Thomas Jefferson Durantc

Background

Thomas Jefferson Durant was born on August 8, 1817 in Philadelphia, United States. He was the son of John Waldo and Sarah (Heyliger) Durant.

Education

Durant obtained his early education in the common schools.

In 1830 he entered the University of Pennsylvania, but before completing his course, removed in 1834 to New Orleans, where for a short time he held a position in the post-office. He then studied law, was admitted to the Louisiana bar.

Career

Durant opened an office in New Orleans and rapidly achieved distinction and acquired a lucrative practise, at the same time identifying himself with the Democratic party and becoming active in state politics. He was not a rabid partisan and opposed the annexation of Texas on constitutional grounds, but this did not prevent him from becoming an influential member of the state committee which in 1844 managed the Louisiana campaign of Polk for the presidency.

Elected as a Democrat, he served in the state Senate in 1846. Later, President Polk appointed him United States district attorney.

He fought strenuously against secession, and when that became a reality he remained in New Orleans, but during the Confederate régime abstained from all political activities. When the Federal forces under Butler occupied the city in 1862 he headed the movement to organize Louisiana as a free state and was offered the position of governor, which he declined. In 1863, however, after Banks had superseded Butler as commander of the Department of the Gulf, Durant became president of the Free State General Committee which was formed to procure the election of a convention to frame a new constitution, and the military governor, G. F. Shepley, appointed him attorney-general and commissioner for the purpose of carrying out the registration of loyal citizens entitled to vote. The constitutional convention of 1864 revised and amended the state constitution of 1852 and abolished slavery, and its work was approved by the president and ratified by the people. Durant, however, held the view that secession had abrogated the constitution of 1852 and that the work of the convention, most of which was not in harmony with his views, was invalid, and from thenceforth he was involved in a bitter controversy with Banks and a powerful section of the Northern sympathizers led by A. P. Dostie. The merits of the dispute, if any, are obscured by the intemperate pamphlet warfare which broke out. Durant evidenced his bitter disapproval of the course of events by removing to Washington, C. , where he henceforth devoted himself to his profession. The resumption, after 1865, of litigation, suspended throughout the South during the war, had its effect upon the Supreme Court docket, and an abnormal number of appeals from Louisiana came before that Court, a majority involving novel points of constitutional law and military authority. Durant was retained in practically all of these and soon established himself as one of the leading members of the Washington bar. To a thorough theoretical and practical knowdedge of the civil law he added a persuasive logic, a facility of language, and a dignity of manner which always assured him an attentive hearing, and he enjoyed a larger practise before the Supreme Court and the Court of Claims than any contemporary, appearing as counsel in no less than 154 reported cases.

His sphere of action was narrow, confined almost entirely to civil and constitutional law, bankruptcy, and admiralty, but within these limits he had in his time no superior.

In 1881 he was retained as counsel for the United States before the Spanish and American Claims Commission.

In 1869, when the number of the Supreme Court judges was increased, and again in 1872, when a vacancy in the Court occurred through the resignation of Judge Nelson, the claims of “the sad-faced and thin featured New Orleans Unionist” were urged in many quarters, on the ground that a Southerner was greatly needed to strengthen the Supreme Bench.

Achievements

• Durant's most conspicuous success was obtained in the Slaughterhouse Cases, where his elaborate argument as leading counsel for the defendants in error was upheld by the Supreme Court. Among his other outstanding cases were: Coppell vs. Hall, holding that a contract of the British consul at New Orleans to protect cotton of the insurgents was void; Handlin vs. Wickliffe, deciding that the authority of a judge appointed by a military governor ceases of necessity after the civil constitution of a state functions independent of military control; Holdane vs. Sumner, where it was held that all statutes of prescription and limitation were suspended in the federal courts during the period of the Civil War; and the Confiscation Cases.

Works

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  • United States and Spanish Commission: A Reply to the Pamphlet Entitled "Views of the Advocate of Spain as to the Rightfulness of the Embargo of the ... American Citizens in Cuba" (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from United States and Spanish Commission: A Repl...)

Politics

A conscientious and consistent Unionist, he supported Lincoln in the campaign of 1860.

Personality

Durant was recognized as a man of great innate ability and the highest character and culture.

Connections

Durant's wife was Mary Elizabeth Harper, a daughter of Robert Withers Harper of Marlboro, Maryland.

Father:

John Waldo

Mother:

Sarah (Heyliger) Durant

Spouse:

Robert Withers Harper