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The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut
Litchfield, Connecticut

Litchfield is a New England town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, Connecticut, United States, and is known as an affluent summer resort....
 was the first law school in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, having been established in 1773 by Tapping Reeve
Tapping Reeve

Tapping Reeve was an American lawyer and law educator. In 1784 he opened the Litchfield Law School, the first law school in the United States, in Litchfield, Connecticut....
, who would later became the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
Connecticut Supreme Court

The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court in the U.S. state of Connecticut....
. By the time the school closed in 1833, over 1,100 students had attended the institution including Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr, Jr. was an United States politician, American Revolutionary War hero, and adventurer. He served as the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States , under Thomas Jefferson....
, Jr. and John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun

John Caldwell Calhoun was the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States. He was a leading United States Southern politician from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century....
. The law school, including Reeve's house, was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, :wiktionary:site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States for its historical significance....
 in 1965 as the Tapping Reeve House and Law School.

e was born on Long Island
Long Island

Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are Borough s of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban....
, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
 in 1744.






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The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut
Litchfield, Connecticut

Litchfield is a New England town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, Connecticut, United States, and is known as an affluent summer resort....
 was the first law school in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, having been established in 1773 by Tapping Reeve
Tapping Reeve

Tapping Reeve was an American lawyer and law educator. In 1784 he opened the Litchfield Law School, the first law school in the United States, in Litchfield, Connecticut....
, who would later became the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
Connecticut Supreme Court

The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court in the U.S. state of Connecticut....
. By the time the school closed in 1833, over 1,100 students had attended the institution including Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr, Jr. was an United States politician, American Revolutionary War hero, and adventurer. He served as the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States , under Thomas Jefferson....
, Jr. and John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun

John Caldwell Calhoun was the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States. He was a leading United States Southern politician from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century....
. The law school, including Reeve's house, was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, :wiktionary:site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States for its historical significance....
 in 1965 as the Tapping Reeve House and Law School.

Tapping Reeve

Reeve was born on Long Island
Long Island

Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are Borough s of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban....
, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
 in 1744. He graduated from the College of New Jersey
Princeton University

Princeton University is a private university university located in Princeton, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and has the largest per-student Financial endowment in the world....
 (now Princeton University) in 1763, serving for seven years as a tutor at the Grammar School that was connected with the college. There he met the children of the Princeton College's president, Aaron Burr, Sr.
Aaron Burr, Sr.

The Reverend Aaron Burr was a notable divine and educator in colonial America. He was a founder of the College of New Jersey and the father of the third United States Vice President Aaron Burr ....
: Aaron Burr, Jr.
Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr, Jr. was an United States politician, American Revolutionary War hero, and adventurer. He served as the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States , under Thomas Jefferson....
 (later Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office in the United States of America created by the Constitution of the United States....
) and Sally Burr, who were both his students.

Tapping Reeve moved to Connecticut and studied law under Judge Root of Hartford, and was admitted to the bar
Admission to the bar

Admission to practice law, or being licensed to practice law, as a lawyer is a widely varied process across the world. Common to all the jurisdictions are requirements of age, competence, honesty and sometimes citizenship....
 in 1772. In the same year he married his former student, Sally Burr. They then moved to Litchfield and Reeve started his own law practice. Tapping Reeve built his six-room Litchfield house in 1773 and settled in with his frail wife. In 1780 he added a downstairs wing for Sally, who found it difficult to climb stairs.

Law School

Reeve decided to start a law school, and his first student was none other than his brother-in-law, Aaron Burr. The law school students lived in the homes of town residents and traveled to Reeve's house on South Street to receive their morning lectures in Reeve's downstairs parlor. As the number of students increased, they outgrew the space in the parlor and so in 1784 Reeve built a one-room school building adjacent to his house. James Gould became Reeve's associate when Reeve was elected to the Supreme Court in 1798. Reeve withdrew in 1820 and Gould continued until 1833. The school's lectures covered the entire body of the law including real estate, rights of persons, rights of things, contracts, torts, evidence, pleading, crimes, and equity.

Notable students

The list of students who attended Tapping Reeve's law school includes two Vice Presidents of the United States (Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun), 101 members of the United States House of Representatives, 28 United States senators, six United States cabinet secretaries, three justices of the United States Supreme Court, 14 state governors and 13 state supreme court chief justices. Litchfield Law School students also held state and local political office and became business leaders. Students went on to found university law schools and become university presidents. Framed pictures of students are still hung up in the school, including George Catlin
George Catlin

George Catlin was an United States Painting, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the United States in the Old West....
, Horace Mann
Horace Mann

Horace Mann was an United States education reformer, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833. He served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1834-1837....
 (the educator), Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr, Jr. was an United States politician, American Revolutionary War hero, and adventurer. He served as the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States , under Thomas Jefferson....
, Jr., Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
Oliver Wolcott, Jr.

Oliver Wolcott Jr. was United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1795 to 1800 and List of Governors of Connecticut of Connecticut from 1817 to 1827....
, and US Senator & Connecticut Governor Roger Sherman Baldwin
Roger Sherman Baldwin

Roger Sherman Baldwin was an United States lawyer involved in the Amistad case, who later became governor of Connecticut and United States Senator....
. Each name in this list is followed by the year that the student finished, when known.

  • John Allen
    John Allen (Connecticut)

    John Allen was a United States Representative from Connecticut. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, he attended the common schools and studied at the Litchfield Law School....
    , 1784
  • Ezekiel Bacon
    Ezekiel Bacon

    Ezekiel Bacon was an early United States statesman.Bacon was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended what was then Yale College, graduating in 1794....
    , 1794
  • William J. Bacon
    William J. Bacon

    William Johnson Bacon was a United States House of Representatives from New York, son of Ezekiel Bacon and grandson of John Bacon.Born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Bacon moved with his parents to Utica, New York, in 1815....
    , 1823
  • Joshua Baker
    Joshua Baker

    Joshua Baker was a Unionist Governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction era of the United States....
    , 1821, Governor of Louisiana
  • Ebenezer Baldwin, 1810, (brother of Simeon Baldwin
    Simeon Baldwin

    Simeon Baldwin was son-in-law of Roger Sherman, father of Connecticut Governor Roger Sherman Baldwin and the grandfather of Connecticut Governor Simeon Eben Baldwin....
     and uncle of Roger Sherman Baldwin
    Roger Sherman Baldwin

    Roger Sherman Baldwin was an United States lawyer involved in the Amistad case, who later became governor of Connecticut and United States Senator....
    )
  • Henry Baldwin
    Henry Baldwin (judge)

    Henry Baldwin was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of the Supreme Court of the United States from January 18, 1830, to April 21, 1844....
    , 1797, U. S. Supreme Court Justice
  • Roger Sherman Baldwin
    Roger Sherman Baldwin

    Roger Sherman Baldwin was an United States lawyer involved in the Amistad case, who later became governor of Connecticut and United States Senator....
    , 1812 (son of Simeon Baldwin
    Simeon Baldwin

    Simeon Baldwin was son-in-law of Roger Sherman, father of Connecticut Governor Roger Sherman Baldwin and the grandfather of Connecticut Governor Simeon Eben Baldwin....
     and the grandson of Roger Sherman
    Roger Sherman

    Roger Sherman was an early United States lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the United States Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic....
    )
  • James Bell
    James Bell (New Hampshire)

    James Bell was a United States Senator from New Hampshire from 1855 until his death in 1857. He was the son of Samuel Bell, the uncle of Samuel Newell Bell and the cousin of Charles Henry Bell....
    , 1824
  • Edmund H. Bennett
    Edmund H. Bennett

    Edmund Hatch Bennett was born in Manchester, Vermont, and served as a lawyer, judge, mayor, and Dean of Boston University School of Law....
  • Aaron Burr
    Aaron Burr

    Aaron Burr, Jr. was an United States politician, American Revolutionary War hero, and adventurer. He served as the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States , under Thomas Jefferson....
    , Jr., 1774, U.S. Vice President, U.S. Senator
  • Chester Pierce Butler
    Chester Pierce Butler

    Chester Pierce Butler was a Whig Party member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.Chester P. Butler was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania....
    , 1818
  • John Caldwell Calhoun, 1805, U.S. Vice-President, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, Secretary of War
  • George Catlin
    George Catlin

    George Catlin was an United States Painting, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the United States in the Old West....
    , 1817
  • John M. Clayton
    John M. Clayton

    John Middleton Clayton was an United States lawyer and politician from Dover, Delaware in Kent County, Delaware, and later New Castle County, Delaware, Delaware....
    , 1817, U. S. Senator and Secretary of State
  • John A. Collier
    John A. Collier

    John Allen Collier was an American lawyer and politician....
    , 1805
  • Joel Crawford
    Joel Crawford

    Joel Crawford was an United States politician, soldier and lawyer.Crawford was born in Columbia County, Georgia, Georgia . He attended the Litchfield Law School in Connecticut....
    , 1806
  • William Crosby Dawson
    William Crosby Dawson

    William Crosby Dawson was a lawyer, judge, politician, and soldier from Georgia ....
    , 1817
  • Thomas Day, 1797
  • John Stark Edwards, 1796
  • Amos Ellmaker
    Amos Ellmaker

    Amos Ellmaker was a United States of America political figure from Pennsylvania. He served as the Anti-Masonic Party vice-presidential candidate in the U.S....
    , 1806
  • Henry Leavitt Ellsworth
    Henry Leavitt Ellsworth

    Henry Leavitt Ellsworth was a Yale-educated attorney who became the first Commissioner of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where he encouraged innovation by inventors Samuel F.B....
    , 1811
  • John Myers Felder
    John Myers Felder

    John Myers Felder was born in the vicinity of Orangeburg, South Carolina, on July 7, 1782. He graduated from Yale University in 1804, a roommate and close friend of John Caldwell Calhoun....
    , 1806
  • Thomas Flournoy Foster
    Thomas Flournoy Foster

    Thomas Flournoy Foster was an United States politician and lawyer.Foster was born in Greensboro, Georgia, Georgia . He attended Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the founding college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and graduated in 1812 with a Bachelor of Arts degree....
    , 1816
  • Samuel A. Foot
    Samuel A. Foot

    Samuel Augustus Foot was Governor of Connecticut as well as a United States Representative and United States Senator. Born in Cheshire, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale College in 1797, and attended the Litchfield Law School....
    , 1797, Connecticut Governor, U.S. Representative and Senator
  • John Brown Francis
    John Brown Francis

    John Brown Francis was a United States Senator from Rhode Island. Born in Philadelphia, he attended the common schools of Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from Brown University in 1808....
    , 1813, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island 1844-45, Governor of Rhode Island 1833-38
  • Hopkins Holsey
    Hopkins Holsey

    Hopkins Holsey was a United States House of Representatives, newspaper publisher and lawyer from Georgia .Born near Lynchburg, Virginia, Virginia, in 1779, Holsey attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, Virginia, and graduated from the Litchfield Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, Connecticut....
  • Edward King, 1813, son of Rufus King
    Rufus King

    Rufus King was an United States lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention....
     and founder of Cincinnati Law School
  • James G. King
    James G. King

    James Gore King was an American businessman and Whig Party politician who represented New Jersey's New Jersey's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1849 to 1851....
     (1791-1853), businessman and politician who represented from 1849 to 1851.
  • Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (I)
    Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (I)

    Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar was a native Georgia , a jurist who was the father of a Supreme Court of the United States Justice by the same name, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar ....
    , 1817
  • Horace Mann
    Horace Mann

    Horace Mann was an United States education reformer, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833. He served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1834-1837....
    , 1822
  • Rutger B. Miller
    Rutger B. Miller

    Rutger Bleecker Miller was a United States Representative from NYCongDel. His father was Morris Smith Miller, also a U.S. Representative from New York....
    , 1824
  • Eugenius Aristides Nisbet
    Eugenius Aristides Nisbet

    Eugenius Aristides Nisbet was an United States politician, jurist, and lawyer.Nisbet was born near Union Point, Georgia, Georgia . He attended the Powellton Academy in Hancock County, Georgia from 1815 to 1817, the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina from 1817 to 1819, and graduated from the University of Georgia in...
    , 1823
  • Elisha Phelps
    Elisha Phelps

    Elisha Phelps was a United States Representative from Connecticut. He was the son of Noah Phelps and father of John Smith Phelps who was a United States Representative from Missouri....
    , 1801
  • Oliver Leicester Phelps, 1794 (son of Oliver Phelps
    Oliver Phelps

    Oliver Phelps was born in Poquonock, Connecticut and moved to Suffield, Connecticut, where he apprenticed to a local merchant. He shortly thereafter became a tavern keeper in Granville, Massachusetts....
    , married Roger Sherman
    Roger Sherman

    Roger Sherman was an early United States lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the United States Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic....
    's granddaughter Betsey Law Sherman)
  • Horatio Seymour
    Horatio Seymour (Vermont)

    Horatio Seymour was a United States Senator from Vermont. He was the uncle of Origen S. Seymour and the great-uncle of his son Edward Woodruff Seymour....
    , 1798
  • Roger Sherman, Jr., 1792 (son of Roger Sherman
    Roger Sherman

    Roger Sherman was an early United States lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the United States Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic....
    )
  • Roger Minott Sherman
    Roger Minott Sherman

    'Roger Minott Sherman', , was the youngest of six children of Rev. Josiah Sherman , a brother of the distinguished Roger Sherman; and his mother was Martha Minott, the daughter of the Honorable James and Elizabeth Minott of Concord, Massachusetts....
    , 1794 (son of Rev. Josiah Sherman, the brother of Roger Sherman
    Roger Sherman

    Roger Sherman was an early United States lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the United States Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic....
    )
  • John Burr Skinner, 1820 (grandson of Roger Sherman
    Roger Sherman

    Roger Sherman was an early United States lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the United States Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic....
    )
  • Oliver Skinner, 1800 (grandson of Roger Sherman
    Roger Sherman

    Roger Sherman was an early United States lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the United States Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic....
    )
  • Richard Skinner
    Richard Skinner

    Richard Skinner was an Politics of the United States, Law of the United States, and jurist from the U.S. state of Vermont.Skinner was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, Connecticut....
    , 1798
  • Roger Sherman Skinner, 1815 (grandson of Roger Sherman
    Roger Sherman

    Roger Sherman was an early United States lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the United States Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic....
    )
  • Perry Smith
    Perry Smith (U.S. Congressman)

    Perry Smith was a Connecticut State Representative and was elected as a Democratic Party to the United States Senate in 1836, where he served one term....
    , 1807, U. S. Senator
  • Truman Smith
    Truman Smith

    Truman Smith was a politician, lawyer and judge from Connecticut. He was the nephew of Nathaniel Smith and Nathan Smith .Born in Roxbury, Connecticut, Smith completed preparatory studies and graduated from Yale College in 1815....
    , 1817, U. S. Senator
  • Frederick A. Tallmadge
    Frederick A. Tallmadge

    Frederick Augustus Tallmadge was a United States Representative from NYCongDel. Born in Litchfield, Connecticut, he completed preparatory studies and was graduated from Yale College in 1811....
    , 1811
  • Uriah Tracy
    Uriah Tracy

    Uriah Tracy was an United States politician from Connecticut who served in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate....
    , 1778
  • Stephen Upson
    Stephen Upson

    Stephen Upson Upson was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale College in 1804. He then studied law at the Litchfield Law School....
    , 1805
  • Nicholas Ware
    Nicholas Ware

    Nicholas Ware was a United States Senator from Georgia .Ware was born in Caroline County, Virginia and later moved with his parents to Edgefield, South Carolina and a few years later to Augusta, Georgia....
    , 1792
  • Lemuel Whitman
    Lemuel Whitman

    Lemuel Whitman was a United States Representative from Connecticut. He was born in Farmington, Connecticut where he completed preparatory studies....
    , 1805
  • Elisha Dana Whittlesey
    Elisha Whittlesey

    Elisha Whittlesey was a United States House of Representatives from Ohio, uncle of William Augustus Whittlesey and cousin of Frederick Whittlesey and Thomas Tucker Whittlesey....
    , 1813
  • Frederick Whittlesey
    Frederick Whittlesey

    Frederick Whittlesey was a United States House of Representatives from New York, cousin of Elisha Whittlesey and Thomas Tucker Whittlesey.Born in New Preston, Connecticut, Whittlesey pursued academic studies....
    , 1819
  • Thomas T. Whittlesey
    Thomas T. Whittlesey

    Thomas Tucker Whittlesey was a United States House of Representatives from Connecticut, cousin of Elisha Whittlesey and Frederick Whittlesey....
    , 1818
  • Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
    Oliver Wolcott, Jr.

    Oliver Wolcott Jr. was United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1795 to 1800 and List of Governors of Connecticut of Connecticut from 1817 to 1827....
    , 1778
  • Levi Woodbury
    Levi Woodbury

    Levi Woodbury was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was the first Justice to have attended law school....
    , 1809, U. S. Supreme Court Justice, Senator, Secretary of the Treasury and Navy, and Governor of New Hampshire.
  • Augustus Romaldus Wright, 1833


Sources