Tucker, Henry St. George (1780–1848)

• Author: Dennis J. Mahoney
• Pages: 2736-2737

Page 2736

A political leader, scholar, and jurist, Henry St. George Tucker studied law under his father, ST. GEORGE TUCKER. He was a congressman (1815?1819), state judge (1824?1841), and professor of law at the University of Virginia (1841?1848). In his classroom lectures and in his textbook entitled Lectures on Constitutional Law (1843), he took a moderate STATES ' RIGHTS position, steering, as he said, "a middle course between [the] dangerous extremes" of NULLIFICATION and centralization. His book is intended as a refutation of the nationalist position of JOSEPH STORY, but, although he regarded the Constitution as a compact among the states, he rejected nullification and SECESSION as remedies for violations by the federal government.

DENNIS J. MAHONEY

(1986)

Page 2737

Bibliography

BAUER, ELIZABETH KELLEY 1952 Commentaries on the Constitution, 1790?1860. New York: Columbia University Press.