Description

The first biography of George Washingtons extraordinary nephew who inherited Mount Vernon and was Chief Justice John Marshalls righthand man on the Supreme Court for nearly thirty years

In Washingtons Heir Gerard N Magliocca gives us the first published biography of Bushrod Washington one of the most underrated Founding Fathers Born in 1762 Justice Washington fought in the Revolutionary War served in Virginias ratifying convention for the Constitution and was Chief Justice John Marshalls partner in establishing the authority of the Supreme Court Though he could only see from one eye Justice Washington wrote many landmark decisions defining the fundamental rights of citizens and the structure of the Constitution including Corfield v Coryellan influential source for the Congress that proposed the Fourteenth Amendment As George Washingtons personal heir Bushrod inherited both Mount Vernon and the family legacy of owning other people one of whom was almost certainly his halfbrother or nephew Yet Justice Washington alone among the Founders was criticized by journalists for selling enslaved people and in turn issued a public defense of his actions that laid bare the hypocrisy and cruelty of slavery