Background
Theophilus Parsons was born on May 17, 1797 in Newburyport, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the age of three, he moved with his family to Boston. He was the son of Theophilus Parsons and Elizabeth Greenleaf.
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Theophilus Parsons was born on May 17, 1797 in Newburyport, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the age of three, he moved with his family to Boston. He was the son of Theophilus Parsons and Elizabeth Greenleaf.
Entering Harvard College in 1811, Theophilus Parsons graduated four years later.
Theophilus Parsons read law in the office of William Prescott, father of the historian and friend of the Parsons family. On account of ill health he made a trip to Europe in 1817, where he lived for some months in the family of William Pinkney, then minister to Russia. On his return to Massachusetts he took up the practice of law, from 1822 to 1827 in Taunton, thereafter in Boston. During his earlier years he was also an active journalist, as editor of the United States Literary Gazette and joint editor of the Taunton Free Press and of the New-England Galaxy. During the Jacksonian period he was apprehensive that numbers would rise against property and warned that "the body politic [must be invigorated] with the principle that right is not their creation, and depends not on their will, but on His will who made them free".
In July 1848 Parsons was appointed a professor in the Harvard Law School. At the bar he had built up a large practice, especially in admiralty, patent, and insurance law. During his first year as a teacher he had to lecture on contracts and real property, with which he was less familiar. After a short period of adjustment he became the most interesting of the memorable triumvirate which included Professors Joel Parker and Emory Washburn. His pleasing diction, a fund of anecdote, and his social grace made his instruction entertaining if not profound. In addition to their lectures and Socratic discussions the professors on occasion addressed the entire school on subjects of legal and political interest. Parsons' oft-repeated anecdotes at these times became traditional. After going to the law school he became one of the most prolific of legal writers. His work on contracts ran through nine editions. The treatise derived much of its merit from the careful notes prepared by Christopher Columbus Langdell, then an impecunious student whose fees were remitted in exchange for this assistance. To Parsons, who believed that the work of the constitutional fathers was "near to the perfection of republican government, " secession came as a severe shock.
Throughout the war he was an ardent supporter of the President's military authority: "In my judgment, [the] Constitution has not yet been violated, in any way or to any extent, greater or less. But, if [the] choice must be made [between sacrificing nationality or sacrificing the Constitution], I should still say, our nationality must not be lost, and rebellion must not prevail. I can discern no limits to a nation's right of self-salvation". Parsons had a son in the army and a daughter who rendered outstanding service as an army nurse. In the Reconstruction period he took the position, notably in presiding at a mass meeting in Faneuil Hall, that "as we are victorious in war, we have a right to impose upon the defeated party any terms necessary for our security". This included negro suffrage; and until this innovation was established he believed that the Southern states should be held in military occupation.
The year 1869 saw a sweeping change at the law school. There was a growing feeling, shared by the new president, Eliot, that the method of instruction, stabilized for the past twenty years, should be invigorated. Parsons felt it was time to retire. He was succeeded by Langdell, who promptly introduced the case method of instruction. In private life Parsons was a man of warm friendship and lively conversation. In 1823 he espoused the Swedenborgian faith and was deeply concerned with the study and exposition of its philosophy. He took an interest in natural history and in reconciling a view of the origin of species with his religious creed. After his retirement he continued to live in Cambridge where he occupied himself with the revision of his various textbooks and in writing religious essays. He enjoyed the society of his friends, the philosophical discourse of the Magazine Club, and his speculations of the nature of the heavenly kingdom.
His legal works include: The Law of Contracts (2 vols. , 1853 - 55); The Elements of Mercantile Law (1856, 1862); The Laws of Business (1857); A Treatise on Maritime Law (2 vols. , 1859); The Constitution (1861); A Treatise on the Law of Promissory Notes and Bills of Exchange (2 vols. , 1863, 1876); A Treatise on the Law of Partnership (1867 and later editions); A Treatise on the Law of Marine Insurance and General Average (2 vols. , 1868); A Treatise on the Law of Shipping (2 vols. , 1869); The Political, Personal, and Property Rights of a Citizen (1874). He also prepared a Memoir of Theophilus Parsons (1859), an Address Commemorative of Rufus Choate (1859), and memoirs of Charles Folsom and Charles Greely Loring for the Massachusetts Historical Society. His miscellaneous writings include: three series of Essays (1845, 1856, 1862), The Law of Conscience (1853); Slavery (1863); Deus Homo (1867); The Infinite and the Finite (1872); and Outlines of the Religion and Philosophy of Swedenborg (1875).
Theophilus died on January 26, 1882.
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Theophilus Parsons was a member of Swedenborgian Church.
In 1823 Theohilus Parsons married Catherine Amory Chandler. They had three sons and four daughters.
