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Authors: H.W. Brands
Tags: Fiction
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acquaintance from that period asserted that the people of Salisbury were fairly certain that Andrew Jackson would come to no good in life. “None of them believed he would ever settle down. Most of them thought he would get himself killed before he was many years older.” An elderly matron of the village, upon hearing that Jackson was running for president, demanded, “What? Jackson for president? Jackson ? Andrew Jackson? The Jackson that used to live in Salisbury? Why, when he was here he was such a rake that my husband would not bring him into the house. . . . If Andrew Jackson can be president, anybody can!”
At the beginning of 1787, several weeks before his twentieth birthday, Jackson decided that he had learned all Spruce Macay could teach him. He determined to complete his legal education under the guidance of Colonel John Stokes, a Revolutionary War veteran who had lost a hand in the fighting. For prosthesis Stokes employed a silver knob, with which he tapped his desk while reading and hammered the jury box when arguing cases in court. Stokes was a capable lawyer, one of North Carolina’s best, which may have been why Jackson sought him out. Or it may have been his reputation for bravery under fire, which Jackson considered no less important. What Jackson learned from Stokes is also problematic. Perhaps the old soldier simply taught Jackson to believe in himself, for just six months later Jackson stood before a two-judge board of the North Carolina Superior Court of Law and Equity to be examined for fitness to practice law. Noting that Jackson “is sufficiently recommended to us as a person of unblemished moral character”—quite likely Stokes was the recommender—“and upon examination had before us, appears to possess a competent degree of knowledge in the Law,” the board admitted Jackson “to plead and practice as an Attorney.”
O ne young man who entered the legal profession in the western districts during the early years of the American republic announced his practice with a statement of principles:
1. I will practice law because it affords me opportunities of being a more useful member of society.
2. I will turn a deaf ear to no man because his purse is empty.
3. I will advise no man beyond my comprehension of his cause.
4. I will bring none into law who my conscience tells me should be kept out.
5. I will never be unmindful of the cause of humanity; and this comprehends the widows, fatherless, and those in bondage.
6. I will be faithful to my client, but never so unfaithful to myself as to become a party in his crime.
7. In criminal cases I will not underrate my own abilities, for if any client proves a rascal, his money is better in my hands, and if not, I hold the option.
8. I will never acknowledge the omnipotence of the Legislature, or consider their acts to be law beyond the spirit of the Constitution.
9. No man’s greatness shall elevate him above the justice due to my client.
10. I will not consent to a compromise where I conceive a verdict essential to my client’s future reputation or protection, for of this he can not be a complete judge.
11. I will advise the turbulent with candor, and if they will go to law against my advice, they must pardon me for volunteering it against them.
12. I will acknowledge every man’s right to manage his own cause if he pleases.
Andrew Jackson might not have phrased his view of the legal profession just so, but the combination of idealism and practicality, of collective and personal advancement, that the notice conveyed did in fact inform his approach to the law—and to much of his life. Like very many men in the young nation, Jackson believed that what served the public good served him, and often vice versa. A lawyer could make a mark, and a living.
But the lawyer needed clients. As one of the first he chose himself. The “unblemished moral character” to which the examining judges referred soon seemed a figure of speech, for within two
At the beginning of 1787, several weeks before his twentieth birthday, Jackson decided that he had learned all Spruce Macay could teach him. He determined to complete his legal education under the guidance of Colonel John Stokes, a Revolutionary War veteran who had lost a hand in the fighting. For prosthesis Stokes employed a silver knob, with which he tapped his desk while reading and hammered the jury box when arguing cases in court. Stokes was a capable lawyer, one of North Carolina’s best, which may have been why Jackson sought him out. Or it may have been his reputation for bravery under fire, which Jackson considered no less important. What Jackson learned from Stokes is also problematic. Perhaps the old soldier simply taught Jackson to believe in himself, for just six months later Jackson stood before a two-judge board of the North Carolina Superior Court of Law and Equity to be examined for fitness to practice law. Noting that Jackson “is sufficiently recommended to us as a person of unblemished moral character”—quite likely Stokes was the recommender—“and upon examination had before us, appears to possess a competent degree of knowledge in the Law,” the board admitted Jackson “to plead and practice as an Attorney.”
O ne young man who entered the legal profession in the western districts during the early years of the American republic announced his practice with a statement of principles:
1. I will practice law because it affords me opportunities of being a more useful member of society.
2. I will turn a deaf ear to no man because his purse is empty.
3. I will advise no man beyond my comprehension of his cause.
4. I will bring none into law who my conscience tells me should be kept out.
5. I will never be unmindful of the cause of humanity; and this comprehends the widows, fatherless, and those in bondage.
6. I will be faithful to my client, but never so unfaithful to myself as to become a party in his crime.
7. In criminal cases I will not underrate my own abilities, for if any client proves a rascal, his money is better in my hands, and if not, I hold the option.
8. I will never acknowledge the omnipotence of the Legislature, or consider their acts to be law beyond the spirit of the Constitution.
9. No man’s greatness shall elevate him above the justice due to my client.
10. I will not consent to a compromise where I conceive a verdict essential to my client’s future reputation or protection, for of this he can not be a complete judge.
11. I will advise the turbulent with candor, and if they will go to law against my advice, they must pardon me for volunteering it against them.
12. I will acknowledge every man’s right to manage his own cause if he pleases.
Andrew Jackson might not have phrased his view of the legal profession just so, but the combination of idealism and practicality, of collective and personal advancement, that the notice conveyed did in fact inform his approach to the law—and to much of his life. Like very many men in the young nation, Jackson believed that what served the public good served him, and often vice versa. A lawyer could make a mark, and a living.
But the lawyer needed clients. As one of the first he chose himself. The “unblemished moral character” to which the examining judges referred soon seemed a figure of speech, for within two
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