Today in History - Supreme Court

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September 24, 1789 -- The First Supreme Court

First meeting US Supreme Court in 1790. From left, William Cushing, Chief Justice John Jay, John Blair, & James Wilson. They did not hear a case until 1792.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington, establishing the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until death or retirement. That day, President Washington nominated John Jay to preside as chief justice, & John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison, & James Wilson to be associate justices. On September 26, all six appointments were confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The First Meeting of the US Supreme Court took place on February 2, 1790, in New York City's Royal Exchange Building. Also called the Merchant Exchange, the Court's first home was located at Broad & Water streets. The Exchange was "a very curious structure, for its ground floor was open on all sides, & in tempestuous weather the merchants, who gathered there for business, found it extremely uncomfortable. It had a 2nd story which was enclosed & consisted of a single room." By 1791, the court had moved to Philadelphia, where the government had taken residence.

Because this blog is about 18th-century women, I feel obliged to report, that Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930, just 10 years after women were allowed to vote in US elections) was the 1st female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981, until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Sandra Day O'Conner

The U.S. Supreme Court was established by Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution granted the Supreme Court ultimate jurisdiction over all laws, especially those in which their constitutionality was at issue. The high court was also designated to oversee cases concerning treaties of the United States, foreign diplomats, admiralty practice, & maritime jurisdiction. On February 1, 1790, the first session of the U.S. Supreme Court was held in New York City's Royal Exchange Building.

The U.S. Supreme Court is a crucial governmental body because of its central place in the American political order. According to the Constitution, the size of the court is set by Congress, & the number of justices varied during the 19th century before stabilizing in 1869, at nine. In times of constitutional crisis, the nation's highest court has always played a definitive role in resolving, for better or worse, the great issues of the moment.
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Legal Rights - Divorce

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From the
Boston Evening-Post, published as Boston Evening Post; February 9, 1756.

"Eleanor Stickney, the Wife of James Stickney of Hampstead in the Province aforesaid, having complained to the General Assenbly of said Province, that her said Husband had long neglected her and his Family, that he had cohabited with another Woman in a criminal Manner, and fearing a Prosecution, had travelled from said Hampstead, as the Complainant had been informed, to the Town of Srpingfield, in the Province of Massachusetts- Bay; and carried with him the said Woman, with whom he lived as with a Wife, and had entirely absented himself from this Complainant;


Wherefore the said Eleanor pray'd the Interposition of the General Assembly, that the Marriage Covenant between the said James and said Eleanor might be dissolved, &c. Upon which Petition 'twas ordered, that the said Petitioner be heard on the third Day of the sitting of the General Assembly next after the first Day of March next ensuing, and that the Petitioner cause the Order, with the Substance of said Petition, to be advertized in a publick Print three Weeks, thereby notifying the said James Stickney to appear and shew Cause why the Prayer of the said Petition should not be granted. Attest. Theaodore Atkinson."

The following short bibliograpy explores the history of divorce in America.

Basch, Norma. Framing American Divorce: From the Revolutionary Generation to the Victorians. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Chused, Richard H. Private Acts in Public Places: A Social History of Divorce in the Formative Years of American Family Law. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994.

Cott, Nancy. Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Degler, Carl N. At Odds: Women and the Family in America from the Revolution to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

Hartog, Henrick. Man and Wife in America: A History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Jones, Mary Somerville. “An Historical Geography of the Changing Divorce Law in the United States,” PhD Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1987.

Riley, Glenda. Divorce: an American Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
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