(Source: University of Massachusetts Press)
The University
of Massachusetts Press has published a new book on the life of an important 18th
century New England lawyer, Jeremiah Gridley.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Jeremiah Gridley
(1702–1767) is considered “the greatest New England lawyer of his generation,”
yet we know little about him. Most of his renown is a product of the fame of
his students, most notably John Adams. Gridley deserves more. He was an active
participant in the Writs of Assistance trial and the Stamp Act controversy, and
as a leader of the Boston bar, an editor, speculator, legislator, and
politician, his life touched and was touched by much that was integral to eighteenth-century
Massachusetts.
The Last Great
Colonial Lawyer presents a portrait of Gridley against the background of his
times. Religious controversies enter into this narrative, as do colonial wars
and the increasing strains with Great Britain, but Charles R. McKirdy also
rescues from the footnotes of time subjects such as the smallpox epidemic of
1721 and the currency crisis of the 1740s. Because Gridley was above all a
lawyer, the primary focus is on his cases, which illuminate in a unique and
very human way attitudes regarding race, status, commerce, property, and power.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Charles R.
McKirdy litigated cases for more than twenty-five years and holds a PhD in
history and a law degree from Northwestern University. He is author of Lincoln
Apostate: The Matson Slave Case, and he has published in the American Journal
of Legal History, the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, and the Journal
of Legal Education.
More information here
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