Two of Four Dissertations (1757); many of his theories were harshly criticized by America’s Founding Fathers.

  Benjamin Huntington (1736-1800; Connecticut) Attorney, public official, and jurist; graduated from Yale (1761); admitted to the bar (1765); member of the State House of Representatives (1771-80) and its Speaker (1778-79); member of the Continental Congress (1780, 1782-83, 1788); member of the State Senate (1781-90, 1791-93); mayor of Norwich (1784-96); member of the U. S. House of Representatives (1789-91) where he helped frame the Bill of Rights; judge of the Superior Court of the State (1793-98).

  Samuel Huntington (1731-1796; Connecticut) Attorney, jurist, and public official; studied Latin and law on his own and was admitted to the bar (1758); member of the State General Assembly (1764); justice-of-the-peace for New London County (1765-75); member of a Committee for the Defense of the Colony (1775); member of the Continental Congress (1775-84) where he signed the Declaration of Independence (1776) and served as President of Congress (1779); Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut (1784); Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut (1785); Governor of Connecticut (1786-96); received a doctorate from Dartmouth (1785) and from Yale (1787).

  John Huss (circa 1373-1415; Bohemia) Catholic priest, Bohemian reformer, and martyr; rector or curate of the Bethlehem Chapel (1402); in his independent study of the Scriptures, found many teachings which he believed exposed wrong church practices and he became critical of those corruptions; his studies eventually led him to agree with the teachings of Wycliffe; participated in the meeting in Constance between Sigismund and Pope John XXIII for the restoration of the unity of the church and its reform (1413); was charged with heretical teaching and inflammatory preaching, seized and thrown into prison; he was given an opportunity to recant his beliefs but he declined; was burned at the stake (1415).

  Jared Ingersoll (1749-1822; Pennsylvania) Public official, and jurist; graduated from Yale (1766); member of the Continental Congress (1780-81); delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the federal Constitution (1787); Attorney-General of Pennsylvania (1790-99, 1811-17); U. S. District Attorney (1800-01); unsuccessful candidate for Vice-President of the United States (1812); judge of the District Court of Philadelphia County (1821-22).

  Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899; Illinois) Attorney, soldier, public official, and philosopher; son of a Congregational clergyman; no formal education; admitted to the bar (1854); unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives and then converted to Republicanism (1860); Colonel of a calvary regiment during the Civil War (1861-63); Attorney-General of Illinois (1867); during the spread of Darwinism, Ingersoll took to the lecture platform in its support and traveled widely, teaching on scientific and humanistic rationalism; was titled “The Great Agnostic.”

  James Iredell (1751-1799; England, North Carolina) Attorney, public official, and jurist; no formal education; sailed from England to become Comptroller of His Majesty’s Customs (1768); admitted to the bar (1770); judge of the State Superior Court (1777-78); State Attorney-General (1779-81); appointed by President George Washington to the U. S. Supreme Court (1790-99).

  Andrew Jackson (1767-1845; Tennessee, Florida) Attorney, soldier, jurist, and public official; as a young boy was captured and injured by the British during the Battle of Hanging Rock (1780); studied law in Salisbury, North Carolina, and admitted to the bar (1787); delegate to the State constitutional conventions (1791 and 1796); member of the U. S. House of Representatives (1796-97); U. S. Senator (1797-98, 1823-25); judge of the State Supreme Court of Tennessee (1798-1804); commander of the Tennessee forces in the Creek Indian War (1813); Major-General in the U. S. Army (1814); claimed the victory in the Battle of New Orleans (1815); commanded an expedition which captured Pensacola, Florida (1817); Military Governor of Florida (1821); Seventh President of the United States, serving two terms (1828-37); known as “Old Hickory.”

  Robert Houghwout Jackson (1892-1954; New York) Attorney and jurist; entered Albany Law School; admitted to the bar (1913); appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as General Counsel for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (1934); Department of Justice (1936); Assistant Attorney-General of the Antitrust Division, Solicitor General (1938-39); Attorney-General under Franklin D. Roosevelt (1940-41); appointed to the U. S. Supreme Court by Roosevelt (1941-45); appointed to the International Military Tribunal (Nürnberg Trials) by President Harry S. Truman (1945).

  John Jay (1745-1829; New York) Attorney, public official, diplomat, jurist; graduated from Columbia (1766); admitted to bar (1766); member of the Continental Congress (1774-76, 1778-79) where he was President of Congress (1778-79); helped write the New York State constitution (1777); authored first manual on military discipline (1777); Chief Justice of New York Supreme Court (1777-78); appointed minister to Spain (1779); signed the final peace treaty with Great Britain (1783); one of the three coauthors, along with James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, of the Federalist Papers instrumental in securing the ratification of the Constitution (1788); ap
pointed first Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court by President George Washington (1789-95) and later declined a reappointment as Chief Justice by President John Adams; Governor of New York (1795-1801); vice-president of the American Bible Society (1816-21) and its president (1821-27); member of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

  Martha Jefferson (1748-1782; Virginia) Wife of Thomas Jefferson; first marriage was at eighteen to Bathurst Skelton (1766) who died two years later; next married Thomas Jefferson (1772); forced to flee to avoid British capture (1779); never recovered her health and eventually died (1782); they had six children, five daughters and one son, and only three daughters survived their mother.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826; Virginia) Attorney, diplomat, public official, educator; member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1769-75); member of Virginia Committee of Correspondence; member of the Continental Congress (1775-76) where he was a signer and the principle author of the Declaration of Independence (1776); member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1776-79) where he introduced proposals for the complete abolition of the slave trade and total religious freedom; Governor of Virginia (1779-81); reelected to the Continental Congress (1783); sent with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to negotiate treaties with European nations (1784); after returning (1789), Jefferson served as Secretary of State under President George Washington (1790-93) and as Vice-President under President John Adams (1797-1801); elected as third President of the United States he served two terms (1801-09); retired to Monticello where he helped found the University of Virginia (1819); died on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1826) a few hours before fellow-signer John Adams; wrote his own epitaph, which declared, “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”

  William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819; Connecticut) Public official, jurist, and educator; graduated from Yale (1744) and Harvard (1747); member of the Colonial House of Representatives (1761, 1765); delegate to the Stamp Act Congress (1765); member of the Upper House (1766, 1771-75); judge of Connecticut Supreme Court (1772-74); member of Continental Congress (1785-87); delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the federal Constitution (1787); first president of Columbia College (1787-1800); U. S. Senator (1789-91); late in life, helped to organize the Protestant Episcopal Church in America.

  William Johnson (1771-1834; South Carolina) Attorney, public official, and jurist; graduated from Princeton (1790); admitted to the bar (1793); member of the State House of Representatives (1794-98) and became its Speaker (1798); elevated to the State Constitutional Court (1799); appointed to the U. S. Supreme Court by President Thomas Jefferson (1802-31); often at conflict with Justice Joseph Story and only Justices John Marshall and Joseph Story authored more opinions than Johnson.

  Samuel Johnston (1733-1816; North Carolina) Attorney, public official, and jurist; studied law and admitted to the bar (1754); member of the State Assembly (1759-75); member of the Committee of Correspondence (1773); member of the Council of Safety (1775); member of the State Senate (1779, 1783, 1784); member of the Continental Congress (1780); Governor of North Carolina, (1787-89); delegate to the State convention which refused to ratify the federal Constitution (1788) and delegate to the State convention which eventually ratified (1789); U. S. Senator (1789-93) and helped frame the Bill of Rights; superior court judge (1800-03); first trustee of the University of North Carolina and remained such for twelve years.

  Walter Jones (1776-1861; Virginia) Attorney, soldier, and public official; read law in Richmond under Bushrod Washington (the U. S. Supreme Court Justice and nephew of George Washington) and was admitted to the bar of Virginia (1796); appointed U. S. Attorney for the District of Potomac by President Thomas Jefferson (1802); fought in the battle of Bladensburg and commissioned by President James Monroe as a Brigadier-General of militia (1821); served as co-counsel with Daniel Webster in Vidal v. Girard’s Executors (1844).

  William Jones (1753-1822; Rhode Island) Merchant, soldier, public official; varied career including four years service in the military during the Revolution (commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1776); Justice-of-the-Peace; member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island (1807-11); Governor (1811-17); president of the Rhode Island Bible Society; vice-president of the American Bible Society.

  Anthony McLeod Kennedy (1936- ; California) Attorney and jurist; graduated from Stanford University (1958); Harvard Law School (1961); pursued private practice (1961-75); appointed to the Ninth Federal Circuit Court of Appeals by President Gerald Ford (1975-1988); appointed to the U. S. Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan (1988- ); difficult to categorize him philosophically since he has shown a proclivity to reverse his own positions in Supreme Court decisions; heavily criticized by both conservative and liberal members of the Court for his inconsistency.

  James Kent (1763-1847; New York) Attorney, jurist, public official, educator; graduated from Yale (1781); admitted to the bar (1785); member of the New York Assembly (1791-93, 1796-97); first Professor of Law at Columbia College (1793-98, 1824-25); judge on the State Supreme Court (1798-1814) and its Chief Justice (1804-14); Chancellor (Chief Judge) of the New York Court of Chancery (Equity) (1814-23); wrote the celebrated Commentaries on American Law (1826-30) which retained the major principles of Blackstone’s Commentaries while supplying American precedents; credited with originating the practice of issuing written opinions in judicial decisions; his contributions to American law have caused him to be called, along with Justice Joseph Story, the “Father of American Jurisprudence.”

  Francis Scott Key (1779-1843; Maryland) Attorney; graduated from St. John’s College (1796); began law practice (1801) known especially for his authorship of the National Anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”; his words for that song came from events surrounding the British retreat from Washington, D. C., in the War of 1812 when prominent physician Dr. William Beanes was seized and confined aboard a ship in the British fleet; Key was asked to undertake his release but was detained on an British ship pending the projected British attack on Baltimore; Key watched the British bombardment of Ft. McHenry throughout the night and was overjoyed to see the flag still flying over that Fort the next morning; in intense emotional excitement, he then composed the now famous words which were officially adopted by Congress in 1931; Key was of a warmly religious nature and in 1814 seriously considered entering the ministry; he was a delegate to the general conventions of the Episcopal Church (1814-26); was U. S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (1833-41) was a manager and vice-president of the American Sunday School Union from its inception until his death (1817-1843); was a vice-president of the American Bible Society.

  Rufus King (1755-1827; Massachusetts, New York) Soldier, attorney, public official, diplomat; graduated from Harvard (1777); served in the Revolution as an aide to General Glover on an ill-fated expedition to Rhode Island (1778); admitted to the bar (1780); delegate to the Massachusetts General Court (1783-85); member of the Continental Congress (1784-87); delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the federal Constitution (1787); member of the State ratification convention for the federal Constitution (1788); member of the New York Assembly (1788-89); U. S. Senator from New York (1789-96; 1813-25) helping frame the Bill of Rights; appointed Minister to Great Britain by President George Washington (1796-1803); unsuccessful candidate for Vice-President of the United States (1804); unsuccessful candidate for Governor of New York (1815) and for President of the United States (1816); delegate to the State constitutional convention (1821); appointed Minister to Great Britain by President John Quincy Adams (1825-26); manager of the American Bible Society.

  Andrew Kirkpatrick (1756-1831; New Jersey) Attorney, public official, jurist, educator; expelled from his father’s home for deserting theology to study law; graduated from Princeton (1775); admitted to the bar (1785); member of the New Jersey House (1797); associate just
ice on the New Jersey Supreme Court (1798-1824) where he became its Chief Justice (1804?-24); firm believer in capital punishment and the whipping post and had little faith in the efficacy of confining criminals in State prisons because he believed it was too easy for them to escape or to secure release; trustee of Princeton (1807-31); vice-president of the New Jersey Bible Society (1810); an original trustee of Princeton Theological Seminary and Chairman of the Board (1822-31); vice-president of the American Bible Society (1818-31).

  Rev. Abner Kneeland (1774-1844; New Hampshire, Massachusetts) Public official, jurist, Universalist clergyman and anti-theist (literally, against one God); early joined the Baptist Church at Putney, Vermont; became a Universalist (1803); became minister at Langdon, New Hampshire (1805); member of the State legislature (1810-11); became minister of a Universalist Society at Charlestown, Massachusetts (1812); editor of five papers championing very theologically and politically liberal views (1819-24); translated the New Testament (1822); pastor of the newly organized Second Universalist Society (1827); began editing the Olive Branch and Christian Inquirer, a paper devoted to “free inquiry, pure morality and rational Christianity”; because of his radicalism, he asked permission to suspend himself from fellowship from the Universalists (1829); began to expound on his pantheistic views in the Boston Investigator (1831); tried and convicted for both libel and blasphemy (1835); after several appeals, served his sentence (1838).

  Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834; France) Achieved the rank of Captain in a regiment of French dragoons (1774); through Silas Deane, he arranged to join the Continental Army in America (1777) where he agreed to serve as a Major-General without pay; quickly grew to be a longtime, trusted friend of Washington; after serving under Washington for a period, he was given his own command (1777); fought and was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine (1777); shared the hardships at Valley Forge (1777-78) and earned the title “the soldier’s friend”; liaison for the French fleet which arrived in Rhode Island (1778); Congress granted him a furlough to return to France to help gain support for the American cause (1778); returned to America and was given command of the Virginia Light Troops (1779); held a major position in the final campaign which ended the Revolution – the Battle of Yorktown (1781); returned to France (1782); played a significant role in the French Revolution and, next to the King, was the most powerful figure in France (1790); French Lieutenant-General (1791-97); U. S. Congress voted him $24,424 in payment for his services as a Brigadier-General which he refused to accept (1794); Congress also voted him a grant of 11,520 acres which he accepted, having lost most of his fortune in the French conflict (1803); member of the French Chamber of Deputies (1815, 1818-24, 1827-34); returned for a final tour of America at the request of President James Monroe (1824); was a lifetime member of the American Sunday School Union; was known as the “Hero of two worlds” and “America’s Marquis.”