Morrison Waite
Encyclopedia
Morrison Remick Waite, nicknamed "Mott" (November 29, 1816 – March 23, 1888) was the seventh Chief Justice of the United States
from 1874 to 1888.
, the son of Henry Matson Waite
, who was a judge of the Superior Court and associate judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut
in 1834–1854 and chief justice of the latter in 1854–1857.
Morrison was a classmate of Lyman Trumbull
at Bacon Academy
in Colchester, Connecticut
. He graduated from Yale University
in 1837 with the 1876 Democratic presidential nominee, Samuel J. Tilden.
At Yale, he became a member of the Skull and Bones
Society and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society
in 1837, and soon afterwards moved to Maumee, Ohio
, where he studied law in the office of Samuel L. Young. He was admitted to the bar in 1839. He served one term as mayor of Maumee. He married Amelia Warner in 1840. He had three sons with her — Henry Seldon, Christopher Champlin, Edward T, and one daughter Mary F. In 1850, he moved to Toledo
, and he soon came to be recognized as a leader of the state bar.
with his former mentor, opening a branch office when he moved to Toledo in 1850. When his partner retired in 1856, Waite built a prosperous new firm with his brother Richard.
Waite was an active member of the Whig Party, and was elected to a term in the Ohio Senate
in 1849–1850. He made two unsuccessful bids for the United States Senate
, and was offered (but declined) a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. In the mid-1850s, because of his opposition to slavery
, Waite joined the fledgling Republican Party
and helped to organize it in his home state.
In 1871, Waite received a surprise invitation to represent the United States (along with William M. Evarts
and Caleb Cushing
) as counsel before the Alabama Tribunal
at Geneva
. It was his first national exposure, and won him acclaim when he successfully won a $15 million award from the tribunal. His star rose to such a level that in 1872, he presided over the Ohio constitutional convention
.
nominated Waite as Chief Justice on January 19, 1874, after a political circus surrounding the appointment. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase
had died in May 1873, and Grant waited six months before first offering the seat in November to political henchman Senator Roscoe Conkling
of New York
, who declined.
After ruling out a promotion of a sitting Associate Justice to Chief (despite much lobbying from the legal community for prominent Justice Samuel Freeman Miller
), Grant offered the Chief Justiceship to Senators Oliver Morton of Indiana
and Timothy Howe of Wisconsin
, then to his own Secretary of State
, Hamilton Fish
, before finally submitting to the Senate his nomination of Attorney General George H. Williams on December 1. A month later, however, Grant withdrew the nomination at Williams' request after charges of corruption made his confirmation all but certain to fail. One day after withdrawing Williams, Grant nominated Democrat
and former Attorney General Caleb Cushing
, but again withdrew it after Republican Senators alleged Civil War-era connections between Cushing and Confederate
President Jefferson Davis
.
Finally, after persistent lobbying from Ohioans including Interior Secretary
Columbus Delano
, on January 19, 1874, Grant nominated the little-known Waite who learned of his nomination by a telegram.
The nomination was not well-received in political circles. Former Secretary of the Navy
Gideon Welles
remarked of the nomination that "It is a wonder that Grant did not pick up some old acquaintance, who was a stage driver
or bartender
, for the place," and the political journal The Nation
said "Mr Waite stands in the front-rank of second-rank lawyers." Nationwide sentiment, however, was simply relief that a non-divisive and competent choice had been made, and Waite was confirmed unanimously as Chief Justice on January 22, receiving his commission the same day.
In matters of regulation over economic activity, he supported broad national authority, stating his opinion that federal commerce powers must “keep pace with the progress of the country.” In the same vein, a primary theme in his opinions was the balance of federal and state authority. These opinions influenced Supreme Court jurisprudence well into the 20th century.
This notion was also evident in the Waite Court's decisions dealing with the scope and meaning of the Reconstruction Amendments
and the rights of blacks in the south.
In United States v. Cruikshank
the court overturned the convictions of three men accused of massacring at least 105 blacks and three whites in the Colfax massacre
outside the Grant Parish, Louisiana, courthouse on Easter 1873. The convictions were thrown out not because the statutes themselves were unconstitutional but because the indictments under which the men were charged were infirm, and did not specifically allege that the murders were committed on account of the victims' race (“We may suspect that race was the cause of the hostility, but it is not so averred.”
Waite's social and political orientation was apparent in the Court's response to claims by other groups. In Minor v. Happersett
(1875), using the restricted definition of national citizenship and the 14th Amendment as set forth in the Slaughterhouse Cases
(1873), Waite upheld the states' right to deny women the franchise. However, Waite also sympathized with the women's rights movement and supported the admission of women to the Supreme Court bar.
After suffering a breakdown, probably due to overwork, he refused to retire. Almost to the moment of his death, he was still drafting opinions and leading the Court.
In the cases that grew out of the American Civil War
and Reconstruction, and especially in those that involved the interpretation of the Thirteenth
, Fourteenth
and Fifteenth amendment
s, he sympathized with the general tendency of the court to restrict the further extension of the powers of the Federal government. In a particularly notable ruling in United States v. Cruikshank
, the court struck down the Enforcement Act, ruling that "The very highest duty of the States, when they entered into the Union under the Constitution, was to protect all persons within their boundaries in the enjoyment of these 'unalienable rights with which they were endowed by their Creator.' Sovereignty, for this purpose, rests alone with the States. It is no more the duty or within the power of the United States to punish for a conspiracy to falsely imprison
or murder within a State, than it would be to punish for false imprisonment or murder itself." He concluded that "We may suspect that race was the cause of the hostility but is it not so averred." His belief was that white moderates should set the rules of racial relations in the South, which reflected the majority of the Court and the people of the United States, who were tired of the bitter racial strife involved with the affairs of Reconstruction. This belief backfired when arch-segregationists in the South regained power and legislated the infamous Jim Crow laws
that disenfranchised African-Americans in the South. These laws lasted well into the 20th century.
In his opinion of Munn v. Illinois
(1877), which was one of a group of six Granger cases involving Populist-inspired state legislation to fix maximum rates chargeable by grain elevators and railroads, he said that when a business or private property was "affected with a public interest" it was subject to governmental regulation. Thus, the Court was ruling against charges that Granger laws constituted encroachment of private property without due process of law and conflicted with the Fourteenth Amendment. The ardent New Dealers in the Franklin Roosevelt administration looked to Munn v. Illinois to guide them in matters like due process, commerce and contract clauses.
Waite concurred with the majority in the Head Money Cases
(1884), the Ku-Klux Case (United States v. Harris
, 1883), the Civil Rights Cases
(1883), Pace v. Alabama
(1883), and the Legal Tender Cases
(including Juillard v. Greenman) (1883). Among his own most important opinions were those in the Enforcement Act Cases (1875), the Sinking Fund Cases (1878), the Railroad Commission Cases
(1886) and the Telephone Cases (1887).
In 1876 when there was talk about a third term for President Grant some Republicans turned to Waite as they believed he was a better presidential nominee for the Republican Party than the scandal-tainted Grant. Waite turned down the idea arguing "my duty was not to make it a stepping stone to someone else but to preserve its purity and make my own name as honorable as that of any of my predecessors." In the aftermath of the presidential election of 1876 he refused to sit on the Electoral Commission that decided the electoral votes of Florida
because of his close friendship of GOP presidential nominee Rutherford B. Hayes
and his classmateship with the Democratic presidential nominee Samuel J. Tilden with whom Waite studied at Yale College.
As Chief Justice he swore in Presidents Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield
, Chester A. Arthur
and Grover Cleveland
.
, may be the original basis for the recognition of corporations having the legal rights of a person:
"The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does."
and was a vocal advocate to aiding schools for the education of blacks in the south.
said of him:
For unknown reasons, his remains were not interred in the family plot, but are interred under a handsome monument in Woodlawn Cemetery
, Plot: Section 42, by the river in Toledo, Ohio
.
Waite High School (Toledo, Ohio)
is named in his honor.
----
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
from 1874 to 1888.
Early life and education
He was born at Lyme, ConnecticutLyme, Connecticut
Lyme is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,016 at the 2000 census. Lyme and its neighboring town Old Lyme are the namesake for Lyme disease.-Geography:...
, the son of Henry Matson Waite
Henry Matson Waite
Henry Matson Waite was a lawyer, judge, and Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.-Biography:...
, who was a judge of the Superior Court and associate judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut
Connecticut Supreme Court
The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, across the street from the Connecticut State Capitol...
in 1834–1854 and chief justice of the latter in 1854–1857.
Morrison was a classmate of Lyman Trumbull
Lyman Trumbull
Lyman Trumbull was a United States Senator from Illinois during the American Civil War, and co-author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.-Education and early career:...
at Bacon Academy
Bacon Academy
Bacon Academy is a public high school in Colchester, Connecticut, in the United States.In 1800 a prominent Colchester farmer, Pierpont Bacon, died and left an endowment of thirty-five thousand dollars . The endowment was to theThis established the academy that bears his name...
in Colchester, Connecticut
Colchester, Connecticut
Colchester is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 14,551 at the 2000 census. In 2005 it was ranked 57th on the "100 Best Places to Live" in all of the United States, conducted by CNN...
. He graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1837 with the 1876 Democratic presidential nominee, Samuel J. Tilden.
At Yale, he became a member of the Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
Society and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
in 1837, and soon afterwards moved to Maumee, Ohio
Maumee, Ohio
Maumee is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Toledo along the Maumee River. The population was 14,286 at the 2010 census. Maumee was also declared an All-America City by the National Civic League in June 2006.-Geography:...
, where he studied law in the office of Samuel L. Young. He was admitted to the bar in 1839. He served one term as mayor of Maumee. He married Amelia Warner in 1840. He had three sons with her — Henry Seldon, Christopher Champlin, Edward T, and one daughter Mary F. In 1850, he moved to Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, and he soon came to be recognized as a leader of the state bar.
Political and legal career
Waite was an extremely successful attorney in Ohio. Upon admission to the state bar in 1839, he established a law firm in MaumeeMaumee, Ohio
Maumee is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Toledo along the Maumee River. The population was 14,286 at the 2010 census. Maumee was also declared an All-America City by the National Civic League in June 2006.-Geography:...
with his former mentor, opening a branch office when he moved to Toledo in 1850. When his partner retired in 1856, Waite built a prosperous new firm with his brother Richard.
Waite was an active member of the Whig Party, and was elected to a term in the Ohio Senate
Ohio Senate
The Ohio State Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly, the legislative body for the U.S. state of Ohio. There are 33 State Senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Columbus. The President of the Senate presides over the body when in session, and is currently Tom...
in 1849–1850. He made two unsuccessful bids for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, and was offered (but declined) a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. In the mid-1850s, because of his opposition to slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, Waite joined the fledgling Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and helped to organize it in his home state.
In 1871, Waite received a surprise invitation to represent the United States (along with William M. Evarts
William M. Evarts
William Maxwell Evarts was an American lawyer and statesman who served as U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator from New York...
and Caleb Cushing
Caleb Cushing
Caleb Cushing was an American diplomat who served as a U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts and Attorney General under President Franklin Pierce.-Early life:...
) as counsel before the Alabama Tribunal
Alabama Claims
The Alabama Claims were a series of claims for damages by the United States government against the government of Great Britain for the assistance given to the Confederate cause during the American Civil War. After international arbitration endorsed the American position in 1872, Britain settled...
at Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. It was his first national exposure, and won him acclaim when he successfully won a $15 million award from the tribunal. His star rose to such a level that in 1872, he presided over the Ohio constitutional convention
Constitutional convention (political meeting)
A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
.
Supreme Court nomination
President Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
nominated Waite as Chief Justice on January 19, 1874, after a political circus surrounding the appointment. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase
Salmon P. Chase
Salmon Portland Chase was an American politician and jurist who served as U.S. Senator from Ohio and the 23rd Governor of Ohio; as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln; and as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.Chase was one of the most prominent members...
had died in May 1873, and Grant waited six months before first offering the seat in November to political henchman Senator Roscoe Conkling
Roscoe Conkling
Roscoe Conkling was a politician from New York who served both as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. He was the leader of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party and the last person to refuse a U.S. Supreme Court appointment after he had...
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, who declined.
After ruling out a promotion of a sitting Associate Justice to Chief (despite much lobbying from the legal community for prominent Justice Samuel Freeman Miller
Samuel Freeman Miller
Samuel Freeman Miller was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1862–1890. He was a physician and lawyer.-Early life and education:...
), Grant offered the Chief Justiceship to Senators Oliver Morton of Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and Timothy Howe of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, then to his own Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
, Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish was an American statesman and politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York, United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. Fish has been considered one of the best Secretary of States in the United States history; known for his judiciousness and reform efforts...
, before finally submitting to the Senate his nomination of Attorney General George H. Williams on December 1. A month later, however, Grant withdrew the nomination at Williams' request after charges of corruption made his confirmation all but certain to fail. One day after withdrawing Williams, Grant nominated Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and former Attorney General Caleb Cushing
Caleb Cushing
Caleb Cushing was an American diplomat who served as a U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts and Attorney General under President Franklin Pierce.-Early life:...
, but again withdrew it after Republican Senators alleged Civil War-era connections between Cushing and Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
.
Finally, after persistent lobbying from Ohioans including Interior Secretary
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Columbus Delano
Columbus Delano
Columbus Delano, was a lawyer and a statesman and a member of the prominent Delano family.At the age of eight, Columbus Delano's family moved to Mount Vernon in Knox County, Ohio, a place he would call home for the rest of his life. After completing his primary education, he studied law and was...
, on January 19, 1874, Grant nominated the little-known Waite who learned of his nomination by a telegram.
The nomination was not well-received in political circles. Former Secretary of the Navy
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
Gideon Welles
Gideon Welles
Gideon Welles was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869. His buildup of the Navy to successfully execute blockades of Southern ports was a key component of Northern victory of the Civil War...
remarked of the nomination that "It is a wonder that Grant did not pick up some old acquaintance, who was a stage driver
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
or bartender
Bartender
A bartender is a person who serves beverages behind a counter in a bar, pub, tavern, or similar establishment. A bartender, in short, "tends the bar". The term barkeeper may carry a connotation of being the bar's owner...
, for the place," and the political journal The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
said "Mr Waite stands in the front-rank of second-rank lawyers." Nationwide sentiment, however, was simply relief that a non-divisive and competent choice had been made, and Waite was confirmed unanimously as Chief Justice on January 22, receiving his commission the same day.
The Waite Court, 1874–1888
Chief Justice Waite never became a significant intellectual force on the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, managerial and social skill, "especially his good humor and sensitivity to others, helped him to maintain a remarkably harmonious and productive court." During Waite's tenure, it decided some 3,470 cases. In part, the large number of cases decided and the variety of issues confronted reflected the lack of discretion the Court had at the time in hearing appeals from lower federal and state courts. However, Waite demonstrated an ability to get his brethren to reach decisions and write opinions without delay. His own work habits and output were formidable—he drafted one-third of these opinions.In matters of regulation over economic activity, he supported broad national authority, stating his opinion that federal commerce powers must “keep pace with the progress of the country.” In the same vein, a primary theme in his opinions was the balance of federal and state authority. These opinions influenced Supreme Court jurisprudence well into the 20th century.
This notion was also evident in the Waite Court's decisions dealing with the scope and meaning of the Reconstruction Amendments
Reconstruction Amendments
The Reconstruction Amendments are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, adopted between 1865 and 1870, the five years immediately following the Civil War...
and the rights of blacks in the south.
In United States v. Cruikshank
United States v. Cruikshank
United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 was an important United States Supreme Court decision in United States constitutional law, one of the earliest to deal with the application of the Bill of Rights to state governments following the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.-Background:On Easter...
the court overturned the convictions of three men accused of massacring at least 105 blacks and three whites in the Colfax massacre
Colfax massacre
The Colfax massacre or Colfax Riot occurred on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, in Colfax, Louisiana, the seat of Grant Parish, during Reconstruction, when white militia attacked freedmen at the Colfax courthouse...
outside the Grant Parish, Louisiana, courthouse on Easter 1873. The convictions were thrown out not because the statutes themselves were unconstitutional but because the indictments under which the men were charged were infirm, and did not specifically allege that the murders were committed on account of the victims' race (“We may suspect that race was the cause of the hostility, but it is not so averred.”
Waite's social and political orientation was apparent in the Court's response to claims by other groups. In Minor v. Happersett
Minor v. Happersett
Minor v. Happersett, , was a United States Supreme Court case appealed from the Supreme Court of Missouri concerning the Missouri law which ordained "Every male citizen of the United States shall be entitled to vote."...
(1875), using the restricted definition of national citizenship and the 14th Amendment as set forth in the Slaughterhouse Cases
Slaughterhouse Cases
The Slaughter-House Cases, were the first United States Supreme Court interpretation of the relatively new Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution...
(1873), Waite upheld the states' right to deny women the franchise. However, Waite also sympathized with the women's rights movement and supported the admission of women to the Supreme Court bar.
After suffering a breakdown, probably due to overwork, he refused to retire. Almost to the moment of his death, he was still drafting opinions and leading the Court.
In the cases that grew out of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and Reconstruction, and especially in those that involved the interpretation of the Thirteenth
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
, Fourteenth
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
and Fifteenth amendment
Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"...
s, he sympathized with the general tendency of the court to restrict the further extension of the powers of the Federal government. In a particularly notable ruling in United States v. Cruikshank
United States v. Cruikshank
United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 was an important United States Supreme Court decision in United States constitutional law, one of the earliest to deal with the application of the Bill of Rights to state governments following the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.-Background:On Easter...
, the court struck down the Enforcement Act, ruling that "The very highest duty of the States, when they entered into the Union under the Constitution, was to protect all persons within their boundaries in the enjoyment of these 'unalienable rights with which they were endowed by their Creator.' Sovereignty, for this purpose, rests alone with the States. It is no more the duty or within the power of the United States to punish for a conspiracy to falsely imprison
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
or murder within a State, than it would be to punish for false imprisonment or murder itself." He concluded that "We may suspect that race was the cause of the hostility but is it not so averred." His belief was that white moderates should set the rules of racial relations in the South, which reflected the majority of the Court and the people of the United States, who were tired of the bitter racial strife involved with the affairs of Reconstruction. This belief backfired when arch-segregationists in the South regained power and legislated the infamous Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
that disenfranchised African-Americans in the South. These laws lasted well into the 20th century.
In his opinion of Munn v. Illinois
Munn v. Illinois
Munn v. Illinois, 94 U.S. 113 , was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with corporate rates and agriculture. The Munn case allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads, and is commonly regarded as a milestone in the growth of federal government...
(1877), which was one of a group of six Granger cases involving Populist-inspired state legislation to fix maximum rates chargeable by grain elevators and railroads, he said that when a business or private property was "affected with a public interest" it was subject to governmental regulation. Thus, the Court was ruling against charges that Granger laws constituted encroachment of private property without due process of law and conflicted with the Fourteenth Amendment. The ardent New Dealers in the Franklin Roosevelt administration looked to Munn v. Illinois to guide them in matters like due process, commerce and contract clauses.
Waite concurred with the majority in the Head Money Cases
Head Money Cases
The Head Money Cases, 112 U.S. 580 , were the subject of an important United States Supreme Court decision. They were decided on December 8, 1884....
(1884), the Ku-Klux Case (United States v. Harris
United States v. Harris
United States v. Harris, , sometimes referred to as the Ku Klux Case, was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to penalize crimes such as assault and murder. It declared that the local governments have the power to...
, 1883), the Civil Rights Cases
Civil Rights Cases
The Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 , were a group of five similar cases consolidated into one issue for the United States Supreme Court to review...
(1883), Pace v. Alabama
Pace v. Alabama
Pace v. Alabama, 106 U.S. 583 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court affirmed that Alabama's anti-miscegenation statute was constitutional. This ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1964 in McLaughlin v. Florida and in 1967 in Loving v...
(1883), and the Legal Tender Cases
Legal Tender Cases
The Legal Tender Cases were a series of United States Supreme Court cases in the latter part of the nineteenth century that affirmed the constitutionality of paper money. In the 1870 case of Hepburn v. Griswold, the Court had held that paper money violated the United States Constitution. The...
(including Juillard v. Greenman) (1883). Among his own most important opinions were those in the Enforcement Act Cases (1875), the Sinking Fund Cases (1878), the Railroad Commission Cases
Railroad Commission Cases
The Railroad Commission Cases, , is a United States Supreme Court case concerning the power of states to set transportation charges of railroad companies...
(1886) and the Telephone Cases (1887).
In 1876 when there was talk about a third term for President Grant some Republicans turned to Waite as they believed he was a better presidential nominee for the Republican Party than the scandal-tainted Grant. Waite turned down the idea arguing "my duty was not to make it a stepping stone to someone else but to preserve its purity and make my own name as honorable as that of any of my predecessors." In the aftermath of the presidential election of 1876 he refused to sit on the Electoral Commission that decided the electoral votes of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
because of his close friendship of GOP presidential nominee Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
and his classmateship with the Democratic presidential nominee Samuel J. Tilden with whom Waite studied at Yale College.
As Chief Justice he swore in Presidents Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield
James Garfield
James Abram Garfield served as the 20th President of the United States, after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive...
, Chester A. Arthur
Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...
and Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
.
Role in corporate personhood controversy
Justice Waite's remark during a Fourteenth Amendment case, inserted in the ruling's headnotes by court reporter John Chandler Bancroft DavisBancroft Davis
John Chandler Bancroft Davis , commonly known as Bancroft Davis, was an American lawyer, judge, diplomat, and president of Newburgh and New York Railway Company.-Early life:...
, may be the original basis for the recognition of corporations having the legal rights of a person:
"The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does."
Champion of education opportunities for blacks
He was one of the Peabody Trustees of Southern EducationPeabody Education Fund
Founded of necessity due to damage caused largely by the American Civil War, the Peabody Education Fund was established by George Peabody in 1867 for the purpose of promoting "intellectual, moral, and industrial education in the most destitute portion of the Southern States." The gift of...
and was a vocal advocate to aiding schools for the education of blacks in the south.
Frankfurter's view of Waite
Supreme Court Justice Felix FrankfurterFelix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.-Early life:Frankfurter was born into a Jewish family on November 15, 1882, in Vienna, Austria, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe. He was the third of six children of Leopold and Emma Frankfurter...
said of him:
"He did not confine the constitution within the limits of his own experience.... The disciplined and disinterested lawyer in him transcended the bounds of the environment within which he moved and the views of the client whom he served at the bar".
Death and legacy
Chief Justice Waite died unexpectedly of pneumonia. This created a stir in Washington, as there had been no hint that his illness was serious. His condition had been treated as confidential, in part to avoid alarming his wife who was in California. The Washington Post devoted its entire front page to his demise. Large crowds joined in the mourning. Except for Justices Braley and Matthews, all the justices accompanied his body on the special train that went to Toledo. Mrs. Waite came by train from California, arriving just in time for the funeral. Published reports indicated the Chief Justice would be buried in a family plot he had purchased in Forest Hill Cemetery, but he was not in fact interred there.For unknown reasons, his remains were not interred in the family plot, but are interred under a handsome monument in Woodlawn Cemetery
Woodlawn Cemetery (Toledo, Ohio)
Woodlawn Cemetery is a cemetery and arboretum located in Toledo, Ohio. It is one of several cemeteries in the United States to have that name, and one of a few to be on the National Register of Historic Places....
, Plot: Section 42, by the river in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
.
Waite High School (Toledo, Ohio)
Waite High School (Toledo, Ohio)
Morrison R. Waite High School is a public high school located in east Toledo, Ohio that opened in 1914. It is part of the Toledo Public Schools. It is named after Morrison R. Waite, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who is famous for overseeing the Alabama Claims case...
is named in his honor.
Quotations
See also
- Corporate personality
- Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United StatesDemographics of the Supreme Court of the United StatesThe demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States encompass the gender, ethnic, religious, geographic, and economic backgrounds of the 112 justices appointed to the Supreme Court. Certain of these characteristics have been raised as an issue since the Court was established in 1789. For its...
- List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
- List of United States Chief Justices by time in office
- List of U.S. Supreme Court Justices by time in office
- United States Supreme Court cases during the Waite Court
- List of Skull and Bones Members
External links
- History of the Court, The Waite Court 1874-1888, Supreme Court Historical Society.
- Morrison Waite biography Supreme Court Historical SocietySupreme Court Historical SocietyThe Supreme Court Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and communicating the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.-History:...
- Morrison R. Waite Biography, official Supreme Court media, OyezOyez.orgThe Oyez Project at the Chicago-Kent College of Law is an unofficial online multimedia archive of the Supreme Court of the United States, especially audio of oral arguments...
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