William Wirt

William Wirt
Born	8 11, 1772
Birthplace	Bladensburg, Maryland, United States
Died	Template:Death date and age Washington, D.C., United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Lawyer, author, politician
Title	United States Attorney General
Known for	Longest-serving United States Attorney General; prosecution in Aaron Burr treason trial; Anti-Masonic Party presidential candidate (1832)

William Wirt (November 8, 1772 – February 18, 1834) was an American attorney, author, and statesman who served as the ninth United States Attorney General from 1817 to 1829, making him the longest-serving person to hold that office in American history. Appointed by President James Monroe and retained by President John Quincy Adams, Wirt served for twelve consecutive years across two administrations, a record that has never been surpassed. Before his tenure as Attorney General, Wirt gained national prominence as one of the prosecutors in the 1807 treason trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr. A man of considerable literary ambition as well as legal acumen, Wirt authored Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (1817), a biography that shaped popular understanding of the Revolutionary-era orator for generations. In 1832, Wirt became the presidential nominee of the Anti-Masonic Party, the first third party in American history to hold a national nominating convention and field a presidential candidate. He carried only the state of Vermont in that election, finishing a distant third behind Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. Wirt is buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., where his grave and memorial became the subject of a peculiar historical episode involving the theft of his skull decades after his death.

Early Life

William Wirt was born on November 8, 1772, in Bladensburg, Maryland, a small town in Prince George's County located just northeast of the nascent federal capital. His father, Jacob Wirt, was of Swiss-German descent, and his mother, Henrietta, was of German heritage. Both parents died when Wirt was young—his father when William was two years old and his mother when he was eight—leaving him an orphan by the age of eight. He was subsequently raised by an uncle and other relatives.

Despite the adversity of his early years, Wirt demonstrated intellectual promise from a young age. He received a classical education at various schools in the Maryland and Virginia area, studying Latin, Greek, and the standard curriculum expected of young men aspiring to professional careers in the late eighteenth century. By his teenage years, Wirt had begun to develop the rhetorical skills and literary interests that would define much of his adult life. He was known among his peers for his eloquence and his voracious reading habits.

At the age of twenty, Wirt began studying law, a common path for ambitious young men in the early American republic who lacked the family wealth to pursue other avenues. He read law under the tutelage of established attorneys in Virginia, following the apprenticeship model that prevailed before the widespread establishment of formal law schools. He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1792 and began practicing law in Culpeper County, Virginia. His early legal career was modest but showed the rhetorical talent and forensic skill that would later bring him to national attention.

Career

Early Legal Career in Virginia

After his admission to the bar in 1792, Wirt practiced law in several Virginia communities, gradually building a reputation as one of the state's most able advocates. He moved to Richmond, the state capital, where the concentration of legal business and proximity to the state courts offered greater opportunities. In Richmond, Wirt became acquainted with many of the leading political and legal figures of Virginia, including members of the state's influential planter class and political establishment.

Wirt served briefly in the Virginia state legislature and held the position of clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates. He also served as chancellor of the Eastern District of Virginia for a period. These positions gave him experience in the machinery of government and expanded his professional network. Throughout this period, Wirt continued to develop his skills as a courtroom advocate, earning a reputation for eloquent and persuasive oratory.

The Burr Trial

Wirt's national reputation was cemented by his role in one of the most dramatic legal proceedings in early American history: the 1807 treason trial of Aaron Burr. Burr, the former Vice President of the United States who had killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804, was charged with treason for allegedly conspiring to detach the western territories from the United States and establish an independent nation under his leadership.

President Thomas Jefferson's administration assembled a team of prosecutors to try Burr before Chief Justice John Marshall in the federal circuit court in Richmond. Wirt was appointed as one of the government's prosecutors, alongside Caesar Rodney (the Attorney General at the time) and others. The trial was a spectacle that attracted national attention, and Wirt's courtroom speeches during the proceedings were widely reported and admired. His rhetorical performance during the trial, particularly his arguments regarding the nature of treason and the evidence against Burr, brought him considerable fame.

Although Burr was ultimately acquitted—Chief Justice Marshall applied a narrow definition of treason that required proof of an overt act of war witnessed by two people—Wirt's performance during the trial established him as one of the foremost advocates in the country.

Literary Career

In addition to his legal work, Wirt pursued literary ambitions throughout his career. He contributed essays and sketches to various periodicals under pseudonyms, a common practice among educated men of the era. His most notable literary work, The Letters of the British Spy (1803), was a series of essays originally published in a Richmond newspaper that purported to be the observations of a British traveler in Virginia. The work offered commentary on Virginia society, politics, and culture, and was well received by contemporary readers.

Wirt's most enduring literary contribution was his biography Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (1817). This work, which presented an idealized portrait of the famous Revolutionary-era orator, became the standard biography of Henry for much of the nineteenth century. Wirt's account was largely responsible for popularizing many of the famous quotations attributed to Henry, including the legendary "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech, although historians have since debated the accuracy of Wirt's rendering of Henry's words, as Wirt relied heavily on the recollections of elderly witnesses decades after the events described.

United States Attorney General

In 1817, President James Monroe appointed Wirt as Attorney General of the United States. At the time, the office of Attorney General was a part-time position; the Attorney General was expected to argue cases on behalf of the federal government before the Supreme Court and to provide legal opinions to the President and executive departments, but the position did not yet carry the administrative responsibilities of heading a large department. There was no Department of Justice (which would not be established until 1870), and the Attorney General maintained a private law practice alongside official duties.

Despite the part-time nature of the office, Wirt took his responsibilities seriously and worked to elevate the stature and professionalism of the position. He served under President Monroe from 1817 to 1825 and was retained by Monroe's successor, President John Quincy Adams, serving until 1829. His twelve-year tenure remains the longest in the history of the office.

During his time as Attorney General, Wirt argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court, including several landmark cases that helped define the scope of federal power in the early republic. He appeared before the Court in cases involving constitutional questions about the relationship between the federal government and the states, the scope of congressional power, and the rights of Native American nations. Among the most significant cases in which Wirt participated was Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), in which he represented the Cherokee Nation in its challenge to the state of Georgia's assertion of authority over Cherokee lands. Although the Court ultimately declined to rule on the merits, holding that the Cherokee Nation was not a "foreign nation" with standing to bring suit under the Court's original jurisdiction, the case was a notable instance of a former Attorney General advocating for Native American rights before the highest court.

Wirt also argued in the related case of Worcester v. Georgia (1832), in which the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Georgia had no authority over Cherokee lands and that federal treaties with the Cherokee must be respected. This decision, famously associated with the apocryphal quotation attributed to President Andrew Jackson—"John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it"—represented a significant, if ultimately unenforceable, legal victory for the Cherokee Nation.

Presidential Candidacy (1832)

In 1831, the Anti-Masonic Party held the first national nominating convention in American political history in Baltimore, Maryland. The party had emerged in the late 1820s in response to the disappearance and presumed murder of William Morgan, a former Freemason who had threatened to publish the secrets of the fraternity. The resulting public furor, particularly in New York and New England, gave rise to a political movement that sought to oppose the perceived influence of Freemasonry in American public life.

Wirt was nominated as the Anti-Masonic Party's candidate for President of the United States in 1832. His nomination was somewhat paradoxical, as Wirt had himself been a Freemason and expressed admiration for many aspects of the fraternal organization. Nevertheless, he accepted the nomination and ran against the incumbent President Andrew Jackson and National Republican candidate Henry Clay.

The 1832 presidential election resulted in a decisive victory for Jackson. Wirt carried only the state of Vermont, receiving seven electoral votes, and finished third in the popular vote. Despite his poor showing, Wirt's candidacy was historically significant as the first presidential campaign conducted by a third party that had been organized through a national nominating convention—a procedural innovation that the major parties would soon adopt. Both the National Republicans and the Democratic Party held their own conventions in the same election cycle, in part following the precedent set by the Anti-Masons.

Later Legal Career

After leaving the office of Attorney General in 1829, Wirt returned to private legal practice. He settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he continued to take on significant cases. His representation of the Cherokee Nation before the Supreme Court in 1831 and 1832 was among the most notable work of his later career. Wirt remained active in legal and public affairs until his health began to decline in the early 1830s.

Personal Life

William Wirt was married twice. His first wife, Mildred Gilmer, whom he married in 1795, died in 1799. He subsequently married Elizabeth Washington Gamble in 1802. Elizabeth was the daughter of Colonel Robert Gamble of Richmond, Virginia. The couple had several children together and maintained a household that reflected the social standing of a prominent Virginia attorney and public official.

Wirt was known among his contemporaries for his sociability, his love of literature and conversation, and his occasionally melancholic temperament. His correspondence reveals a man who struggled at times with financial pressures—despite his prominence, the part-time nature of the Attorney General's office and the uncertainties of a legal practice meant that Wirt was never wealthy—and who experienced periods of self-doubt regarding his literary and professional achievements.

Wirt died on February 18, 1834, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 61. He was buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, a burial ground that served as the resting place for many prominent American statesmen of the era. His grave at the cemetery later became the subject of a remarkable and macabre historical episode. As documented by the Library of Congress, Wirt's skull was stolen from his crypt at the Congressional Cemetery at some point after his burial, and the circumstances of its theft and eventual recovery became a notable footnote in the history of the cemetery and of early American commemorative culture.

Recognition

William Wirt's legacy has been commemorated in numerous ways across the United States. Several schools, streets, and public buildings bear his name, reflecting his prominence in early American legal and political history.

William Wirt Middle School in Prince George's County, Maryland, is named in his honor. The school, located in the unincorporated area of the county near his birthplace of Bladensburg, has served the local community for decades.

Wirt's grandson, William Wirt Henry (1831–1900), became a prominent Virginia lawyer, politician, historian, and writer in his own right. William Wirt Henry served as president of the American Historical Association and was known as a biographer of his grandfather's subject, Patrick Henry, continuing the family's connection to the study of early American history and oratory.

Wirt County, West Virginia, established in 1848, was named in honor of William Wirt, as was the city of Wirt, Indiana, and other geographic features across the country. These namings reflect the esteem in which Wirt was held by contemporaries and subsequent generations for his contributions to American law and public life.

Legacy

William Wirt's historical significance rests on several foundations. As the longest-serving Attorney General in American history, he helped shape the office and establish precedents for the role of the federal government's chief legal officer. His insistence on maintaining detailed records of his legal opinions and his efforts to bring greater rigor and consistency to the office's advisory function contributed to the professionalization of the position.

His literary works, particularly the biography of Patrick Henry, had a lasting impact on how Americans understood the Revolutionary generation. While subsequent historians have questioned the accuracy of some of Wirt's accounts—particularly his reconstruction of Henry's speeches from the memories of aging witnesses—his biography remained the standard work on Henry for much of the nineteenth century and helped to cement Henry's place in the American popular imagination as the embodiment of Revolutionary-era patriotism and eloquence.

Wirt's role in the Cherokee Nation cases before the Supreme Court represents an important chapter in the legal history of Native American rights. His willingness to advocate for the Cherokee at a time when popular opinion, particularly in the southern states, strongly favored Indian removal, demonstrated a commitment to legal principles over political expediency. Although the practical results of the Court's decisions were limited—the Jackson administration declined to enforce the rulings, and the Cherokee were ultimately subjected to forced removal along the Trail of Tears—the legal precedents established in these cases would prove important in later developments in federal Indian law.

Finally, Wirt's 1832 presidential candidacy, while unsuccessful, marked a significant moment in the development of American electoral politics. The Anti-Masonic Party's decision to hold a national nominating convention represented a democratic innovation that would be adopted by all major parties and remains the standard method of selecting presidential nominees to this day.

The theft of Wirt's skull from his crypt at the Congressional Cemetery, documented by the Library of Congress, serves as a curious postscript to his life—a reminder of the sometimes strange intersection of historical memory, commemorative culture, and the physical remains of the dead in American public life.