America's First Supreme Court

Again, remember that our first "capital" was not in Washington, D.C.; our first capital was in New York City and then in 1790, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Washington, D.C. didn't even exist at the founding of our country (it was a swamp - in some ways I guess it still is!), George Washington never presided over the government in D.C., and the White House's first occupants was not George Washington but John and Abigail Adams in 1800.  As most of us women know, birthing takes a considerable amount of time.  And so it was with the birthing of America.

The three branches of government in America were not established in 1776; they were established through the blood, sweat, tears, and success of the Constitutional Convention's completion of our current Constitution in 1787 in Philadelphia.

The first three Articles of the Constitution are based on the Bible's book of Isaiah, chapter 33, verse 22:  "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king..."

Article I establishes Congress, the lawgiver.
Article II establishes the Presidency, the executive branch (America's form of "king"ship.)
Article III establishes the Supreme Court, the judiciary.

 

Initially, the Supreme Court met in the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City in 1789 after Washington was sworn in as our first president and began to appoint justices.  When the national capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790, the Court moved with it, establishing Chambers first in what is now Independence Hall and later in the Philadelphia City Hall located next to Independence Hall.


In the beginning, Supreme Court Justices were required to "ride the circuit" across the nation at least twice a year in order to make sure they would be aware of local opinion and state law.  Travel in the late 1700's was a pretty miserable, exhausting activity.  (Holiday Inn hadn't been invented yet...) For this reason, George Washington had an extremely difficult time getting men to agree to serve on the Supreme Court. 

After Chief Justice John Jay...

threatened to resign because of the circuit riding requirement, in 1793 Congress reduced it to one trip per year.  Almost 100 years later, Congress dropped even that provision.  Now, qualified men and women refuse to even attempt to be appointed because of the "miserable, exhausting" Congressional interrogations!

But, back to Philadelphia...

This was where the Supreme Court hearings took place in Philadelphia.  The Supreme Court seems to have been very much the step-child of the American government.  When the seat of government was moved to D.C., the Court was "loaned" space in the Capital Building.  They were moved about six times within the building before former president William Howard Taft (1909 - 1913), now the Chief Justice (that would be a cool job for a retiring president - there have been even fewer Chief Justices than presidents.) The Supreme Court was moved about six times within the building before former president William Howard Taft, now the Chief Justice, persuaded Congress in 1929 to authorize a building of their own.  The Court moved into their permanent home in 1935.

The Court now consists of one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices.

Going through old buildings and visiting monuments is more than looking at buildings and monuments.  They have a story to tell us about our beginnings.  If we know where we came from we can better plan where we ought to be going.  Travelers, please take advantage of the opportunities put before you in every location you go.  What you find may be more valuable than the paycheck ... maybe. :-)