James M. Wayne

James Moore Wayne
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
In office January 14, 1835 – July 5, 1867
Nominated by	Andrew Jackson
Preceded by	William Johnson
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large district
In office March 4, 1829 – January 13, 1835
Preceded by	George R. Gilmer
Succeeded by	Jabez Y. Jackson
Personal details
Born	1790 Savannah, Georgia
Died	(1867-07-05)July 5, 1867 Washington, D.C.
Alma mater	Princeton University

James Moore Wayne (1790 – July 5, 1867) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and was a United States Representative from Georgia.

Biography

Wayne in his elder years

Born in Savannah, Georgia, Wayne was the son of Richard Wayne, who came to the U.S. in 1760 and married, on Sept. 14, 1769, Elizabeth Clifford (? - 1804), born in Charleston, S.C. Wayne graduated from Princeton University in 1808, read law to be admitted to the bar in 1810, and began his practice in Savannah. He served in the United States Army during the War of 1812, from 1812 to 1815, as an officer in the Georgia Hussars. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1815 to 181. He then served as the mayor of Savannah from September 8, 1817 to July 12, 1819, thereafter returning to private practice in Savannah until 1824.

He then served as a judge, first of the Court of Common Pleas in Savannah, Georgia from 1819 to 1824, and then of the Superior Court of Georgia from 1824 to 1829, until he was elected as a Jacksonian to the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1829, to January 13, 1835. He resigned to accept the appointment as an Associate Justice to the Supreme Court. He was nominated by President Andrew Jackson on January 6, 1835, to a seat vacated by William Johnson, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 14, 1835, receiving his commission the same day. He served on the court from January 14, 1835 to his death on July 5, 1867. He favored free trade, opposed internal improvements by Congress (except of rivers and harbors), and opposed the rechartering of the United States Bank.

President Andrew Jackson, who was the seventh President of the United States, (1829-1837) nominated James Moore Wayne to the Court on January 7, 1835 and was confirmed two days later on January 9th. While Wayne served his time as a Chief Justice he heard many cases about slavery, tax, and reform. A “Jacksonian”, Wayne agreed with President Andrew Jackson on the ideals of deepening rivers and harbors, but disagreed the expansions of highways and canals. Wayne also agreed with President Andrew Jackson on the Indian Removal Act and believed that the land that used to belong to the Indians would belong to the state. The fact that Wayne refused to accept the Indians as an independent nation and forced them to move west, made him appealing to Georgians. Justice James Moore Wayne was a Unionist. He was against the Confederacy, which was shocking because he was from the state of Georgia. As a Unionist in a southern state, James Moore Wayne took a careful approach on the ideals of nullification and consolidation.

While Justice Wayne himself remained loyal to the Union, his son Henry C. Wayne served as a general in the Confederate Army.

Chief Justice James Moore Wayne heard the Louisville Road Company vs. Letson court case in the year of 1844. This case was about a man named Letson who brought a contract against Louisville, Cincinnati, and the Charleston Railroad Company saying that the cities did not fulfill the contract with him for the expansion for the construction of the road. It centered on the principle that a citizen in a particular state should have the right to sue a corporation, which is based in another state and even conducts its business in another state. Justice Wayne opened up his statement regarding the case when he said, “The jurisdiction of the court is denied in this case upon the grounds that two members of the corporation sued are citizens of North Carolina; that the state of South Carolina is also a member, and that two other corporations in South Carolina are members, having in them members who are citizens of the same state with the defendant in error” (43 U.S. 497, 555). Later in his statement, Justice Wayne delivered this statement regarding the case, “A corporation created by a state to perform its functions under the authority of that state and only suable there, though it may have members out of the state, seems to us to be a person, though an artificial one, inhabiting and belonging to that state, and therefore entitled, for the purpose of suing and being sued, to be deemed a citizen of that state” (43 U.S. 497, 555). In these statements Justice Wayne is explaining how owners stopped being relevant and that businesses now had easy accessibility to federal courts. This case was instrumental as it showed the view of the Supreme Court that corporations could be viewed as ‘citizens’ of the states where they were incorporated. This court case was significant in Justice James Moore Wayne’s career and development because this showed that Wayne was willing to increase dominion in the courts.

The court case of Dred Scott versus Sandford was argued in front of the United States Supreme Court and was heard in the year of 1857. The previous decision was in favor of the defendant Dred Scott with the United States Supreme Court voting in favor for Sanford 7-2 with Judge Taney giving majority opinion and Judge Wayne voting with Taney. This decision thought to be a landmark decision against Dred Scott ruled that African Americans, being a slave or free were ruled not to be American citizens and because of this could not sue on federal court. The ruling also found the Missouri Compromise in constitutions saying the federal government had no jurisdiction to regulate slavery in federal property. Dred Scott, an African American slave, lost his suit for freedom. Though the Court through Taney thought this ruling would put to rest the question of slavery, and went in direct opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which granted citizenship to the African Americans, this ruling ultimately came under fire and extreme criticism and moved the country toward the Civil War.

On March 6,1857 Chief Justice Taney found in a 7-2 decision of which Justice Wayne agreed that Scott or for that matter any person of African descent, free or not, could not be a citizen of a state. Because of this finding he was not qualified to sue in a federal court. Taney went on to say the Constitution viewed people of African American descent as, “inferior order and altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect” (60 U.S. 393). Some scholars view this decision of which Justice Wayne concurred one of the worst to ever be handed down by the Court. Justice Wayne shows his concurrence for Taney when he states, “Concurring as I do entirely in the opinion of the court as it has been written and read by the Chief Justice” (60 U.S. 393) he goes on to later state that, “Assuming that the Circuit Court had jurisdiction, but he abstains altogether from expressing any opinion upon the eighth section of the act of 1820, known commonly as the Missouri Compromise law, and six of us declare that it was unconstitutional” (60 U.S. 393). Besides supporting slavery this decision overturned the Missouri Compromise stating it violated the 5th amendment. Many feel this decision pushed the Union closer to Civil War. Finally to support the disastrous reaction to this decision it is important to note that it was overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution.

In order to prevent President Andrew Johnson from appointing any justices, Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act in 1866, eliminating three of the ten seats from the Supreme Court as they became vacant, and thus reducing the size of the court to seven justices. The vacancy caused by the death of Justice John Catron in 1865 had not been filled, so upon Wayne's death, there were eight justices on the court. In 1869, Congress passed the Circuit Judges Act, setting the court at nine members. With Wayne's and Catron's seats remaining vacant, the Court had eight justices at the time of this Act, so one new seat was created. The new seat was ultimately filled on March 21, 1870, by Joseph Philo Bradley. (In the meanwhile, William Strong had filled the seat vacated by Robert Cooper Grier.)

Justice Wayne served on the Supreme Court for 32 years, one of the longest terms for any justice. His leanings stayed consistent and many of his decisions believed power resides in the federal offices such as the U.S. Congress. He held to this in the Dred Scott case supporting Chief Taney’s opinion in the face of harsh criticism by many. With the beginning of the Civil War Wayne was thrust into personal and professional crisis. He chose to remain with the Court while his own son left the U.S. Army to fight as a general in the Confederate army. Another one of his colleagues John Campbell also left the Court to serve in the Confederacy. However, Wayne forever the Unionist, held to his nationalistic views believing there was no legal support for a state to secede. He also felt that by remaining on the Court he could continue to support Southern causes. He was not popular in his home state of Georgia with this decision, but he felt strongly against secession and backed Lincoln in his quest to preserve the Union. When the war ended he never forgot his Southern roots and labored hard to protect his south from undue penalties.

Wayne died in Washington, D.C., and was interred in Laurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia. His sister Mary was the great-grandmother of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA. In 1831, he sold his home to William Washington Gordon, Juliette's grandfather. This home is now called the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace.

See also

• List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
• List of U.S. Supreme Court Justices by time in office
• United States Supreme Court cases during the Chase Court
• United States Supreme Court cases during the Marshall Court
• United States Supreme Court cases during the Taney Court

References

• United States Congress. "James M. Wayne (id: W000218)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Further reading

• Abraham, Henry J. (1992). Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506557-3.
• Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books). ISBN 1-56802-126-7.
• Flanders, Henry. The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874 at Google Books.
• Frank, John P. (1995). Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L. (eds.). The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-1377-4.
• Hall, Kermit L., ed. (1992). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505835-6.
• Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0-87187-554-3.
• Urofsky, Melvin I. (1994). The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland Publishing. p. 590. ISBN 0-8153-1176-1.
• White, G. Edward. The Marshall Court & Cultural Change, 1815-35. Published in an abridged edition, 1991.

External links

• James M. Wayne at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• James M. Wayne at Find a Grave