Ableman v. Booth XIII: Edward Vernon Whiton

It's time to return to Sherman Booth. To get you back into the swing, let me introduce the next actor we'll encounter: Edward Vernon Whiton, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Chief Justice Whiton was born in Massachusetts in 1805. He earned his law degree there and moved to Wisconsin in 1837. A Whig and later a Republican, Whiton served in the territorial legislature and at the state constitutional convention. When Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, he was elected a state circuit court judge and served ex officio as a justice of the State Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court was reorganized as a separate body in 1853, he became its first Chief Justice. He served in that position until his death in 1859. Brief biographies are available here and here

Time permitting, tomorrow I will discuss Chief Justice Whiton's opinion.