William Wirt

Background

William Wirt was born on November 8, 1772, in Bladensburg, Maryland, to a German mother, Henrietta, and a Swiss father, Jacob Wirt. His father died when he was two years of age, and his mother when he was eight.

Education

A small patrimony, the guardianship of his uncle Jasper, and the interest of Peter Carnes, a lawyer and friend of the family, made it possible for the child to receive the rudiments of an education. He first attended school in his native village. At seven years of age he was sent to Georgetown, and then to a school in Charles County, Maryland. In 1783 he was entered in the grammar school of the Rev. James Hunt of Montgomery County, whose influence and whose library were important factors in shaping the mind of the child. In 1787 the school was discontinued and William, now in his fifteenth year, was faced with the necessity of finding means of self-support. One of his fellow students in Hunt's school was Ninian Edwards, later an important figure in the history of Illinois. His father, Benjamin Edwards, now invited Wirt to become a private tutor in his home. Wirt accepted the offer, remained for twenty pleasant months, and turned his mind to the study of law. By spring he returned to Maryland, remaining for a short while at Montgomery Court House. Here he entered upon the study of law with William P. Hunt, son of his former teacher. After about a year spent in this manner, he heard that there was an opening for a young lawyer in Culpeper County, Virginia.

Career

Disposing of what was left of his small inheritance in Maryland, he hastened to Virginia where, after five months, he was admitted to the bar. His original equipment consisted of a rapid and indistinct enunciation, a considerable degree of shyness, a copy of Blackstone, two volumes of Don Quixote, and a copy of Tristram Shandy. His reading was not confined to law, and his genial disposition tempted him to devote more time to social recreation than was good for his work. Nevertheless, he continued for one or two years to practise in Culpeper with increasing success.

He made many friends both in his own county and in neighboring Albemarle. Among the latter was Dr. George Gilmer of "Pen Park. " Wirt also became especially attached to Francis Walker Gilmer, youngest son of George Gilmer, and to Dabney Carr of the neighboring estate of "Dunlora. " Carr and Wirt rode the Virginia circuit together, and they remained throughout life the most intimate of friends.

He then transferred his residence to Richmond to pursue the practice of his profession in a larger field. He was immediately elected clerk of the House of Delegates and served in this capacity during three sessions of the Assembly. In May 1800, he served with George Hay and Philip Norborne Nicholas as counsel for James Thomson Callender in his famous trial before Judge Samuel Chase under the Alien and Sedition Acts. Thus was Wirt's name first brought conspicuously to the attention of the public.

In 1802 the clerk of the House was elected by the legislature to preside over one of the three chancery districts into which the state had just been divided. Acceptance of this post made it necessary that Wirt transfer his residence to Williamsburg. Later he devoted more time to work and less to pleasure, and within a few months he decided, for financial reasons, to give up the chancellorship and devote himself once more to the practice of law. At first he thought of going to Kentucky for this purpose, but his friend Littleton W. Tazewell persuaded him to come to Norfolk. He did not, however, remove his residence to that city until the beginning of 1804.

It was in 1803 that Wirt began his literary career by publishing the first of "The Letters of the British Spy" in the Richmond Argus. They came out anonymously and were supposed to be the contemporary observations of an English traveler upon Virginian society and other miscellaneous topics. The authorship was at once recognized, and the letters had an enormous popularity, going through numerous editions within a few years. The work was the product of a keen and restless mind wearied of the constraints of its professional activity and wishing to roam at leisure and further afield. Wirt was, in fact, a scholar by avocation. With little formal education, he mastered the Latin classics and read much of theological and other lore. The Letters of the British Spy (1803) was followed by an inconspicuous series of essays entitled The Rainbow (1804).

In 1806 Wirt removed his residence back to Richmond. His legal reputation had been growing rapidly, and during the next year was given a sensational stimulus by his appearance in the prosecution of the case against Aaron Burr. The increased prestige which the Burr trial brought Wirt prompted Jefferson to propose that he seek a seat in Congress, but he declined the suggestion. He did, however, take an active part in supporting Madison's campaign for the presidency and published several letters in his behalf in the Richmond Enquirer. The unexpected sequel to this series of events of 1808 was his election to the House of Delegates. This was the only post to which he was ever elected by the people, and he retired from it at the end of one term.

He was ambitious, however, for literary fame, and in 1810 started the publication of another series of essays which he called "The Old Bachelor. " Thirty-three numbers were published, the last appearing in 1813, but, though they had a degree of success and went through several editions in book form, they did not acquire the popularity attained by The Letters of the British Spy.

In 1814, Washington having been captured by the British, Wirt took the field as captain of artillery, but this was only a measure of home defense. His earlier dreams of military glory had vanished. His one ambition was to acquire a competency and retire to the country to live a life of literary ease. This dream, however, was never to be realized.

In 1816 he argued his first case before the Supreme Court of the United States, and shortly thereafter was appointed by President Madison as United States attorney for the district of Richmond. The autumn of 1817 saw the consummation of the two major phases of Wirt's career. After twelve years of laborious and oft-interrupted effort, he now published his Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (1817). This was the first work which came out under his own name, and was his most serious literary effort.

The biography did not exhibit Wirt's talents at their best. The other consummation was his appointment by President Monroe to the attorney-generalship of the United States, which post he held for twelve consecutive years. He was the first attorney general to organize the work of the office and to make a systematic practice of preserving his official opinions so that they might serve as precedents for his successors.

As was the custom, he continued his private practice and was much engaged in the Baltimore courts. In 1819 he took part before the Supreme Court in the cases of McCulloch vs. Maryland and the Dartmouth College case. In 1824 he was associated with Webster in the case of Gibbons vs. Ogden. In 1826 he was appointed president of the University of Virginia and professor in the School of Law, but declined the honor.

In the autumn of this year a service in memory of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams was held in the hall of the House of Representatives, and Wirt delivered the principal address. While the election of 1824 was in progress, Wirt took no part in the contest. When John Quincy Adams became president, he urged the attorney general to retain his post, and this Wirt did. When Andrew Jackson succeeded Adams in 1829, Wirt returned to private life and removed his residence to Baltimore where he continued his professional activities to the end of his life.

Having cast his lot with the opposition to Jackson, Wirt favored Henry Clay for the succession in 1831 and was chosen to sit for Baltimore in the national Whig convention. Shortly afterward the Anti-Masons held a convention in that city and named Wirt as their candidate for the presidency. Strangely enough he accepted the candidacy in the belief that, since Anti-Masons would not support Clay, he might be nominated by the Whigs and thus unite both groups against Jackson. But the Whigs refused to desert Clay, whereupon Wirt wished to withdraw his candidacy but could not do so without seeming to desert those who had nominated him. Thus he was an unwilling candidate for the presidency in 1832.

Shortly after his retirement from office, Wirt attempted to establish a colony of German immigrants on a tract of land which he owned in Florida, but the immigrants decamped and the experiment failed. He had hoped that this settlement would serve as a retreat for himself and his family during his declining years, but this was not to be. After a brief illness he died on February 18, 1834, in Washington, D. C. , of erysipelas.

Achievements

• William Wirt was an eminent author and statesman, who is credited with turning the position of United States Attorney General into one of influence. He was the longest serving Attorney General in U. S. history.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The British Spy, Or, Letters to a Member of the British Parliament: Written During a Tour Through the United States

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Old bachelor

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

  • The Rainbow: First Series (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Rainbow: First Series P. S. The writers...)

  • Celebration in Baltimore of the Triumph of Liberty in France

Politics

Before 1825, William Wirt belonged to the Democratic-Republican party. From 1832 to 1834, he was a member of the Anti-Masonic party.

Views

Quotations: "Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance. "

Membership

From December 5, 1808 to December 4, 1809, William Wirt was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Richmond City.

Personality

William Wirt was an unusual figure in the annals of America. His generous features bore some resemblance to those of the poet Goethe - ample brow, large whimsical mouth, kindly twinkling eyes, and a shock of curly hair. He was by nature endowed with a vivid imagination, a keen love of music and of life, and an ingenuous, playful disposition.

Connections

On May 28, 1795, William Wirt married Mildred Gilmer. After the death of his first wife, on September 7, 1802, he married Elizabeth Washington, second daughter of Col. Robert Gamble of Richmond. The couple had several children.

Father:

Jacob Wirt, Sr.

Mother:

Henrietta Wirt

Sister:

Henrietta W. Wirt

Sister:

Catherine Wirt

Sister:

Elizabeth Clayton (Wirt)

Wife:

Elizabeth Washington Wirt (Gamble)

Elizabeth Washington Wirt (Gamble) was a 19th-century American author.

Wife:

Mildred Wirt (Gilmer)

Friend:

Littleton W. Tazewell

Daughter:

Betsy Wirt

Daughter:

Agnes Carol Cabel Wirt

Daughter:

Rosa Ellen Wirt

Daughter:

Judith Parks Hill (Wirt)

Daughter:

Elizabeth Gamble Wirt

Daughter:

Laura Henrietta Wirt

Daughter:

Ellen Tazewell Wirt

Daughter:

Catherine Gratton Gilmer Randall (Wirt)

Daughter:

Emily Wirt

colleague:

George Hay

George Hay was a United States federal judge.

colleague:

Philip Norborne Nicholas

Son:

Henry Gratton Wirt

Son:

Dabney Carr Wirt

Son:

William Cabell Wirt

Son:

Robert Gamble Wirt

Brother:

Jacob Wirt, Jr.

Brother:

Uriah Jasper Wirt

Uncle:

Jasper Wirt

Friend:

Francis Walker Gilmer

Friend:

George Gilmer, Jr.

Friend:

Dabney Carr

Dabney Carr was an American lawyer, writer and a justice of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

References

• Adopted Son: The Life, Wit & Wisdom of William Wirt, 1772-1834
• John Randolph, of Roanoke, and Other Sketches of Character, Including William Wirt: Together with Tales of Real Life
• Marriage in the Early Republic: Elizabeth and William Wirt and the Companionate Ideal (Gender Relations in the American Experience)
• Discourse on the Life and Character of William Wirt
• Eulogy upon William Wirt: