Background
David Bayard Ogden was born on October 31, 1775, at Morrisania, New York, the eldest of the twelve children of Samuel and Euphemia (Morris) Ogden.
David Bayard Ogden was born on October 31, 1775, at Morrisania, New York, the eldest of the twelve children of Samuel and Euphemia (Morris) Ogden.
David Ogden received the degree of A. B. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1792.
David Ogden was admitted to the New Jersey bar as attorney in 1796, becoming a counselor three years later. Desiring a wider scope for his legal career, he moved in 1803 from Newark to New York City, where he thereafter made his home. Facilitated by family prestige and legal ability, he quickly gained social prominence and a flourishing practice. His chief fame arose from his practice before the Supreme Court. With a great fund of legal learning, he was able to present his cases with remarkable directness and simplicity of statement. Marshall said of him that "when he stated his case, it was already argued. " His first appearance before the Supreme Court was apparently on February 4, 1812, in Fitzsimmons et al. vs. Ogden et al. He was one of the counsel for the defense, in which his uncle, Gouverneur Morris, was concerned. He appeared again in 1815; four times in 1817; and eight times in 1818. From that time on until his final case in 1845, he was in constant demand and received some of the heaviest fees of any lawyer in the country.
The most celebrated case in which Ogden participated was Cohens vs. Virginia in 1821. Ogden, Pinkney, and Wirt supported Cohens while Webster represented Virginia. The case involved the jurisdiction of the Court. Ogden declared: "It is no objection to the exercise of the judicial powers of this court, that the defendant in error is one of the states of the Union. We deny, that since the establishment of the national constitution, there is any such thing as a sovereign state, independent of the Union. " Such federalist views naturally appealed to Marshall and were reflected in his decision. In Sturges vs. Crowninshield in 1819 and Ogden vs. Saunders in 1824 and 1827, both involving bankruptcy laws, Ogden was on the losing side, but his logic was impressive. One of the most difficult cases was that of John Inglis, Demandant, vs. The Trustees of the Sailor's Snug Harbour in 1830. In 1837 he successfully supported the constitutionality of a municipal regulation of passengers on vessels coming to New York from foreign ports or ports of other states in City of New York vs. Miln. Two years later, in Bank of Augusta vs. Earle, his arguments for the plaintiff did much to secure a decision which facilitated the interstate influence of corporations. His final appearance was in December 1845, when with Webster he supported the plaintiff in Smith vs. Turner, concerning the right of New York to tax passengers on ships arriving from foreign ports.
Unlike most of his prominent colleagues at the bar, Ogden held no important public office, though he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1828. He was a Federalist and then a Whig. He sat in the New York Assembly in 1814 and again in 1838. Supported by Thurlow Weed, he was surrogate of New York County from 1840 to 1844. He was for years a trustee of Columbia and was a devoted Episcopalian. Ogden died on Staten Island.
David Ogden was a member of the New Jersey bar and the New York Assembly (1814, 1838).
David Ogden married Margaretta Ogden, the daughter of the legal preceptor. They had eight children.
