The Judiciary Act of 1789The Judiciary Act of 1789, officially titled "An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States," was signed into law by President George Washington on September 24, 1789. Article III of the Constitution established a Supreme Court, but left to Congress the authority to create lower federal courts as needed.
Among the Founding Fathers, 35 of the 55 delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were lawyers or had legal training.
The Judiciary Act of 1789, officially titled “An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States,” was principally authored by Senators Oliver Ellsworth and William Paterson and signed into law by Pres. George Washington on September 24, 1789.
What became known as the Judiciary Act of 1789 established the multi-tiered federal court system we know today. In addition, it set the number of Supreme Court Justices at six and created the office of the Attorney General to argue on behalf of the United States in cases before the Supreme Court.
James Otis Jr. (February 5, 1725 – May 23, 1783) was an American lawyer, political activist, pamphleteer, and legislator in Boston, a member of the Massachusetts provincial assembly, and an early advocate of the Patriot views against the policy of Parliament which led to the American Revolution.
The most famous lawyer in the colonies, Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, stepped up to defend Zenger.
The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the lower federal courts. Under Article III, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution, "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. Noun.
The main group of supporters of the Judiciary Act were the Federalists, the party which argued for a strong federal government. Led by James Madison, the Federalists argued that Article III of the Constitution implored the Congress to create the lower court system to reinforce the document's supremacy over state law.
As stipulated by the Judiciary Act of 1789, there was one Chief Justice, John Jay, and five Associate Justices: James Wilson, William Cushing, John Blair, John Rutledge and James Iredell. Only Jay, Wilson, Cushing, and Blair were present at the Court's first sitting.
Edmund RandolphGeorge Washington - AdministrationFirst LadyMartha WashingtonAttorney GeneralEdmund Randolph (1789–1794)Attorney GeneralWilliam Bradford (1794–1795)Attorney GeneralCharles Lee (1795–1797)Postmaster GeneralSamuel Osgood (1789–1791)11 more rows
Judicial review In Marbury v. Madison, one of the seminal cases in American law, the Supreme Court held that was unconstitutional because it purported to enlarge the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court beyond that permitted by the Constitution.
Ancient world By the 22nd century BC, Ur-Nammu, an ancient Sumerian ruler, formulated the first extant law code, consisting of casuistic statements ("if... then..."). Around 1760 BC, King Hammurabi further developed Babylonian law, by codifying and inscribing it in stone.
Most people are surprised to learn that eight lawyer-presidents did so. In addition to Harrison and Taft, the advo-cates were John Quincy Adams, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, and Richard Nixon.
25The National Archives has published a spreadsheet (PDF) of the representatives who signed the Declaration of Independence. The sheet also lists their occupation and while many occupied more than one parallel profession, 25 of the 56 signers were lawyers.
From 1762 to 1767, Jefferson pursued legal studies under George Wythe, who also taught John Marshall and Henry Clay, two of the most outstanding figures in American history. Under Wythe's tutelage, Jefferson emerged as perhaps the nation's best-read lawyer upon his admission to the Virginia bar in April 1767.
Over the course of his career as a lawyer, Lincoln had three separate law partners: John Stuart, Stephen Logan, and William Herndon. Lincoln shared an office with each of these partners in Springfield, Illinois.
It’s interesting to note the priorities of that first Congress, as expressed in their original 1st and 2nd amendments. The ones that were thrown out. The first had to do with proportional representation, and would have led us to a 6,000 member House of Representatives, instead of the 435 we currently have. The second most important thing in the world, judging by the priorities of that first Congress, was that any future Congress could not change their own salaries. Any such change could affect only future Congresses.
On September 25 , the first Congress adopted 12 amendments, sending them to the states for ratification. The states got rid of the first two, and so the Congress’ original 3rd amendment became 1st, of what we now call the “Bill of Rights”.
Twelve of the original thirteen states ratified these “Articles of Confederation” by February, 1779. Maryland would hold out for another two years, over land claims west of the Ohio River. In 1781, seven months before Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, the 2nd Continental Congress formally ratified the Articles of Confederation. The young nation’s first governing document.
The Articles of Confederation provided for a loose confederation of sovereign states. At the center stood a congress, a unicameral legislature, and that’s about it. There was no Executive, there was no Judiciary.
[Amendment II] A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Note: The text above is a transcription of the first ten amendments to the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the “Bill of Rights.”
[Amendment IX] The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Revolutionary War hero George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was elected convention president. During an intensive debate, the delegates devised a brilliant federal organization characterized by an intricate system of checks and balances.
The problem was resolved by the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the lower house ( House of Representatives) and equal representation of the states in the upper house (Senate). On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was signed.
The building, which is now known as Independence Hall, had earlier seen the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Articles of Confederation. The assembly immediately discarded the idea of amending the Articles of Confederation and set about drawing up a new scheme of government.
Oath of the Tennis Court: the deputies of the third estate meeting in the tennis court at the Château of Versailles, swearing not to disperse until a constitution is assured. Etching by L-F. Couché after J. L. David.
Sometimes, in late medieval and early France, a gathering termed an 'Estates General' was called. This was a representative body designed to rubber-stamp the decisions of the king.
The Third Estate was thus a vastly larger proportion of the population than the other two estates, but in the Estates General, they only had one vote, the same as the other two estates had each.
The Third Estate would become a very important early part of the French Revolution. In the aftermath of France's decisive aid to the colonists in the American War of Independence, the French crown found itself in a terrible financial position.
Napoleon forged some diverse political alliances. His MOST remarkable act of political reconciliation came in 1801, when Napoleon signed a concordat with
In 1790 , the free people of color of Saint-Domingue sent a delegation of men to join the National Assembly in Paris
Probably the MOST profound and longest-lasting legacy of Napoleon's empire was the introduction of a single legal system, called the