William Burnham Woods

Background

His father, Ezekiel S. Woods, a native of Kentucky, was a farmer and merchant of Scotch-Irish extraction; his mother, Sarah Judith (Burnham) Woods, was of New England stock.

Education

After three years at Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, Woods transferred to Yale, where he graduated with honor in 1845.

Career

He was also at the sieges of Vicksburg and Jackson and participated in Sherman's march to the sea.

After the war he settled in Alabama, taking up the practice of law first in Mobile and then in Montgomery, where he also engaged in cotton planting near by.

In 1880, upon the resignation of William Strong [q. v. ] from the Supreme Court of the United States, it seemed generally agreed that his successor should come from the South.

Accordingly, Woods was appointed by President Hayes and in Dec. 21, 1880, was commissioned as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.

His service on this bench was only a little over six years but during that time he wrote 218 opinions.

During his tenure of office the Supreme Court was determining the question of the civil rights of the negro under the new amendments to the Constitution.

Woods wrote the opinion in U. S. vs. Harris (106 U. S. , 629) which finally determined that the protection of these rights was not to be found in federal statutes or by indictments in the federal courts.

He also wrote the opinion in Presser vs. Illinois (116 U. S. , 252) which definitely decided that the Bill of Rights to the federal Constitution including the second amendment in regard to the right to keep and bear arms, was a limitation on the power of the federal government only and in no way applied to the states.

His opinions, never lengthy, were cogent and free from all display of rhetoric.

[Woods's opinions appear in 103-119 U. S. Reports.

For biog.

data see: "In Memoriam, " 123 U. S. Reports, 761; Am.

L. Carson, The Hist.

of the Supreme Court of the U. S. (1902), II, 480; N. N. Hill, Hist.

of Licking County, Ohio (1881); Obit.

Record Grads.

Yale Univ. , 1880-90 (1890); R. H. Burnham, The Burnham Family (1869); F. B. Heitman, Hist.

Reg.

and Dict.

U. S. Army (1903), vol.

I; Washington Law Reporter, June 8, 1887; Washington Post, May 15, 1887. ]

Politics

In 1856 he was elected mayor of Newark and in 1857, being elected as a Democrat to the General Assembly of Ohio, was chosen speaker of the House.

He was now an ardent Republican and as such was active in the reconstruction program of the government, being elected in 1868 as chancellor of the middle chancery division of Alabama.

Connections

married:

Anne

Woods died in Washington, D. C., survived by his wife, Anne E. Warner of Newark, Ohio, whom he had married June 21, 1855, and by a son and a daughter.

Wife:

Anne

Woods died in Washington, D. C., survived by his wife, Anne E. Warner of Newark, Ohio, whom he had married June 21, 1855, and by a son and a daughter.

Daughter:

Anne

Woods died in Washington, D. C., survived by his wife, Anne E. Warner of Newark, Ohio, whom he had married June 21, 1855, and by a son and a daughter.

Brother:

,

Woods, William Burnham, (Aug. 3, 1824 - May 14, 1887), Ohio 1824 1887 Male Jurist Supreme Court Justice jurist, brother of Charles Robert Woods q.v., was born in Newark, Licking County, Ohio.