Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/199

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TUCKER
TUCKER

iam and Mary in 1772, finished a course of law, and began practice in the colonial courts. In June, 1775, he returned to Bermuda, but he came again to Virginia in January, 1777, and bore arms in defence of the colonies, serving as lieutenant-colonel at the siege of Yorktown. In 1778 he married Frances Bland, mother of John Randolph. After the war he resumed the practice of law, was made a judge of the general court of Virginia in 1787, and in 1789 professor of law in the College of William and Mary, succeeding Chancellor George Wythe. He was appointed in 1804 president-judge of the Virginia court of appeals, and in 1813 judge of the U. S. district court of Virginia. He was a member of the Annapolis convention of 1786 that recommended the convention by which the constitution was formed. He was a poet as well as a jurist. William and Mary college gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1790, and he left dramas — tragedy and comedy — and several minor poems, some of them gems. The one entitled “Resignation,” beginning “Days of my youth,” was highly praised by John Adams. “The Probationary Odes of Jonathan Pindar, Esq., a Cousin of Peter's, and a Candidate for the Post of Poet Laureate, to the C. U. S. In Two Parts,” is the title of a volume of political satires by Judge Tucker (1796). He also published “Dissertation on Slavery, with a Proposition for its Gradual Abolition in Virginia” (1796); “Letters on the Alien and Sedition Laws” (1799); an essay on the question “How far the Common Law of England is the Common Law of the United States?” an annotated edition of Blackstone's commentaries (Philadelphia, 1803); and a “Commentary on the Constitution,” as an appendix to the last-mentioned work. — Another brother was Dr. Nathaniel, who, when very young, published a poem called “The Bermudian” (London, 1774). — A relative, George, philosopher, b. in Bermuda in 1775; d. in Sherwood, Albemarle co., Va., 10 April, 1861, emigrated to Virginia about 1787, and was educated under the direction of St. George. He was graduated at William and Mary in 1797, studied law, and practised in Lynchburg. He was a member of the Virginia house of delegates for some time, and was thrice elected to the National house of representatives, serving from 6 Dec., 1819, till 3 March, 1825. On retiring from, congress, in which he occupied a prominent position as a debater and a constitutional lawyer, he became professor of moral philosophy and political economy in the University of Virginia, and filled that chair for twenty years. He contributed to many newspapers and magazines, wrote some of the papers in William Wirt's “British Spy,” signing them “An Enquirer,” was the author of “Letters on the Conspiracy of Slaves in Virginia” (Richmond, 1800); “Letters on the Roanoke Navigation” (1811); “Recollections of Eleanor Rosalie Tucker” (Lynchburg, 1819); “Essays on Subjects of Taste, Morals, and National Policy,” by “A Citizen of Virginia” (Georgetown, 1822); “The Valley of the Shenandoah” (New York, 1824), a novel that was reprinted in England and translated into the German language; a satirical romance entitled “A Voyage to the Moon,” under the pen-name of “Joseph Atterley” (1827); “Principles of Rent, Wages, and Profits” (Philadelphia, 1837); “Public Discourse on the Literature of the United States” (Charlottesville, 1837); “Life of Thomas Jefferson, with Parts of his Correspondence” (Philadelphia and London, 1837); “The Theory of Money and Banks Investigated” (Boston, 1839); “Essay on Cause and Effect” (Philadelphia, 1842); “Essay on the Association of Ideas” (1843); “Public Discourse on the Dangers most Threatening to the United States” (Washington, 1843); “Progress of the United, States in Population and Wealth in Fifty Years” (New York, 1843); “Memoir of the Life and Character of Dr. John P. Emmet” (Philadelphia, 1845); “Correspondence with Alexander H. Everett on Political Economy” (1845); “History of the United States from their Colonization to the End of the Twenty-sixth Congress in 1841” (4 vols., 1856-'8); “Banks or No Banks” (New York, 1857); and “Essays, Moral and Philosophical” (1860). — St. George's eldest son, Henry St. George, b. in Williamsburg, Va., 29 Dec., 1780; d. in Winchester, Va., 28 Aug., 1848, was educated at the College of William and Mary, and became a lawyer, settling at Winchester, Va., in 1802. He was a volunteer officer in the war of 1812, served as a member of the U. S. house of representatives from 1815 till 1819, and in the Virginia senates from 1819 till 1823. He was appointed chancellor of the state in 1824, and served till 1831, when he was made president-judge of the Virginia court of appeals, which post he resigned in 1841, being then elected professor of law at the University of Virginia. This post he resigned in 1845 because of feeble health. He was tendered the attorney-generalship of the United States by Andrew Jackson, but declined. While he was chancellor he established a successful private law-school at Winchester. William and Mary gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1837. He published “Commentaries on the Law of Virginia” (2 vols., Winchester, 1836-'7); “Lectures on Constitutional Law” (Richmond, 1843); and “Lectures on Natural Law and Government” (Charlottesville, 1844). — St. George's second son, Nathaniel Beverley, b. at Williamsburg, James City co., Va., 6 Sept., 1784; d. in Winchester, Va., 26 Aug., 1851, was generally known by his second name. He was graduated at William and Mary in 1801, studied law, and practised in Virginia until 1815, when he moved to Missouri, where he was a judge in the circuit court till 1830. Returning to Virginia, he was elected in 1834 professor of law in William and Mary, which post he filled with signal ability till his death. As a writer he excelled any of his Virginia contemporaries. His most remarkable work is “The Partisan Leader: a Tale of the Future, by Edward William Sydney” (2 vols., New York, 1836; Washington, 1837). This was printed secretly, bearing the fictitious date 1856, and purported to be a historical novel of the events between 1836 and that year. In its accurate delineation of events between 1861 and 1865 it seems almost prophetic. It was reprinted with the title “A Key to the Disunion Conspiracy” (2 vols., New York, 1861). His other works include “George Balcombe,” a novel (1836); “Discourse on the Importance of the Study of Political Science as a Branch of Academic Education in the United States” (Richmond, 1840); “Discourse on the Dangers that threaten the Free Institutions of the United States” (1841); “Lectures