. The life and times of Thomas Smith, 1745-1809, a Pennsylvania member of the Continental congress . ce of Pennsylvania, James Tilghman, who was a law-yer ; he was a grandson of that legal pioneer. TenchFrancis, a student under Provost Smith, and began thestudy of law under Benjamin Chew about the time JudgeSmith began practice in 1772. Late on the night of March3, 1801, President Adams had made him Chief Judge ofthe Circuit Court of the United States for his home circuit—one of the so-called mid-night Judges—a court thatthe Jeffersonian Republicans abolished a year later. Aboutthe time that h
. The life and times of Thomas Smith, 1745-1809, a Pennsylvania member of the Continental congress . ce of Pennsylvania, James Tilghman, who was a law-yer ; he was a grandson of that legal pioneer. TenchFrancis, a student under Provost Smith, and began thestudy of law under Benjamin Chew about the time JudgeSmith began practice in 1772. Late on the night of March3, 1801, President Adams had made him Chief Judge ofthe Circuit Court of the United States for his home circuit—one of the so-called mid-night Judges—a court thatthe Jeffersonian Republicans abolished a year later. Aboutthe time that his venerable preceptor, Chew, was holdinghis last meeting with the High Court, Judge Tilghmanwas appointed President Judge of Common Pleas of Phila-delphia—a position from which the late Chief Justice hadentered the Supreme Court and a very natural place tolook for a Chief Justice. Governor McKean nominatedhim. Forthwith the Democratic Republicans of Philadel- ^The Leaders of the Old Bar of Philadelphia, by HoraceBinney; extra iUustrated edition, p. 51, at the Law Association, The Scpremk Colrt oi 1>knnsm.\ in iSo6 HIS CLOSING YEARS 269 phia entered a protest, whereupon the Governor turned tothe committee: Indeed! Inform your constituents that Ibow with submission to the will of the great Democracy of Philadelphia; but by , William Tilghman shall be Chief Justice of Pennsylvania!^ And Tilghman was com-missioned on February 25 (1806) and took his seat onthe bench on March 3, the first day of the spring term—the youngest member of the court by eight Hisperson, says David Paul Brown, was slightly formed;he was about five feet eight inches high, with mild grayeyes, fine teeth, handsome features, and of the most gentleand amiable expression of countenance. ?• * * Hisvoice was very sweet though not strong, and his deport-ment upon the bench was marked by that attention whichsprings only from a conscientious desire of a faithful per-formance of
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