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President Washington Important Signed Letter Appointing a Quaker Abolitionist Attorney for the Home Seat of Gov't in PA Just After the 1789 Judiciary Act
President Washington Important Signed Letter Appointing a Quaker Abolitionist Attorney for the Home Seat of Gov't in PA Just After the 1789 Judiciary Act
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Description:

Washington George

President Washington Signs a Judicial Commission Just After the Judiciary Act of 1789

 

Single page manuscript letter signed, 7.75" x 12.5." Dated "September 30th, 1789" and signed by George Washington as "G Washington." The document benefited from professional conservation including being professionally lined on the verso, with an acid-free backing for stability. Several areas of toning bands were visibly obscured by the conservation process. A copy of the watermark and the letter's previous appearance are included for accuracy. Still an important and historical letter with excellent appearance. This lovely one page example allows for a complete presentation.

 

A phenomenal commission by George Washington in his first year of his Presidency. Washington championed the important contribution of the Judicial system, and appointed Mr. Lewis as the attorney for the District of Pennsylvania, Washington's home seat, noting "the high importance of the Judicial System in our National Government, made it an indispensable duty to select  such Characters to fill the several offices." The extraordinary relevance of this letter lies in that is was composed only a week after President George Washington had just signed into law The Judiciary Act of 1789, officially titled "An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States," on September 24, 1789. Article III of the Constitution established a Supreme Court, but left to Congress the authority to create lower federal courts as needed.  Principally authored by Senator Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, the Judiciary Act of 1789 established the structure and jurisdiction of the federal court system and created the position of attorney general. Although amended throughout the years by Congress, the basic outline of the federal court system established by the First Congress remains largely intact today. The letter is shown transcribed in full below:

 

 

                                     "United States, September 30, 1789

Sir:

I have the pleasure to inform you that you are appointed (Marshal or Attorney) for the district of Pennsylvania and your commission is enclosed, accompanied with such Laws as have passed relative to the Judicial Department of the United States.

 

The high importance of the Judicial System in our National Government, made it an indispensable duty to select such Characters to fill the several offices in it as would discharge their respective trusts with honor to themselves and advantage to their Country.

 I am Sir

your most obedient servant

G Washington

 

William Lewis Esquire"

 

 

One of the first acts of the new Congress was to establish a federal court system in the Judiciary Act of 1789. The Constitution provided that the judicial branch should be composed of one Supreme Court and such inferior courts as Congress from time to time established. But unlike the legislative provisions, in which the framers clearly spelled out the powers of the Congress, Article III of the Constitution is rather vague on just what the judicial powers should be. Congress had little precedent to guide it, since in the British system the three court systems -- Common Pleas (private law), King's Bench (criminal law) and Chancery (equity) -- operated independently, and derived their authority from the King's writ. Even during colonial times, when American courts followed English precedent, the frontier society had been too poor in resources and trained personnel to follow British practice. So Congress had, in essence, a clean slate upon which to write. One of the more imaginative steps was combining law and equity into a single court system, thus providing for a more effective and efficient means of delivering justice.

 

The debate in Congress centered on how much power the Constitution transferred from the states to the federal government. States' rights activists opposed giving the new courts too much authority, while supporters argued that only a strong federal court system could overcome the weaknesses that had been so apparent during the Confederation period. Looking back, it is hard to envision how the supremacy of the Constitution provided for in Article VI could possibly have been sustained without a strong federal court system, one empowered to review and, if necessary, overturn state court decisions. Otherwise, the country would have been saddled again with thirteen independent jurisdictions and no means to conform them to a single national standard.

 

Washington presided over the establishment of the new federal government – appointing all of the high-ranking officials in the executive and judicial branches, shaping numerous political practices, and establishing the site of the permanent capital of the United States. He supported Alexander Hamilton's economic policies whereby the federal government assumed the debts of the state governments and established the First Bank of the United States, the United States Mint, and the United States Customs Service.

William Lewis was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the son of Josiah Lewis. He was educated at home until the age of seventeen, when he went to Philadelphia to enroll at the Friends' Public School to study Latin and then to study law under Nicholas Waln. He began his lifelong career as lawyer after he was admitted to the bar in 1773.

Lewis was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature in 1787 and then to the state Constitutional Convention in 1789, the same year he was appointed attorney of the United States for the district of Pennsylvania. This post was followed with a 1791 appointment as federal judge in the court of the eastern district of Pennsylvania. He served only until 1792, when he resigned to return to private practice.

After the Revolutionary War Lewis became especially known for his skill in defending people accused of treason. A leading Quaker lawyer and one of the best American defense lawyers of his day, Lewis leaves a number of legacies, but perhaps most important to him would be his role in drafting and passing the 1780 act for the gradual abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania.

 

An extraordinary and important letter signed letter by George Washington, from the formative period of the Judicial system.


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