30 Facts About Morrison Waite

Morrison Remick "Mott" Waite was an American attorney, jurist, and politician from Ohio.

Morrison Waite served as the seventh chief justice of the United States from 1874 until his death in 1888.

Morrison Waite served as a counsel in the Alabama Claims and presided over the 1873 Ohio constitutional convention.

The nomination of the relatively obscure Morrison Waite was poorly received by some prominent politicians, but the Senate unanimously confirmed Morrison Waite and he took office in March 1874.

Morrison Waite served on the court until his death of pneumonia in 1888.

Morrison Waite did not emerge as an important intellectual force on the Supreme Court, but he was well regarded as an administrator and conciliator.

Morrison Waite sought a balance between federal and state power and joined with most other Justices in narrowly interpreting the Reconstruction Amendments.

Morrison Waite helped establish the legal concept of corporate personhood in the United States.

Morrison Remick Waite was born on November 29,1816, at Lyme, Connecticut, the son of Henry Matson Waite, an attorney, and his wife Maria Selden.

Morrison Waite had a brother Richard, with whom he later practiced law.

Morrison Waite attended Bacon Academy in Colchester, Connecticut, where one of his classmates was Lyman Trumbull.

Morrison Waite graduated from Yale College in 1837 in a class with Samuel J Tilden, who later was the 1876 Democratic presidential nominee.

Shortly after graduating, Morrison Waite became a law clerk for his father in 1837.

Morrison Waite was admitted to the bar in 1839, and went into practice with his mentor.

Morrison Waite married Amelia Champlin Warner on September 21,1840 in Hartford, Connecticut.

Morrison Waite soon came to be recognized as a leader of the state bar.

When Young retired in 1856, Morrison Waite built a prosperous new firm with his brother Richard Morrison Waite.

Morrison Waite made two unsuccessful bids for the United States Senate, and was offered a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court.

In 1871, Waite received an invitation to represent the United States as counsel before the Alabama Tribunal at Geneva.

Morrison Waite was notified of his nomination by a telegram.

However, Morrison Waite demonstrated an ability to get his brethren to reach decisions and write opinions without delay.

Morrison Waite believed that white moderates should set the rules of racial relations in the South.

In Minor v Happersett, using the restricted definition of national citizenship and the 14th Amendment as set forth in the Slaughterhouse Cases, Waite upheld the states' right to deny women the franchise.

Nonetheless, Morrison Waite sympathized with the women's rights movement and supported the admission of women to the Supreme Court bar.

Morrison Waite's claim, in part, was that because a railroad was a 'person' under the Constitution, local governments couldn't 'discriminate' against it by having different laws and taxes in different places.

Hence this dictum in the headnote and the Morrison Waite reply changed the course of history and how corporations came to have the legal rights of a human person.

Morrison Waite's condition had been treated as confidential, in part to avoid alarming his wife who was in California.

Mrs Morrison Waite traveled by train from California, arriving just in time for the funeral.

Morrison Waite, who had financial difficulties during his service as Chief Justice, left a very small estate that was insufficient to support his widow and daughters.

Morrison Waite did not confine the constitution within the limits of his own experience.