num_pages: 336
description: Luther Martin of Maryland. He defended Samuel Chase at his impeachment and Aaron Burr at his treason trial. Thomas Jefferson was his enemy and scorned him as that "Bulldog of Federalism." Henry Adams called him "the most formidable of American advocates . . . the rollicking, witty, audacious Attorney-General of Maryland . . . drunken, generous, slovenly, grand . . . the notorious reprobate genius, Luther Martin."This biography, the result of twenty-five years of intensive research by two Maryland lawyers, is the first full treatment of a colorful and controversial giant. A "black-letter lawyer" and a "walking corpus juris," Martin had one of the most successful practices in the history of the American bar. He served as attorney general of his state for thirty years; and during his fifty years of practice he was counsel on one side or the other in more than a third of all appealed cases. Martin was involved in the most significant decisions of his time, not only the Chase impeachment and the Burr trial, but such landmark cases as Fletcher v. Peck and McCulloch v. Maryland. Yet today his grave is unmarked and its location unknown.At the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Martin led the small-state group that doggedly opposed the aristocratic Virginia Plan, and he was largely responsible for the adoption of the Connecticut Compromise. The vital "supremacy clause," the definition of treason, and other important sections of the Constitution came from his pen. Martin championed the common man against the forces of oligarchy, and through his eyes we see the drafting of the Constitution in a new and often surprising light.Martin had a perverse and lifelong knack for choosing the unpopular side of public issues. An anti-Federalist during the Constitutional Convention, he became an advocate of Federalism when it was no longer popular. He was a vigorous and often vitriolic opponent of Thomas Jefferson's policies. His inveterate dislike and suspicion of Jefferson surfaces more than once in this history. Jefferson's actions in the Burr and Chase trials, as well as in the notorious Logan-Cresap affair, were sometimes vindictive and petty—and Martin was on hand to call attention to them.Martin's sense of honor was as well known for his prolixity, and he was never known to break a promise. Once, representing a Quaker, he gave his word that he would not "drink a drop of liquor" during the trial. The trial went badly and by the noon recess Martin decided he could not win without that "drop." His solution was characteristic: "He went to a bakery and bought a loaf of bread, and thence to a tavern where he purchased a bottle of brandy. Repairing to an inn, he placed the bread on a plate, poured brandy over it, and ate it. "Lawyer Brandy-Bottle" won the case.When Martin, always improvident in his own affairs, faced illness and poverty in old age, the Maryland legislature voted to impose an annual tax on all members of the bar for his benefit. He is the only lawyer in history to have been so supported—a unique testimony to the general esteem for Luther Martin of Maryland.
language: English
title: Luther Martin of Maryland
titlecomplete: Luther Martin of Maryland
characters: Luther Martin
ratings_count: 1
publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press