Story, Joseph

Born: 1779-09-18 Massachusetts

Died: 1845-09-10 Cambridge, Massachusetts

Joseph Story was a lawyer, state representative, congressman, law professor, legal scholar, and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Story studied at Marblehead Academy until 1794, then continued his studies at home until he entered Harvard College in January 1795. Graduating in 1798, Story returned to Marblehead, where he read law. He later continued his law studies in Salem, Massachusetts, receiving admittance to the Massachusetts bar in 1801 and opening a law practice in Salem. Story's wife, Mary O. Story, died in June 1805. Later in that same year, he married Sarah W. Wetmore, with whom he had seven children. Gravitating to the Jeffersonian Republicans, Story used this affiliation and the patronage of the Crowninshield family to win a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving in that body from 1805 to 1808. From late 1808 to March 1809, he represented Salem in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving out the term of the recently-deceased Jacob Crowinshield. While in the House, Story opposed President Thomas Jefferson's embargo policy, drawing the enmity of the president. In 1811, Story again served in the Massachusett House, where he won election as speaker. In November 1811, President James Madison nominated Story as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Senate confirmed him, despite the strenuous objections of Jefferson. Story took his seat on the court in February 1812, remaining on the bench until his death. Once on the court, Story became an ally of Chief Justice John Marshall and a proponent of the latter's judicial nationalism. Opposing state's rights and Jefferson's strict construction of the U.S. Constitution, Story mirrored Marshall in endorsing expansive federal power and the supremacy of the national government, working through his opinions to create a federal common law for criminal and civil cases. When Roger B. Taney replaced Marshall as chief justice in 1836, Story fought to preserve judicial nationalism against the inroads of the Jacksonian majority, succeeding in convincing his colleagues to embrace his positions. In addition to his work on the Supreme Court, Story took an active interest in politics, serving as a confidante and advisor to Daniel Webster and lobbying Congress for the appointment of his friends to office. In 1820, he was a delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention, and in 1835 and 1836, he served on a commission to consider the codification of Massachusetts law. From 1819 to his death, he was a trustee of Harvard College. Story also served as an officer for several banks. On the eve of Andrew Jackson's inaugural as president in 1829, Story embarked on a career as a law professor and scholar, accepting the Dane Professorship at Harvard Law School, where he trained a generation of new lawyers. Under Story's guidance, Harvard became the preeminent law school in the nation, growing from one student in 1828 to 156 in 1844. He also became a profile author, writing numerous commentaries on the law and the constitution. Illness caused Story to miss the Supreme Court term in 1843; he returned a year later, but remained ill. Story planned to resign once a replacement was chosen, but he died before a replacement received nomination and confirmation.

Gravestone, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA; Paul Finkelman, "Story, Joseph," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 20:889-93.