Background
William Wirt was born on November 8, 1772 in Bladensburg, Maryland, United States. The youngest son of Swiss and German immigrants who kept a tavern in Bladensburg, Maryland, he was orphaned in childhood.
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(Excerpt from The Letters of the British Spy Copy of lett...)
Excerpt from The Letters of the British Spy Copy of letters written by a young English man of rank, during a tour through the United States, in 1803, to a member of the. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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lawyer politician statesman writer
William Wirt was born on November 8, 1772 in Bladensburg, Maryland, United States. The youngest son of Swiss and German immigrants who kept a tavern in Bladensburg, Maryland, he was orphaned in childhood.
He obtained some schooling through the assistance of his uncle and a family friend. He received his education in local schools, and at 15 he worked as a private tutor.
The career of William Wirt demonstrated the social, political, and literary paths by which countless young lawyers sought to achieve fame in the years following the War of 1812.
When Wirt’s wife died in 1799 after four years of marriage, the twenty seven-year-old attorney moved to Richmond and began to participate in public life.
Upon his arrival in the Virginia capital Wirt was elected clerk of the House of Delegates, a post of strategic significance in the partisan machinery that he held for three sessions.
He built a strong professional reputation, and shortly after returning to Richmond he vaulted into prominence through his performance as a one of the lawyers prosecuting Aaron Burr for treason in 1807.
Wirt was elected to the house of delegates in 1808 but after one term resumed his law practice.
In 1816 he was appointed United States attorney for the district of Richmond by President James Madison; and a year later he entered President James Monroe's cabinet as attorney general, being retained by President John Quincy Adams and serving until 1829.
As attorney general he appeared in several important cases before the Supreme Court, notably McCulloch v. Maryland and the Dartmouth College Case.
A quintessential Whig long before the party organized, Wirt swiftly moved into opposition to Andrew Jackson after leaving office.
Recommended by Daniel Webster, he ably directed the politically charged litigation campaign to forestall the removal of the Cherokees.
While rendering valuable services to the Jeffersonian Republicans and reaping his share of patronage, Wirt was simultaneously achieving distinction as one of the most important authors in the country.
His Letters of the British Spy (1803) was a witty, genteel series of essays on Virginia manners that enjoyed sensational popularity and subsequently furnished an important model for such writers as Washington Irving and John Pendleton Kennedy.
He followed this success in 1810 with another series of essays titled The Old Bachelor, and in 1817 he published one of the most interesting American biographies of the era, Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry.
Although regarded as a dubious portrait by those who knew Henry, Wirt’s work was an important and original contribution to the mythology of the early republic.
E. D. E. N. Southworth, one of the best-selling authors of the nineteenth century, based her novel Ishmael (1884) on Wirt’s life.
(Excerpt from The Letters of the British Spy Copy of lett...)
(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Though Wirt was himself a former Freemason, the Anti-Masonic Party nominated him for president in 1832. Wirt did not actively campaign for office and refused to publicly speak against Masonry. Nonetheless, the ticket of Wirt and Amos Ellmaker carried the state of Vermont, becoming the first third party presidential ticket to win a state.
After the election, Wirt continued to practice law until his death in 1834. Wirt County, West Virginia, is named in Wirt's honor.
During the 1820s, Wirt was a member of the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences.
Wirt was also an honorary member of the American Whig–Cliosophic Society.
Quotes from others about the person
Historian William Vaughn wrote, “Wirt was possibly the most reluctant and most unwilling presidential candidate ever nominated by an American party. "
In 1795, he married Mildred, daughter of Dr. George Gilmer, and moved to Pen Park, where Gilmer lived, near Charlottesville.
In 1802, he married Elizabeth Washington Gamble, the daughter of Colonel Robert Gamble of Richmond.