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9 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 537 (1986)
Lawyer-Statesman in American History, The

handle is hein.journals/hjlpp9 and id is 551 raw text is: THE LAWYER-STATESMAN IN AMERICAN HISTORY* WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST** At two critical periods in our country's history, there was present on the national stage a group of leaders who were also lawyers-I shall call them lawyer-statesmen-and who played a vital, perhaps a transcendent, role in steering the ship of state through the shoals that confronted it. The first critical period is the time immediately following the adoption of the United States Constitution in September 1787; the second is the dec- ade preceding the end of the Civil War, from about 1854 to 1865. I will sketch portraits of the way these leaders contrib- uted to the nation, and then briefly look beyond their time to- wards the present to see if lawyer-statesmen have continued to play an equally vital part in our country's government. I then briefly discuss what it is that sets these lawyer-statesmen apart from those who have come after them, and why they appear to be a breed that, if it has not totally disappeared, is at least disappearing. I A. The Founding Period My four nominees for lawyer-statesmen who played large parts in the first critical period are Thomas Jefferson, Alexan- der Hamilton, James Madison, and John Marshall. There may well be those who would add other candidates representative of this period, but I would be surprised indeed if there were a serious suggestion that any of these four be dropped. Perhaps the feeling that one gets that there were indeed giants abroad in the land at that time is partly because these people were, to borrow a phrase from Dean Acheson, present at the creation. My own view is that Jefferson, Hamilton, Marshall, and Madison would have been giants whenever they lived, although it cannot be doubted that they lived at a time that * This Article is adapted from an address given on 6 May 1985 before the University of Chicago Law School chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. ** Justice, United States Supreme Court.

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