Edward John Phelps
Edward John Phelps | |
---|---|
President of the American Bar Association | |
In office 1880–1881 | |
Preceded by | Benjamin Bristow |
Succeeded by | Clarkson Nott Potter |
Second Comptroller of the Treasury | |
In office 1851–1853 | |
Preceded by | Hiland Hall |
Succeeded by | John M. Brodhead |
Personal details | |
Born | Middlebury, Vermont | July 11, 1822
Died | March 9, 1900 New Haven, Connecticut | (aged 77)
Resting place | Greenmount Cemetery, Burlington, Vermont |
Nationality | American |
Political party | Whig (before 1854) Democratic (from 1854) |
Spouse | Mary Haight (m. 1845-1900, his death) |
Children | 4 |
Parent(s) | Samuel S. Phelps Francis (Shurtleff) Phelps |
Education | Middlebury College Yale Law School |
Occupation | Attorney |
Signature | |
Edward John Phelps (July 11, 1822 – March 9, 1900) was a
A prominent Democrat even as Vermont was trending towards the Republicans, Phelps was the son of Senator Samuel S. Phelps and his first wife, Francis (Shurtleff) Phelps. Edward Phelps graduated from Middlebury College in 1840, taught school in Virginia, and studied for a career as an attorney, first in the office of Middlebury attorney Horatio Seymour, then at Yale Law School. He practiced in Burlington, and served as Second Comptroller of the Treasury from 1851 to 1853. Phelps supported the Union during the American Civil War, but was a critic of what he regarded as the excesses of the Abraham Lincoln administration. He served as a delegate to the Vermont constitutional convention of 1870, and was one of the founders of the American Bar Association.[1] Phelps served as ABA president from 1880 to 1881. In 1880, he was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Governor of Vermont.
Phelps was
Early life
Phelps was born in Middlebury, Vermont on July 11, 1822, the son of Samuel S. Phelps and Francis (Shurtleff) Phelps.[2][3] He was educated in the schools of Middlebury and then began attendance at Middlebury College, from which he graduated in 1840.[2] He worked as a school teacher and principal in Virginia, then began studying law in the Middlebury office of Horatio Seymour.[2][a] Phelps completed his legal studies with a year at Yale Law School, attained admission to the bar in 1843, and began a practice in Middlebury.[2] Phelps moved to Burlington in 1845, where he continued to practice law.[2]
Start of career
Phelps practiced in Burlington with different partners at various times, the most prominent being Lucius E. Chittenden and David Allen Smalley.[4][5] The Phelps and Smalley firm counted George F. Edmunds among the prospective attorneys who studied law under their tutelage.[4]
Originally a
Phelps was one of the founders of the American Bar Association and was its president from 1880 to 1881.[2] He also served as a trustee of the Vermont State Library, a position he held for more than 20 years.[9] From 1881 until his death he was Kent Professor of Law at Yale Law School.[2] Phelps lectured on medical jurisprudence at the University of Vermont from 1881 to 1883, and on constitutional law at Boston University from 1882 to 1883.[9]
Continued career
In politics, Phelps was always
In 1880 Phelps was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Vermont.[2] Democrats were a perpetual minority in Vermont, and lost every statewide election from the 1850s to the 1960s.[2] 1880 was no exception, and Phelps was excoriated as an unrepentant Copperhead:
Had he maintained his resolution to accept no political nomination, the memory of his attitude during the memory of his attitude from 1860 to 1865 might have quite died; but the Democratic nomination and his speech of acceptance, in which, with surprising want of tact, he aired afresh his old hatred of the African and attacked the Southern Republicans, white and black, with a virulence which few Southern Democrats could equal … have brought it into strong prominence. Still stronger light has been thrown on it by the publication of a careful stenographic report of a speech made by Mr. Phelps in September, 1864, before a little club of Copperheads in Burlington. In this he called Mr. Lincoln a 'wooden-head' and a 'twentieth-rate back country attorney,' declared that the North was fighting simply to 'turn loose all the [racial epithet]' and 'whitewash the [racial epithet] in the blood of millions[.]'.[11]
Phelps was
Phelps was elected to the
Phelps was a highly sought after speechmaker and delivered numerous public addresses, among them The
At the urging of Senator
Death and burial
Phelps died at his home in
A second service took place at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Burlington.[20] Attendees and honorary pall bearers included Edward Curtis Smith, John G. McCullough, Benjamin F. Fifield, and Robert Roberts.[20] Phelps was buried at Greenmount Cemetery in Burlington.[20]
Family
In August 1845, Phelps married Mary S. Haight (1827-1909) of Burlington.[3][21] They were the parents of four children: Edward Haight Phelps (1847–1884), Francis Shurtleff Phelps (1849-1863), Mary Haight Phelps (1855–1911) who married Horatio Loomis, and Charles Pierpont Phelps (1861–1912).[3]
Legacy
Professorship
In 1887, Junius Spencer Morgan endowed the Edward J. Phelps professorship at Yale University.[22]
Honorary degrees
In 1870, Middlebury College awarded Phelps the
Quotes
"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." From a speech given at the Mansion House in London on January 24, 1899, quoting Bishop W. C. Magee of Peterborough in 1868.[23]
"Better a hundred times an honest and capable administration of an erroneous policy than a corrupt and incapable administration of a good one." Spoken at a dinner of the New York Chamber of Commerce.[23]
Notes
- ^ Some sources indicate that Phelps studied law with Horatio Seymour of Utica, New York. This is incorrect, because Horatio Seymour of Utica did not practice law after attaining admission to the bar.
References
- ^ a b c d public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Phelps, Edward John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 363. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. V. New York, NY: James T. White & Company. 1894. pp. 411–412 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c Shurtleff, Benjamin (1912). Descendants of William Shurtleff of Plymouth and Marshfield, Massachusetts. Vol. 1. Revere, MA: Benjamin Shurtleff. pp. 210, 442 – via Google Books.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Rann, William S., ed. (1886). History of Chittenden County, Vermont. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co. pp. 493–494 – via Google Books.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Publication Committee (April 1891). "John Jordan Latting". The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York, NY: New York Genealogical and Biographical. pp. 102–103 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d Ullery, Jacob G. (1894). Men of Vermont Illustrated. Brattleboro, VT: Transcript Publishing Company. pp. 308, 310 – via Google Books.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- TimesMachine.
- ^ "Edward John Phelps | American Academy of Arts and Sciences". www.amacad.org. February 13, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ "Members Directory". American Antiquarian.org. Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ Carson, Hampton Lawrence (1892). The Supreme Court of the United States: Its History. Philadelphia, PA: A. R. Keller Company. p. 686 – via Google Books.
- ^ Stillson, Henry Leonard, ed. (1892). The Dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument. Bennington, VT: Banner Book and Job Printing. p. 84 – via Google Books.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-5700-3018-5 – via Google Books.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Edward J. Phelps, American jurist and diplomatist".
External links
- Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z at Project Gutenberg, contains the text of Phelps' 1889 farewell speech in London.
- Orations & Essays of Edward John Phelps: Diplomat and Statesman (1901). Phelps, Edward John, and John Griffith McCullough. Published by Harper & Brothers. 475 pages
- Edward John Phelps at Find a Grave