33 Facts About Joseph Story

1.

Joseph Story was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1812 to 1845.

2.

Joseph Story is most remembered for his opinions in Martin v Hunter's Lessee and United States v The Amistad, and especially for his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first published in 1833.

3.

Joseph Story was uniquely honored in the historical Steven Spielberg film Amistad when he was portrayed by retired justice Harry Blackmun.

4.

Blackmun portrays Story reading the Supreme Court's decision in the case on which the film was based: United States v The Amistad.

5.

Joseph Story's father was Dr Elisha Story, a member of the Sons of Liberty who took part in the Boston Tea Party in 1773.

6.

Dr Joseph Story moved from Boston to Marblehead during the American Revolutionary War.

7.

Joseph Story was the first-born of eleven children of the second marriage.

8.

Joseph Story served a partial term, May 23,1808 to March 3,1809.

9.

Joseph Story was not a candidate for a full term, and resumed practicing law.

10.

In 1811, Joseph Story returned to the state House of Representatives, and was selected to serve as Speaker of the House.

11.

Joseph Story was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1810, and a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814.

12.

On November 15,1811, Joseph Story was nominated by President James Madison to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, succeeding William Cushing, who had died 14 months earlier.

13.

On November 18,1811, Joseph Story was confirmed by the Senate, and he was sworn into office on February 3,1812.

14.

The manner in which Joseph Story framed the American republic is profoundly indicative of his philosophy.

15.

Joseph Story cited the Constitution's assertion to be "The supreme law of the land" and that "Judges in every state shall be bound thereby".

16.

Joseph Story was forced to consider the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania personal liberty law which placed procedural requirements on those seeking to extradite fugitive slaves.

17.

Consequently, Joseph Story had an obligation to honor the deal struck at the Constitutional Convention.

18.

Joseph Story's resonating opinion answered southern constitutional claims in ways that protected slaveholders' rights, but not on the terms they wanted.

19.

Simply put, Joseph Story longed to place more power in the hands of judges, in particular federal judges, instead of local legislatures.

20.

Joseph Story, though had long desired to establish federal common law, had been unable to sway sufficient support to the cause.

21.

Joseph Story was a prolific writer, publishing many reviews and magazine articles, delivering orations on public occasions, and publishing books on legal subjects which won high praise on both sides of the Atlantic.

22.

Joseph Story's Commentaries summarize much of the Justice's philosophy and demonstrate how Joseph Story sought to use his work off the bench to continue to foster popular sovereignty over state sovereignty.

23.

Joseph Story's innovation was enormously influential in American law, and has been accepted throughout the federal and state courts.

24.

Justice Joseph Story remains one of the most significant figures in early American constitutional history.

25.

Joseph Story believed that the Union could be made stronger through the proper application of law, in particular that proper application necessitated uniformity of application.

26.

Joseph Story was in many respects a creature of New England; however, his chief aim was the creation of a strong Union.

27.

Justice Joseph Story's jurisprudence stressed the importance of nationalism through economic centralization and judicial review.

28.

Justice Joseph Story was one of the most successful American authors of the first half of the 19th century.

29.

The Life and Letters of Joseph Story, edited by his son William Wetmore Story, was published in two volumes: Volume I and Volume II.

30.

Joseph Story is sometimes identified as an "eminent American jurist" by the editors when he is a joint author of an article.

31.

Justice Joseph Story spoke at the dedication ceremony for Mount Auburn Cemetery in 1831, which set the model for dozens of subsequent addresses over the next few decades.

32.

Joseph Story emphasized the ways that rural cemeteries contributed to an ordered and well-regulated republic of law.

33.

Joseph Story's grave is marked by a piece of sepulchral statuary executed by his son, William Wetmore Story.