The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Washington, Bushrod

WASHINGTON, Bushrod, American jurist: b. Westmoreland County, Va., 5 June 1762; d. Philadelphia, 26 Nov. 1829. He was nephew of George Washington. He was graduated in 1778 from the College of William and Mary; studied law wth James Wilson (1742-98) at Philadelphia and practised in Westmoreland County with much success. From 1780 until the surrender at Yorktown, he served in Colonel Mercer's cavalry troops, in 1787 became a member of the Virginia house of delegates; and in 1788 of the Virginia convention for ratification of the Constitution of the United States. In December 1798 he was appointed an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was the first president of the American Colonization Society (See Colonization Society of America, The National). Among his publications are ‘Reports of Cases in the Court of Appeals of Virginia’ (1798-99); ‘Reports of Cases Determined in the Circuit Court of the United States for the 3d Circuit, 1803-27’ (edited by R. Peters, 1826-29). Consult Binney, ‘Life’ (1858).