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 The Green Bag VOL. XX.

No. 8

BOSTON

AUGUST, 1908

THE LEGAL CAREER OF JOHN J. CRITTENDEN BY CHARLES FENNELL AMONG all the great names which have given luster to the American bar few shine more brightly or are cherished more deservedly than that of John J. Crittenden. His more famous (though not more brilliant) labors as a public man, however, have to some extent overshadowed his fame as an advocate. This has been the general, the almost universal rule with all lawyers who have succeeded in public life. A speech in a law case will not be half as widely read nor remembered as long as a political speech of infinitely less merit. Few people have ever read the great speech of William Pinkney in the case of the Nereide, Webster's speech in the trial of Knapp, Marshall's defense ot Matt Ward, Voorhees in the Cook and Mary Harris cases, Prentiss or Hardin in the trial of Wilkinson, or Wm. Wirt against Aaron Burr, yet these same people may have been carri«d away by admiration in reading political speeches containing not one-half the beauty or the strength of any of the above. But when the intelligent and candid reader does begin the study of the eloquence of the great stars of the American bar he soon learns that there is a genuine and irresistibly human attractiveness about it that is seldom to be met with in political speeches. The lawyer is confronted by judge or jury as the case may be and the decision is not based on political prejudices or party affinities but on the merits of the case. When the lawyer speaks he has hope of convincing — the politician has not. It is a fact, too, well worthy of note, that the great majority of the ablest statesmen and public men of our- country have been edu cated for the law and most of them have

practiced their profession. It is the inten tion of the writer to describe in as small a compass as possible the legal career alone of one who was an ornament both to our bar and to our Senate. His public life has been already placed in permanent form before the public and needs no discussion here. John Jordan Crittenden was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, on September 10, 1787. His early education was obtained in Jessamine County, Kentucky, where he had • for his classmates many who afterward became famous in public life. After finish ing in the Jessamine school he began the study of the law under Judge G. M. Bibb, in whose family he had for some time re sided. He completed these studies at old William and Man- College in Virginia and, returning-to his native county of Woodford, began the practice of his profession in 1807. He removed after a year or so to Russellville in Logan County, Kentucky, this place seeming to offer more inducements to promising and enterprising young men than what was then considered the older and more settled part of the state. Here by close attention to his business and by his persuasivg eloquence and skill he soon won ' local fame and built up for himself a lucra tive practice and by his cordial manner and chivalrous conduct impressed himself upon the good will and esteem of the people of the community. In those early days the "pioneer " portions of the state presented a picturesque appearance. The streets would be thronged on court days with hunts men and college graduates alike, so that in one glance the observer might behold the various degrees between the typical fron-