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 WYTHE HOUSE - Williamsburg, VA Posted by:  vhasler
N 37° 16.334 W 076° 42.144
18S E 349062 N 4126430
George Wythe was the first American law teacher, including for Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Monroe, and Henry Clay. He signed the Declaration of Independence. The home became Washington's headquarters before the Battle of Yorktown.
Waymark Code: WM9X3Q
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 10/08/2010
Views: 11
The WYTHE HOUSE (open 9-1, 2-5 weekdays, 2-5 Sun.; adm.
25 cents), a rectangular brick mansion, has built-in end chimneys and a hip roof. The simplicity and disposition of the windows is unusually satisfying. Richard Taliaferro, 'one of our most skillful architects,' built the house in 1755 and left it in 1775 to his son-in-law, George Wythe. Admitted to the bar at 20, Wythe was the first professor of law in America, the teacher of Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Monroe, and Henry Clay; the first Virginia signer of the Declaration of Independence; chairman of the committee that designed the seal of Virginia; delegate to the Constitutional Convention, although absent when the Constitution was signed; and chancellor of Virginia from 1778 to 1801. In his opinion on the case of Commonwealth v. Caton, 1782, Wythe established himself as one of the first formulators of the American theory of judicial review: ' If
the whole legislature . . . should attempt to overleap the bounds ... I, in administering the public justice of the country, will meet the united powers at my seat in this tribunal; and pointing to the Constitution, will say to them, Here is the limit of your authority; and hither shall you go but no further.' He died in 1806 from poison administered by a nephew an impatient heir and is buried in St. John's Churchyard, Richmond.
The house was Washington's headquarters before the Siege of Yorktown and Rochambeau's afterward. Restored under the supervision of the Reverend Dr. William Goodwin, it was deeded in 1931 to Braton Parish and used as a parish house until 1937. Here hangs the only known portrait of George Wythe, copied from a lost original.
---- Virginia - A Guide to the Old Dominion State, 1940.
Maintained in excellent condition. Colonial Williamsburg has changed from a per building fee to a all-day pass to enter the homes and businesses. For reference, the quarter entry fee in 1940 would now be $4.
Book: Virginia
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 324-325
Year Originally Published: 1940
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