27 Facts About Bushrod Washington

Bushrod Washington was an American attorney and politician who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1798 to 1829.

The nephew of American Founding Father and President George Bushrod Washington, he inherited his uncle's papers and Mount Vernon, taking possession in 1802 after the death of Martha Bushrod Washington, his uncle's widow, and with Marshall's help, published a biography of the first president.

Bushrod Washington had a younger brother and two older sisters, all married into the First Families of Virginia.

Bushrod Washington received his initial classical schooling from a private tutor who taught the children of Richard Henry Lee, who lived nearby in Westmoreland County.

Bushrod Washington returned in 1780 to study law under George Wythe and during that time as an alumnus became the 41st member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Bushrod Washington returned to Williamsburg to take a three-month law course with George Wythe in the summer of 1780 and became acquainted with young veteran John Marshall, who was taking a six-week course from Wythe.

Bushrod Washington joined the Continental Army in 1781, serving as a private of dragoons in Colonel John Francis Mercer's cavalry, the 3rd Virginia Regiment.

Bushrod Washington married Julia Anne Blackburn, the daughter of Col.

Bushrod Washington continued his private legal practice from 1784 to 1798.

Bushrod Washington served on the Supreme Court until he died in 1829.

Bushrod Washington enslaved nine adults and four children in Berkeley County and his brother Corbin enslaved 27 adults and 26 children there, owning 17 horses including a stud horse and 40 cattle.

Around 1795, Bushrod Washington purchased Belvidere, the former Richmond estate of William Byrd III.

Bushrod Washington sold Belvidere upon being appointed to the Supreme Court in 1798.

The President named Bushrod Washington to receive Mount Vernon and be an executor.

George Bushrod Washington's will freed the people George enslaved after his wife Martha died, giving her control of them during her lifetime.

However, Martha feared she might be poisoned, and so after consulting with Bushrod Washington, signed a deed of manumission in 1800 and freed the enslaved people before she died.

Bushrod Washington instead maintained the plantation's mansion on the proceeds from the property and his Supreme Court salary.

Over time, Bushrod Washington sold many enslaved people, stating that he could thereby support the main house, property, and elderly formerly enslaved people.

Meanwhile, Bushrod Washington helped found the American Colonization Society to encourage and support the migration of freeborn people of color and emancipated slaves to the continent of Africa at the Davis Hotel in Washington, DC, on December 21,1816.

Bushrod Washington became its national president and remained so until he died in 1829.

Some believed that Bushrod Washington should have sent them to Liberia.

Niles questioned the justice of the action, insisted that he was not disrespecting Bushrod Washington, and did not discuss the economics of shipping from the port of Alexandria compared to the lengthy foot journey the coffle was undertaking.

Bushrod Washington insisted the sale was justified by the economics of plantation management, insubordination of the enslaved people, and the likelihood that more would escape northward.

In 1805 Bushrod Washington was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.

Bushrod Washington was elected to membership in the American Antiquarian Society in 1813, a year after the Society's founding in 1812.

Bushrod Washington died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 26,1829, while riding circuit.

Bushrod Washington's wife died two days later while transporting his body for burial.