Today is Constitution Day.
To commemorate this day, Law Librarian Blog, chose to remember George Wythe (1726-1806). A recent biographer wrote of Wythe, “For four decades, Wythe instructed the most promising youth of Virginia in both the law and classics, and in 1779 he became America’s first university law professor, and only the second in the English-speaking world, when he was appointed Professor of Law and Police at the College of William and Mary. From Jefferson’s entrance into the Continental Congress in 1774 until Clay’s resignation from the Senate in late 1851, Wythe’s students played crucial roles in the nation’s legislative chambers. They were equally important in shaping this nation’s jurisprudence, for he taught such noted federal and state jurists as John Marshall, Bushrod Washington and Spenser Roane. Wythe instructed so well that most of his students assumed leading positions very soon after leaving his counsels, many while still in their twenties.”
However, in this tabloid age, the blogger forgets to mention that Wythe was poisoned by his nephew for his money. If you are curious, read “The Murder of George Wythe.”