¹ See Barber, Bernard, Social Stratification: A Comparative Analysis of Structure and Process (New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1957),Google Scholar Chapter 16; Miller, William, “American Historians and the Business Elite”, Journal of Economic History, IX (11, 1949);Google ScholarMiller, , “The Recruitment of the Business Elite”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXIV (05, 1950);Google Scholar and the chapters by Miller and Frances Gregory, W. and Neu, Irene D. in Miller, William (ed.), Men in Business: Essays in the History of Enterpreneurship (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1952).Google Scholar

² See, for example, Berthoff, Rowland, “The American Social Order: A Conservative Hypothesis”, American Historical Review, LXV (04, 1960), 495–514,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Donald, David, Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era, 2nd ed. enlarged (New York, Vintage Books, 1961), pp. 209–35.Google Scholar

³ Tocqueville, Alexis de, Democracy in America, trans. Reeve, Henry, 2 vols. (New York, Schocken Books, 1961), I, 321,Google Scholar 328.

⁴ Bryce, James, The American Commonwealth, 2 vols. (New York, The MacMillan Co., 1911), II, 671–74.Google Scholar

⁵ The high incidence of lawyers in national political office is discussed in Donald Matthews, R., “United States Senators and the Class Structure”, Public Opinion Quarterly, XVIII (10, 1954), 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Matthews finds that senators with legal training held 55% of the seats in 1789, 95% in 1845, 77% in 1895, and 70% in 1945. An example of law as a springboard to state and local political office is seen in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia politics from 1800 to 1870. During this period twelve of 22 mayors of Philadelphia were members of the bar, and nine of the fifteen governors had received legal training. Figures derived from Martin, John Hill, Bench and Bar of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Rees, Welsh and Co., 1883), pp. 96–97;Google Scholar and Armor, William C., Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania (Norwich, Conn., T. H. Davis and Co., 1874), pp. 289–490.Google Scholar

⁶ Barber, pp. 373–74. It is pointed out, for example, that in law and other professions persons of equal education, regardless of family economic position, are equally success ful in terms of income. This is not the case in business where financial success most often attends those of well-to-do families.

⁷ Hamilton, Thomas, Men and Manners in America, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, William Blackwood, 1833), I, 384.Google Scholar

⁸ Frederick Marryat, a British traveller and noted novelist, affirmed in 1839 that in no city did he find society so differentiated into cliques and sets, which keep apart from each other on vague notions of superior ancestry. See Marryat, Frederick, Diary in America, ed. Zanger, Jules (London, Nicholas Vane, Ltd., 1960), pp. 173–74.Google Scholar This seems to be a typical reflection on Philadelphia society. See, for example, MacKay, Alexander, The Western World; or, Travels in the United States in 1846–47, 3 vols. (London, Richard Bentley, 1849), I, 202–04;Google Scholar and Hamilton, Thomas, Men and Manners, I, 388–90.Google Scholar Contemporary historians and sociologists are not in complete agreement, however. Baltzell, E. Digby, Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class (Glencoe, Ill., The Free Press, 1958),Google Scholar concludes that a moneyed aristocracy of the colonial period maintained a profound importance into the twentieth century in furnishing a professional elite. On the other hand Carl and Bridenbaugh, Jessica, Rebels and Gentlemen: Philadelphia in the Age of Franklin (New York, Reynal and Hitchcock, 1942),Google Scholar assert that Philadelphia built the “first broadly democratic society of modern times” (p. 371). At the same time the authors admit that lawyers were recruited, for the most part, from wealthy mercantile families and “gradually coalesced into a distinct upper class” in the late eighteenth century (p. 180).

⁹ In Pennsylvania admission to the bar was contingent on a period of apprenticeship, or “clerkship”, with an established member of the profession. This training was to be of three year's duration, or two years if the candidate was over 21 years of age. Admission to the bar was granted by that court before which the candidate wished to plead. Although an examination might be given by the court, a certificate of apprenticeship was normally accepted as fulfillment of the requirements. Apprenticeship requirements of five to seven years were not uncommon in other states. See Reed, Alfred Zantzinger, Training for the Public Profession of Law …(Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Bulletin, 11 15, New York, The Carnegie Foundation, 1921), pp. 82–84;Google Scholar and Warren, Charles, A History of the American Bar (Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, 1911), pp. 196–202.Google Scholar Warren has not differentiated between practice before the state Supreme Court and the lower courts. The more stringent requirements which he lists were required only for lawyers pleading before the state Supreme Court.

¹⁰ The best account of early nineteenth century legal education is Reed. Useful personal accounts of Philadelphia lawyers can be found in “The Autobiography of Horace Binney”, 3 volume ms., Horace Binney Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Peter Arrell Browne, “Autobiographical Sketch”, James T. Mitchell Collection, HSP; Brown, David Paul, The Forum; or Forty Years Full Practise at the Philadelphia Bar, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, Robert H. Small, 1856), xxxvii–xl.Google Scholar

¹¹ Peter Arrell Browne, “History of the Pennsylvania Bar”, James T. Mitchell Collection, HSP.

¹² Testimony to the intimate relationship between practitioner and pupil is abundant in the accounts listed in note 10 as well as in Pepper, George Wharton, Philadelphia Lawyer, An Autobiography (Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Co., 1944), pp. 46–47.Google Scholar Further evidence is contained in “Memorials to Philadelphia Lawyers”, 3 vols., HSP. This collection of tributes, delivered at meetings of the Philadelphia Law Association in observance of the death of members of the bar, is a rich source of material relating to this point.

¹³ Carson, Hampton L., An Historical Sketch of the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Times Printing House, 1882), p. 18.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Sharswood, George, The Origin, History and Objects of the Law Academy of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, n. p., 1883).Google Scholar

¹⁵ Reed, p. 126.

¹⁶ Carson, p. 20; Klingelsmith, M.C., “History of the Department of Law of the University of Pennsylvania”, in University of Pennsylvania; The Proceedings at the Dedication of the New Building of the Department of Law (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1901), p. 220.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Carson, p. 20. Among the fourteen law schools already in existence in 1850 were William and Mary, Transylvania, Harvard, Yale, University of Virginia, Dickinson, University of Cincinnati, Indiana, University of Georgia, University of North Carolina, and Tulane. See Reed, pp. 423–24.

¹⁸ Carson, pp. 21, 23, 27.

¹⁹ Data derived from General Alumni Catalogue of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1922), pp. 428–29.Google Scholar

²⁰ George Washington remitted 100 guineas to James Wilson for the placement of Bushrod Washington, the General’s nephew, in Wilson’s office for apprenticeship training in 1782. Sharswood, p. 6.

²¹ Reed, pp. 85–90. A cogent and interesting discussion of Jacksonian distrust of the specialist is presented in Ward, John William, Andrew Jackson; Symbol for an Age (New York, Oxford University Press, 1955), pp. 46–78.Google Scholar

²² Carson, p. 24.

²³ Warren, pp. 212–20; Hurst, James Willard, The Growth of American Law: The Law Makers (Boston, Little, Brown and Co., 1950), pp. 249–52.Google Scholar

²⁴ Warren, pp. 214–24; Higginbotham, Sanford W., The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800–1816 (Harrisburg, The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p. 51.Google Scholar

²⁵ Henderson, Elizabeth K., “The Attack on the Judiciary in Pennsylvania, 1800–1810”, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LXI (04, 1937), 113–14.Google Scholar

²⁶ Ibid., p. 116.

²⁷ Ibid., pp. 118–23; Higginbotham, pp. 65–68.

²⁸ Henderson, p. 128, quoting the Aurora.

²⁹ Henderson, , “Some Aspects of Sectionalism in Pennsylvania, 1790–1812” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of History, Bryn Mawr College, 1936), p. 168.Google Scholar

³⁰ Akagi, Roy H., “The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1838”, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XLVIII (1924), 303–04.Google Scholar

³¹ The petitions are recorded in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Journals of the House of Representatives and Journals of the Senate, 1802–25, Library of Congress.

³² Higginbotham, p. 87, quoting Freeman's Journal, April 17, 1805.

³³ Meigs, William M., The Life of Charles Jared Ingersoll (Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1900), p. 36.Google Scholar

³⁴ “Eulogium in Commemoration of the Honourable William Tilghman”, delivered before the American Philosophical Society by Peter S. DuPonceau, October 12, 1827; mss. copy in James T. Mitchell Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

³⁵ Philadelphia: or Glances at Lawyers, Physicians, First Circle, Wistar Parties … (Philadelphia, R. H. Small, 1826), p. 11.Google Scholar

³⁶ See, for example, Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to Propose Amendments to the Constitution …, 13 vols. (Harrisburg, Packer, Barrett, and Parke, 1837–1839), II, 238–45.Google Scholar

³⁷ Interestingly, life tenure was restored in 1873.

³⁸ Proceedings, IV, 395–412.

³⁹ Ibid., V, 21–38, 71–114; XIII, 48–49. Akagi mistakenly represents Sergeant and Chauncey as stanch supporters of the limitation of judicial tenure.

⁴⁰ Ibid. XIII, 50–51.

⁴¹ The vote was 113,971 to 112,759; see Eastman, Franklin M., Courts and Lawyers of Pennsylvania, 1623–1923, 4 vols. (New York, The Historical Publishing Co., 1922), II, 434.Google Scholar

⁴² An annotated copy, with added biographical data, is held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

⁴³ Data sought includes place of birth, education, religion, political affiliation, business and civic activities, father’s name, place of birth, ethnic derivation, education, occupation, and social standing. Biographical data has been derived from a variety of sources: biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias, Who's Who's, genealogies, county and local histories, correspondence, reminiscences, newspaper obituaries, scrapbooks, city directories, college and university biographical catalogues, and correspondence with universities, local historical societies, and Philadelphia organizations of which the subjects were members.

⁴⁴ Of the early lawyers for whom information was obtainable, 49 were native-born, two were born in Ireland, and one in England. Of the 1860–61 lawyers, 42 were Americans by birth, two were English immigrants, and one was from Ireland.

⁴⁵ The Statistics of the Population of the United States … From the Original Returns Bof the Ninth Census (06 1, 1870)… 3 vols. (WashingtonBureau of the Census, 1872), I, 386–91.Google Scholar The same census reveals that in 1870 the ethnic distribution of the entire Philadelphia bar very closely matched the figures derived for the 1800–05 and 1860–61 lawyers. Of 992 lawyers in 1870, only 5.4% were foreign-born these being Britishers in two of three cases. Statistics of the Ninth Census, I, 794.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ In the cases observed, fathers of 1800–05 lawyers were native-born in 34 of 43 instances, the remainder tracing their birth to Ireland (7) and England (2). Of 1860–61 attorneys, 35 of 40 had fathers of American birth. The remaining five were born in England (2), Spain (1), Ireland (1), and Germany (1). English or Scotch-Irish ancestry was noted in 47 of 49 cases in the early group, and in 46 of 52 instances among the later set.

⁴⁷ The division of Philadelphia by religious affiliation is difficult to determine. From lists of churches found in Scharf, J. Thomas and Westcott, Thompson, History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884, 3 vols. (Philadelphia, L. H. Everts and Co., 1884), II, 1229–1448,Google Scholar it can be approximated that of every thirty churches, the division would be: Presbyterian, 7; Episcopalian, 6; Methodist, 5; Baptist, 4; Catholic, 3; Friends, 1; and scattered, 4.

⁴⁸ In approximate terms one out of every 10,000 persons attended college in 1800. In 1870 approximately one of every 800 persons did so. Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, Bureau of the Census, 1960), pp. 7,Google Scholar 211; and Paullin, Charles O., Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States (Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington and American Geographical Society of New York, 1932),Google Scholar Plate 80.

⁴⁹ Warner, S. Lloyd, Meeker, Marchia, and Eells, Kenneth, Social Class in America (Chicago, Science Research Associates, Inc., 1949).Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Inasmuch as differentiation by class in this era is an inexact science, occupational divisions have also been made. It should be noted that occupations and classes do not always coincide. Professional men—doctors, lawyers, clergymen—were often included in the topmost strata of nineteenth century but occasionally better fit the specifications of the middle class. Similarly, “farmers” might be vast landholders of great local prominence or, contrariwise, struggling agriculturalists on small subsistence farms.

⁵¹ Brown, I, 559, 563, 568–69.

⁵² Ibid., 488–89.

⁵³ Scrapbooks, James T. Mitchell, 14 vols.; Historical Society of Pennsylvania, II, 132.Google Scholar Clipping entitled “Old and New—Reminiscences of the Old Bar”.

⁵⁴ Tocqueville, I, 325–28.

⁵⁵ The injurious effects of subjecting the judiciary, state and federal, to tenure appointment or elective control are discussed in Carpenter, William S., Judicial Tenure in the United States (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1918).Google Scholar