Page:Autobiographies and portraits of the President, cabinet, Supreme court, and Fifty-fifth Congress (IA autobiographiesp02neal).pdf/43

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

MELVILLE WESTON FULLER


Melville Weston Fuller, Chief Justice of the United States, was born in Augusta, Me., February 11, 1833; was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1853; studied law, attended a course of lectures at Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1855; formed a law partnership in Augusta, Me., and was an associate editor of a Democratic paper called The Age; in 1856 became president of the common council, and served as city solicitor; removed to Chicago, Ill., in 1856, where he practiced law until appointed Chief Justice; in 1862 was a member of the State constitutional convention; was a member of the State legislature from 1863 to 1865; was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1864, 1872, 1876, and 1880; the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by the Northwestern University and by Bowdoin College in 1888, and by Harvard in 1890; was appointed Chief Justice April 30, 1888, confirmed July 20, 1888, and took the oath of office October 8, same year.