Thomas Addis Emmet
Encyclopedia
Thomas Addis Emmet was an Irish
and American lawyer
and politician
. He was a senior member of the revolutionary republican group United Irishmen in the 1790s and New York State Attorney General
1812–1813.
(later to become State Physician of Ireland) and Elizabeth Mason of Kerry
, both of whose portraits are today displayed at Cork's Crawford Art Gallery. He was the elder brother of Robert Emmet
who was himself executed for leading the Irish Rebellion of 1803
, becoming one of Ireland's most famous Republican
martyrs. Thomas Addis Emmet was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
, and at University of Edinburgh
, where he studied medicine and was a pupil of Dugald Stewart
in philosophy. After visiting the chief medical schools on the continent, he returned to Ireland in 1788; but the sudden death of his elder brother, Christopher Temple Emmet
(1761–1788), a student of great distinction, induced him to follow the advice of Sir James Mackintosh
to forsake medicine for the law as a profession. He married Jane Patten in 1791.
against Catholics. He was called to the Irish bar in 1790 and quickly obtained a practice, principally as counsel for prisoners charged with political offenses. He also become the legal adviser of the Society of the United Irishmen
.
When the Dublin corporation
issued a declaration of support of the Protestant ascendancy
in 1792, the response of the United Irishmen was their non-sectarian manifesto which was largely drawn up by Emmet. In 1795 he formally took the oath of the United Irishmen, becoming secretary in the same year and a member of the executive in 1797. As by this time the United Irishmen had been declared illegal and driven underground any efforts at peaceful reform of government and Catholic emancipation in Ireland were abandoned as futile and their goal was now the creation of a non-sectarian Irish republic, independent from Britain and to be achieved by armed rebellion. Although Emmet supported this policy, he believed that the rebellion should not commence until French aid had arrived, differing from more radical members such as Lord Edward Fitzgerald
.
. Though not among those taken at the house of Oliver Bond
on the 12th of March 1798 (see Lord Edward Fitzgerald
), he was arrested about the same time, and was one of the leaders imprisoned initially at Kilmainham Jail and later in Scotland
at Fort George
until 1802. Upon his release he went to Brussels
where he was visited by his brother Robert Emmet in October 1802 and was informed of the preparations for a fresh rising in Ireland in conjunction with French aid. However, at that stage France and Britain were briefly at peace, and the Emmets' pleas for help were turned down by Napoleon.
He received news of the failure of Robert Emmet's rising in July 1803 in Paris
, where he was in communication with Napoleon Bonaparte. He then emigrated to the United States
and joined the New York
bar where he obtained a lucrative practice. He was counsel for Ogden in the landmark Constitutional case of Gibbons v. Ogden
.
, he was appointed New York State Attorney General
in August 1812, but was removed from office in February 1813 when the opposing Federalist Party obtained a majority in the Council of Appointment
.
declaring him to be "the favourite counsellor of New York." He argued the case for Ogden in the landmark United States Supreme Court case of Gibbons v. Ogden
, 22 U.S. 1 (1824) relating to the Commerce
and Supremacy clause
s of the United States Constitution
.
Emmet died while conducting a case in court on the 14th of November 1827. He was buried in St Mark's-in-the-Bowery Churchyard in the East Village, New York City.
Samuel F.B. Morse painted a famous portrait of Emmet that was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery
and was auction
ed by Sotheby's
in 2010. Maxwell kept the oil on canvas painting. When Maxwell died in 1873, he left the painting to the New York Law Institute.
Thomas Addis Emmet is the father of prominent New York jurist and Irish American activist Robert Emmet (born in Dublin), grandfather of another prominent New York jurist and attorney general, Richard Stockton Emmet, and great-grandfather of the notable American portrait artist sisters Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet
and Jane Emmet de Glehn
, as well as their first cousin Ellen Emmet Rand. Rosina's twin brother was West Point graduate and Medal of Honor
winner Robert Temple Emmet
. He is the great-great-grandfather of the playwright Robert Emmet Sherwood. His grandson, Dr Thomas Addis Emmet, a prominent doctor and Irish American
activist, requested that he be re-buried in Ireland so he could "rest in the land from which my family came." Dr Emmet is interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, the final resting place of many of Ireland's patriots. His grave marker was designed by the father and brother of the revolutionary Patrick Pearse
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and American lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was a senior member of the revolutionary republican group United Irishmen in the 1790s and New York State Attorney General
New York State Attorney General
The New York State Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of New York. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of New York.The current Attorney General is Eric Schneiderman...
1812–1813.
Background
Thomas Addis Emmet was born in the Hammond's Marsh area of Cork City in 1764 to Dr. Robert Emmet from TipperaryTipperary
Tipperary is a town and a civil parish in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,415 at the 2006 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam....
(later to become State Physician of Ireland) and Elizabeth Mason of Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, both of whose portraits are today displayed at Cork's Crawford Art Gallery. He was the elder brother of Robert Emmet
Robert Emmet
Robert Emmet was an Irish nationalist and Republican, orator and rebel leader born in Dublin, Ireland...
who was himself executed for leading the Irish Rebellion of 1803
Irish Rebellion of 1803
The Irish Rebellion of 1803 was an unsuccessful attempt by a group of Irish nationalists to secure Ireland's independence from the United Kingdom.- Leaders :...
, becoming one of Ireland's most famous Republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
martyrs. Thomas Addis Emmet was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, and at University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, where he studied medicine and was a pupil of Dugald Stewart
Dugald Stewart
Dugald Stewart was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and mathematician. His father, Matthew Stewart , was professor of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh .-Life and works:...
in philosophy. After visiting the chief medical schools on the continent, he returned to Ireland in 1788; but the sudden death of his elder brother, Christopher Temple Emmet
Christopher Temple Emmet
-Life:Emmet, eldest son of Robert Emmet, M.D., and elder brother of Thomas Addis and Robert Emmet, was born at Cork in 1761. He entered the University of Dublin in 1775, and obtained a scholarship there in 1778. He was called to the bar in Ireland in 1781, and in that year he married Anne Western...
(1761–1788), a student of great distinction, induced him to follow the advice of Sir James Mackintosh
James Mackintosh
Sir James Mackintosh was a Scottish jurist, politician and historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, and worked also as a journalist, judge, administrator, professor, philosopher and politician.-Early life:Mackintosh was born at...
to forsake medicine for the law as a profession. He married Jane Patten in 1791.
United Irishman
Emmet was a man of liberal political sympathies and became involved with campaign to extend the democratic franchise for the Irish Parliament and to end discriminationPenal Laws (Ireland)
The term Penal Laws in Ireland were a series of laws imposed under English and later British rule that sought to discriminate against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters in favour of members of the established Church of Ireland....
against Catholics. He was called to the Irish bar in 1790 and quickly obtained a practice, principally as counsel for prisoners charged with political offenses. He also become the legal adviser of the Society of the United Irishmen
Society of the United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was founded as a liberal political organisation in eighteenth century Ireland that sought Parliamentary reform. However, it evolved into a revolutionary republican organisation, inspired by the American Revolution and allied with Revolutionary France...
.
When the Dublin corporation
Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation , known by generations of Dubliners simply as The Corpo, is the former name given to the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin between 1661 and 1 January 2002...
issued a declaration of support of the Protestant ascendancy
Protestant Ascendancy
The Protestant Ascendancy, usually known in Ireland simply as the Ascendancy, is a phrase used when referring to the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland by a minority of great landowners, Protestant clergy, and professionals, all members of the Established Church during the 17th...
in 1792, the response of the United Irishmen was their non-sectarian manifesto which was largely drawn up by Emmet. In 1795 he formally took the oath of the United Irishmen, becoming secretary in the same year and a member of the executive in 1797. As by this time the United Irishmen had been declared illegal and driven underground any efforts at peaceful reform of government and Catholic emancipation in Ireland were abandoned as futile and their goal was now the creation of a non-sectarian Irish republic, independent from Britain and to be achieved by armed rebellion. Although Emmet supported this policy, he believed that the rebellion should not commence until French aid had arrived, differing from more radical members such as Lord Edward Fitzgerald
Lord Edward FitzGerald
Lord Edward FitzGerald was an Irish aristocrat and revolutionary. He was the fifth son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and the Duchess of Leinster , he was born at Carton House, near Dublin, and died of wounds received in resisting arrest on charge of treason.-Early years:FitzGerald spent most of his...
.
Arrest and exile
British intelligence had infiltrated the United Irishmen and managed to arrest most of their leaders on the eve of the rebellionIrish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
. Though not among those taken at the house of Oliver Bond
Oliver Bond
Oliver Bond was an Irish revolutionary, one of the leaders of the Society of United Irishmen in the end of 18th century, which has the objective of ending British rule over Ireland and founding an independent Irish republic.He was born in the parish of St...
on the 12th of March 1798 (see Lord Edward Fitzgerald
Lord Edward FitzGerald
Lord Edward FitzGerald was an Irish aristocrat and revolutionary. He was the fifth son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and the Duchess of Leinster , he was born at Carton House, near Dublin, and died of wounds received in resisting arrest on charge of treason.-Early years:FitzGerald spent most of his...
), he was arrested about the same time, and was one of the leaders imprisoned initially at Kilmainham Jail and later in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
at Fort George
Fort George, Highland
Fort George , is a large 18th century fortress near Ardersier, to the north-east of Inverness in the Highland council area of Scotland. It was built to pacify the Scottish Highlands in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745, replacing an earlier Fort George built with the same aim after the...
until 1802. Upon his release he went to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
where he was visited by his brother Robert Emmet in October 1802 and was informed of the preparations for a fresh rising in Ireland in conjunction with French aid. However, at that stage France and Britain were briefly at peace, and the Emmets' pleas for help were turned down by Napoleon.
He received news of the failure of Robert Emmet's rising in July 1803 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he was in communication with Napoleon Bonaparte. He then emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and joined the 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...
bar where he obtained a lucrative practice. He was counsel for Ogden in the landmark Constitutional case of Gibbons v. Ogden
Gibbons v. Ogden
Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 , was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The case was argued by some of America's most admired and...
.
New York Attorney General
After the death of Matthias B. HildrethMatthias B. Hildreth
Matthias Bernard Hildreth was an American lawyer and politician.-Life:His family moved in 1797 from Southampton, Long Island to Johnstown, then in Montgomery County, New York, where his father James Hildreth became judge of the Court of Common Pleas.Hildreth was a presidential elector in 1804,...
, he was appointed New York State Attorney General
New York State Attorney General
The New York State Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of New York. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of New York.The current Attorney General is Eric Schneiderman...
in August 1812, but was removed from office in February 1813 when the opposing Federalist Party obtained a majority in the Council of Appointment
Council of Appointment
The Council of Appointment was a body of the Government of New York that existed from 1777 to 1822.-History:...
.
Later career
His abilities and successes became so acclaimed and his services so requested that he became one of the most respected attorneys in the nation, with United States Supreme Court Justice Joseph StoryJoseph Story
Joseph Story was an American lawyer and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1811 to 1845. He is most remembered today for his opinions in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and The Amistad, along with his magisterial Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first...
declaring him to be "the favourite counsellor of New York." He argued the case for Ogden in the landmark United States Supreme Court case of Gibbons v. Ogden
Gibbons v. Ogden
Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 , was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The case was argued by some of America's most admired and...
, 22 U.S. 1 (1824) relating to the Commerce
Commerce Clause
The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution . The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." Courts and commentators have tended to...
and Supremacy clause
Supremacy Clause
Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, known as the Supremacy Clause, establishes the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Treaties, and Federal Statutes as "the supreme law of the land." The text decrees these to be the highest form of law in the U.S...
s of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
.
Death and legacy
Samuel F.B. Morse painted a famous portrait of Emmet that was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery
National Portrait Gallery (United States)
The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
and was auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
ed by Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
in 2010. Maxwell kept the oil on canvas painting. When Maxwell died in 1873, he left the painting to the New York Law Institute.
Thomas Addis Emmet is the father of prominent New York jurist and Irish American activist Robert Emmet (born in Dublin), grandfather of another prominent New York jurist and attorney general, Richard Stockton Emmet, and great-grandfather of the notable American portrait artist sisters Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet
Lydia Field Emmet
Lydia Field Emmet was an American artist best known for her work as a portraitist. She studied with, among others, prominent artists such as William Merritt Chase, Henry Siddons Mowbray, Kenyon Cox and Tony Robert-Fleury...
and Jane Emmet de Glehn
Jane Emmet de Glehn
-Early life:Born in New Rochelle, New York, she was the youngest daughter of ten siblings. Her great-great-uncle Robert Emmet was a notable Irish nationalist who was hanged in 1803 for high treason by the British court for his attempt to implement an abortive Irish rebellion...
, as well as their first cousin Ellen Emmet Rand. Rosina's twin brother was West Point graduate and Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
winner Robert Temple Emmet
Robert Temple Emmet
Robert Temple Emmet was a United States Army Colonel who was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions while surrounded by a much larger force. An 1877 graduate of West Point, he served in numerous campaigns on the Western Frontier.-Education and army career:Emmet was born in New York City to...
. He is the great-great-grandfather of the playwright Robert Emmet Sherwood. His grandson, Dr Thomas Addis Emmet, a prominent doctor and Irish American
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
activist, requested that he be re-buried in Ireland so he could "rest in the land from which my family came." Dr Emmet is interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, the final resting place of many of Ireland's patriots. His grave marker was designed by the father and brother of the revolutionary Patrick Pearse
Patrick Pearse
Patrick Henry Pearse was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916...
.