Description:

G. Washington's Nephew Bushrod Writes About Court in NJ Just Weeks After Hamilton-Burr Duel

Supreme Court Associate Justice Bushrod Washington, the nephew of George Washington, writes from Baltimore to federal District Judge Robert Morris in New Jersey, informing him that he will be detained for an upcoming court session in Trenton, New Jersey, approximately 130 miles northeast of Baltimore. From 1789 to 1911, U.S. Supreme Court Justices rode a circuit, convening U.S. Circuit Courts in districts throughout the United States, in conjunction with local federal district judges like Morris. Together, Washington and Morris constituted the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey.

[FEDERAL COURTS.] Bushrod Washington, Autograph Letter Signed, to Robert Morris, September 25, 1804, Baltimore, Maryland. 1 p., 7.5" x 9". Edge tears, with loss at upper left and bottom center; 2" tear in center affecting a half dozen words; general toning; very good.

Complete Transcript
Baltimore 25th Septr 1804
Dear Sir
We have been detained here by the illness of our driver, and unless he should get sufficiently well in the course of another day to permit us to proceed on upon the Journey, I fear it will not be in my power to attend the Court at Trenton on the first day. I shall endeavour to get up by Tuesday in time to enter upon the docket should there be any cases for trial. I must beg the favor of you to have the grand Jury sworn & sent out, that they may not be put to the unnecessary inconvenience of waiting beyond the first day.
I am very respectfully
Dear sir
Yr. mo. ob. Servt
Bush. Washington

[Endorsement on verso:]
Septr 25th 1804
Judge Washington was detained at Baltimore by sickness of driver to swear the Grand Jury would be at Trenton on Tuesday.
The Judge arrived in season to open Court in afternoon of the first day of the Term.

Historical Background
Washington wrote this letter just over ten weeks after Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wounded former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel near Weehawken, New Jersey. Although Burr was charged with murder in both New York and New Jersey state courts, he returned to Washington, D.C., where he finished his term immune from prosecution. The federal courts had no jurisdiction over most criminal actions.

In November 1804, a grand jury in Bergen County, New Jersey, the site of the duel, indicted Burr for murder. Ultimately in November 1807, the New Jersey Supreme Court quashed the Bergen County indictment of Burr for murder because Hamilton died in New York City, out of the jurisdiction of the New Jersey courts. In New York, the coroner's jury returned a verdict that Burr had murdered Hamilton and that Burr's seconds were accessories to the murder. New York then indicted Burr for murder and "challenging to a duel." Although the state's attorney later dropped the murder charge, Burr was convicted of the dueling charge, meaning that he could not vote, practice law, or hold office in the state for twenty years.

Bushrod Washington (1762-1829) was born in Virginia, a son of John Augustine Washington (1736-1787), the younger brother of George Washington. He graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1778, when only 16 years old. In 1780, he returned to Williamsburg to study law under George Wythe. He joined a cavalry unit of the Continental Army in 1781, seeing action at the Battle of Green Spring and witnessing General Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown. In 1784, after additional legal study in Philadelphia with James Wilson, Washington opened a law practice in Westmoreland County, Virginia, where he practiced until 1798. In September 1798, President John Adams appointed Washington as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, a position he held until his death. He generally supported the views of John Marshall, after Marshall became Chief Justice in 1801. When George Washington died in 1799, Bushrod Washington inherited Mount Vernon and served as one of the executors of the former President's will. In 1802, when Martha Washington died, Bushrod Washington inherited all of George Washington's papers and the majority of his estate. Bushrod Washington and his wife moved to Mount Vernon in 1802, bringing his slaves with him. In 1816, he helped to found the American Colonization Society and served as its first president until his death.

Robert Morris (1745-1815) was born in the province of New Jersey, the son of former Chief Justice of New Jersey Robert Hunter Morris (1700-1764) and the grandson of former New Jersey Governor Lewis Morris (1671-1746). He read law, gained admission to the bar in 1770, and established a private practice in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From 1777 to 1779, he served as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey under its 1776 Constitution. He resumed his private practice in New Brunswick from 1779 to 1790. In August 1790. President George Washington appointed him as judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, a position he held until his death in June 1815.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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