Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-fwgfc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T22:56:59.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Professional Pioneer: Myra Bradwell's Fight to Practice Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2011

Nancy T. Gilliam
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In April of 1873, the United States Supreme Court rejected Myra Bradwell's claim that the right to practice law should be acknowledged as one of the privileges and immunities of United States citizenship. Thus, the first case of sex discrimination to be heard by the Court was resolved against the woman, as would be every subsequent claim but one for the next ninety-eight years.

Type
Symposium on the History of the Legal Profession and the Judiciary
Information
Law and History Review , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 1987 , pp. 105 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © the American Society for Legal History, Inc. 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 130 (1873); Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971); Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 U.S. 525 (1923) (the Adkins feminism was an aberration in the ideological consistency of Court opinions between Bradwell and Reed).

2. 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873).

3. Crozier, Blanche, ‘Constitutionality of Discrimination Based on Sex’, 15 Boston University Law Review 723–55 (1935)Google Scholar; Erickson, Nancy S., ‘Women and the Supreme Court: Anatomy is Destiny’, 41 Brooklyn Law Review 209–82 (1974)Google Scholar; Johnston, John D. Jr, and Knapp, Charles L., ‘Sex Discrimination by Law: A Study in Judicial Perspective’, 46 New York University Law Review 675–747 (1971)Google Scholar.

4. Marke, Julius J., ed., The Holmes Reader (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., 2nd ed. 1964) 49–50Google Scholar.

5. Chicago Legal News, February 17, 1894, at 200, col. 1.

6. Pease, Theodore Calvin, The Story of Illinois, (Chicago, 3rd ed. 1965) 207Google Scholar; Pierce, Bessie Louise, A History of Chicago, 4 vols. (New York, 1957) iiiGoogle Scholar, pass.

7 Dictionary of American Biography, 20 vols. (New York, 1929) ii, 580–81Google Scholar; Palmer, John M., ed., The Bench and Bar of Illinois, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1899) ii, 831–32Google Scholar [hereinafter: Palmer, The Bench and Bar]; Bradwell, James B., President's Annual Address Delivered Before the Illinois State Bar Association at its Fourteenth Annual Meeting Held at Springfield, January 28, 1891 (Chicago, 1891) 9–10Google Scholar.

8. Gale, George W., ‘Myra Bradwell: The First Woman Lawyer’, 39 American Bar Association Journal 1080 (1953)Google Scholar [hereinafter: Gale, ‘Myra Bradwell’]; Chicago Historical Society, Manuscripts Collection, George W. Gale, ‘Myra Bradwell: A Paper Read Before the Chicago Literary Club’, April 13, 1950; Chicago Legal News, February 17, 1894, at 200, col. 1.

9. Chicago Legal News, October 3, 1868, at 4, col. 1.

10. Palmer, The Bench and Bar, supra note 7, 278.

11. Chroust, Anton-Hermann, The Rise of the Legal Profession in America, 2 vols. (Norman, Okla., 1965) i, 45–50Google Scholar; Flexner, Eleanor, Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States (Cambridge, Mass., 1966) 24Google Scholar [hereinafter: Flexner, Century of Struggle]; Bittenbender, Ada M., ‘Woman in Law’, in Meyer, Annie Nathan, ed., Women's Work in America (New York, 1972) 220–21Google Scholar [hereinafter: Bittenbender, ‘Woman in Law’].

12. Martin, Ellen A., ‘Admission of Women to the Bar’, 1 Chicago Law Times 76 (1886)Google Scholar [hereinafter: Martin, ‘Admission of Women’]; Robinson, Lelia J., ‘Women Lawyers in the United States’, 2 The Green Bag 10–32 (1890)Google Scholar; Thomas, Dorothy, Women Lawyers in the United States (New York, 1957) viiiGoogle Scholar; Chicago Legal News, October 16, 1869, at 20, col. 2; ibid., November 6, 1869, at 44, col. 3; ibid., February 5, 1870, at 145, col. 1.

13. U.S., Department of Interior, Ninth Census of the United States, 1870: Population 1:706; U.S., Department of Interior, Tenth Census of the United States, 1880: Population 1:733.

14. Flexner, Century of Struggle, supra note 11 at 120; Bittenbender, ‘Woman in Law,’ supra note 11, pass.; Martin, ‘Admission of Women,’ supra note 12 at 86–92; ‘Women as Advocates,’ 18 American Law Review 478 (1884Google Scholar).

15. Bittenbender, ‘Woman in Law,’ supra note 11 at 221–22; Martin, ‘Admission of Women’, supra note 12 at 87.

16. Flexner, Century of Struggle, supra note 11 at 179; Riegel, Robert E., American Women: A Story of Social Change (Rutherford, N.J., 1970) 186Google Scholar; Sachs, Albie and Wilson, Joan Hoff, Sexism and the Law: A Study of Male Beliefs and Legal Bias in Britain and the United States (Oxford, 1978) 110–11Google Scholar [hereinafter: Sachs and Wilson, Sexism]; Martin, ‘Admission of Women’, supra note 12 at 91–92; O'Donnell, Alice L., ‘Women and Other Strangers Before the Bar’, in Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook (Washington, D.C., 1977) 59Google Scholar.

17. Bittenbender, ‘Woman in Law,’ supra note 11 at 235; Martin, ‘Admission of Women,’ supra note 12 at 86–87.

18. Chicago Legal News, February 5, 1870, at 145, col. 1.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid, at col. 3.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid, at col. 4.

23. Ibid, at 146, col. 2.

24. Ibid, at col. 3.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid.

27. Cole v. Van Riper, Chicago Legal News, November 7, 1868, at 41, col. 1 (III. 1868) (for text of act).

28. Chicago Legal News, February 27, 1869, at 172, col. 1; ibid., October 17, 1868, at 22, col. 1.

29. Palmer, The Bench and Bar, supra note 7 at 279–80; Gale, ‘Myra Bradwell’, supra note 8 at 1081; Chicago Legal News, February 17, 1894, at 200, col. 2.

30. Carpenter v. Mitchell, Chicago Legal News, November 6, 1869, at 44, col. 4 (III. 1869); Cole v. Van Riper, Chicago Legal News, November 7, 1868, at 41, col. 1 (III. 1868).

31. Chicago Legal News, November 7, 1868, at 41, col. 1.

32. Ibid.

33. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, Anthony, Susan B., and Gage, Matilda Joslyn, eds, History of Woman Suffrage, 6 vols. (New York, 1969) ii, 371Google Scholar [hereinafter: Stanton, Anthony, and Gage, Woman Suffrage].

34. White, G. Edward, The American Judicial Tradition (New York, 1976) 9Google Scholar.

35. In re Bradwell, 55 III. 535 (1869).

36. Ibid, at 538.

37. Spector, Robert M., ‘Woman Against the Law: Myra Bradwell's Struggle for Admission to the Illinois Bar’, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, lxviii (1975) 233Google Scholar (Spector calls this possibility the ‘determining reason’ for the rejection of Bradwell's application) [hereinafter: Spector, ‘Woman Against the Law'].

38. 55 III. at 536.

39. Chicago Legal News, February 5, 1870, at 147, col. 4.

40. Sachs and Wilson, Sexism, supra note 16 at 97–98 (addresses the ‘totally inapplicable’ foundation of the decision).

41. White, G. Edward, Earl Warren: A Public Life (New York, 1982) 351–57Google Scholar (defines judicial activism as a ‘distinctly twentieth-century term of art’ and explores the development of the phrase).

42. Blackstone, William, Commentaries on the Laws of England, A Facsimile of the First Edition 1765–1769, 4 vols. (Chicago, 1979) i, 442Google Scholar.

43. Chicago Legal News, January 1, 1870, at 109, col. 1.

44. Ibid.

45. Ibid.

46. Illinois State Historical Library, Myra Bradwell Papers, Letter from Myra Bradwell to John M. Palmer, January 22, 1870.

47. Palmer, The Bench and Bar, supra note 7 at 280; Chicago Legal News, February 24, 1894, at 210, col. 1.

48. Chicago Legal News, January 20, 1872, at 108, col. 1. In re Bradwell, 55 III. 535 (1869).

49. Chicago Legal News, February 5, 1870, at 146, col. 3.

50. Schwartz, Bernard, ed., Statutory History of the United States: Civil Rights, 2 vols. (New York, 1970) i, 101Google Scholar.

51. Chicago Legal News, February 5, 1870, at 146, col. 3.

52. Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. at 81; Fairman, Charles, Mr. Justice Miller and the Supreme Court, 1862–1890 (New York, 1966) 186Google Scholar [hereinafter: Fairman, Justice Miller].

53. Chicago Legal News, February 5, 1870, at 146, col.4.

54. Spector ‘Woman Against the Law’, supra note 37 at 234, n. 21.

55. Ward v. Maryland, 79 U.S. (12 Wall.) 418, 430 (1870).

56. In re Bradwell, 55 III. at 541.

57. Chicago Legal News April 19, 1873, at 354, col. 1.

58. Ibid., September 17, 1870, at 408, col. 2 (Bradwell called Carpenter ‘one of the ablest constitutional lawyers in the nation…‘).

59. Flower, Frank A., Life of Matthew Hale Carpenter (Madison, 1883) 163Google Scholar [hereinafter: Flower, Carpenter]; New York Times, April 11, 1881 at 1, col. 4; ibid., March 8, 1881, at 4, col. 7; ibid., February 25, 1881, at 1, col. 7.

60. Clark, Champ, My Quarter Century of American Politics, 2 vols. (New York, 1970) ii, 303Google Scholar.

61. Thompson, E. Bruce, Matthew Hale Carpenter: Webster of the West (Madison, 1954) 88Google Scholar, 292 [hereinafter: Thompson, Carpenter]; Flower, Carpenter, supra note 59 at 502–503; Garland, A. H., Experience in the Supreme Court of the United States with Some Reflections and Suggestions as to that Tribunal (Littleton, Colo., 1983) 19–20Google Scholar [hereinafter: Garland, Supreme Court].

62. Fairman, Justice Miller, supra note 52 at 116–17; Flower, Carpenter, supra note 59 at 168, 171.

63. Chicago Legal News September 17, 1870, at 408, col. 2.

64. Record at 1, Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873); Fairman, Charles, Reconstruction and Reunion, 1864–88 in Freund, Paul A., gen. ed., History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 11 vols. (New York, 1971) vi, 1365Google Scholar; [hereinafter: Fairman, Reconstruction]; Tribe, Laurence H., American Constitutional Law (New York, 1978) 415–21Google Scholar [hereinafter: Tribe, Constitutional Law].

65. Fairman, Justice Miller, supra note 52 at 179; Witt, Elder, ed., The Supreme Court and Its Work (Washington, D.C., 1981) 23Google Scholar [hereinafter: Witt, Supreme Court]; Pfeffer, Leo, This Honorable Court: A History of The United States Supreme Court (Boston, 1965) 198Google Scholar; New York Times, April 16, 1873, at 6, col. 4.

66. Fairman, Justice Miller, supra note 52 at 179.

67. Warren, Charles, The Supreme Court in United States History, 2 vols. (Boston, 1922) ii, 550Google Scholar [hereinafter: Warren Supreme Court].

68. Fairman, Justice Miller, supra note 52 at 179.

69. Report of Argument made by J. A. Campbell in Behalf of the Plaintiffs in Error, February 3 and 4, 1873, pass., Slaughter-House Cases; Fairman, Reconstruction, supra note 64 at 1344; Fairman, Justice Miller, supra note 52 at 181.

70. Fairman, Reconstruction, supra note 64 at 1347.

71. Chicago Legal News, October 15, 1870, at 20, col. 1.

72. Carson, Hampton L., The History of the Supreme Court with Biographies of all the Chief and Associate Justices, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1904) ii, 389–95Google Scholar [hereinafter; Carson, Supreme Court]; Hart, Albert Bushnell, Salmon Portland Chase (Boston, 1899) 420Google Scholar.

73. Kutler, Stanley I., Judicial Power and Reconstruction Politics (Chicago, 1968) 161–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

74. Fairman, Reconstruction, supra note 64 at 1452–453.

75. Bickel, Alexander M., The Caseload of the Supreme Court and What, If Anything, To Do About It (Washington, D.C., 1973) 3Google Scholar; Blaustein, Albert P. and Mersky, Roy M., The First One Hundred Justices (Hamden, Conn., 1978) 138–39Google Scholar.

76. Fairman, Reconstruction, supra note 64 at 69–70; Hughes, Charles Evans, The Supreme Court of the United States: Its Foundations, Methods, and Achievements: An Interpretation (New York, 1966) 70Google Scholar.

77. Chicago Historical Society, Manuscripts Collection, Letter from Matt H. Carpenter to Myra Bradwell, January 11, 1872.

78. Flower, Carpenter, supra note 59 at 175–76; Thompson, Carpenter, supra note 61 at 278–79.

79. Argument for Plaintiff in Error at 12, Bradwell.

80. Stanton, Anthony, and Gage, Woman Suffrage, supra note 33 at 522.

81. Argument for the Plaintiff in Error at 2, Bradwell.

82. Ibid, at 5.

83. Ibid, at 3.

84. Ibid, at 10.

85. Ibid, at 8–9.

86. Ibid, at 9.

87. Ibid.

88. Ibid, at 11–12.

89. Ibid, at 12.

90. Ibid, at 13.

91. Bradwell, 83 U.S. at 137; Fairman, Justice Miller supra note 52 at 421.

92. Argument for Plaintiff in Error at 1, Bradwell.

93. Record at 12, Bradwell.

94. Ibid, at 20, 21.

95. Chicago Legal News, February 5, 1870, at 145, col. 3.

96. Argument for Plaintiff in Error at 1, 11, 12, Bradwell.

97. Ibid, at 5, 10.

98. Supreme Court Rule 17, Minutes of the Supreme Court, Mon., May 1, 1871; author's survey of volumes 80 through 84 of the U.S. Reports yielded 11 unrepresented defendants in error in 331 cases.

99. 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 162 (1875).

100. Thompson, Carpenter, supra note 61 at 86; Rower, Carpenter, supra note 59, at 171–72.

101. Flower Carpenter supra note 59 at 176; Thompson, Carpenter supra note 61 at 60.

102. Author's survey of volumes 80 through 84 of the U.S. Reports.

103. Fairman, Justice Miller, supra note 52 at 117; Thompson, Carpenter, supra note 61 at 104.

104. Garland, Supreme Court, supra note 61 at 61.

105. Swisher, Carl Brent, Stephen J. Field: Craftsman of the Law (Hamden, Conn., 1963) 417Google Scholar [hereinafter: Swisher, Field].

106. Fairman, Reconstruction, supra note 64 at 1343; Carson, Supreme Court, supra note 72 at 468–70.

107. Minutes of the Supreme Court, Mon., February 3, 1873, Tues., February 4, 1873, and Wed., February 5, 1873.

108. Thompson, Carpenter, supra note 61 at 102.

109. Witt, Supreme Court, supra note 65 at 60.

110. Warren, Supreme Court, supra note 67 at 539.

111. Minutes of the Supreme Court, Tues., April 15, 1873.

112. Warren, Supreme Court, supra note 67 at 55; Bates, Ernest Sutherland, The Story of the Supreme Court (Indianapolis, 1936), 192–93Google Scholar.

113. 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873); Fairman, Reconstruction, supra note 64 at 1347, 1461–62; Fairman, Justice Miller, supra note 52, 185–86; Tribe, Constitutional Law, supra note 64 at 419.

114. 83 U.S. at 138.

115. 83 U.S. at 79.

116. 83 U.S. at 139.

117. Ibid.

118. Ibid.

119. Ibid.

120. Ibid, at 141.

121. Ibid.

122. Ibid.

123. Ibid, at 142.

124. Ibid.

125. Swisher, Field, supra note 105 at 421, n.9.

126. Chicago Legal News, April 19, 1873, at 354, col. 2.

127. Ibid., May 10, 1873, at 390, cols. 1 and 3.

128. Ibid, at col. 2.

129. Ibid.

130. Ibid.

131. Sachs and Wilson, Sexism, supra note 16 at 100 (the authors pose the question whether the ‘inconsistencies’ of both Bradley and Carpenter were not addressed because of sexism of the politics of Reconstruction).

132. Act of March 22, 1872, 1871 Ill. Laws 578.

133. Bittenbender, ‘Woman in Law’, supra note 11 at 243.

134. Letter from David L. Keil, Director of Administrative Services, Illinois State Bar Association, to author, August 4, 1983.

135. Chicago Legal News, April 5, 1890, at 265, col. 4.

136. Ibid., February 17, 1894, at 200, col. 4 (James Bradwell's obituary states that she was ‘much surprised to receive a certificate of admission upon the original application…’).

137. Carson, History, supra note 72 at 439, n.6; Bittenbender, ‘Woman in Law’, supra note 11 at 225.

138. National Archives and Records Service, Attorney Rolls of the Supreme Court of the United States, MF 2177, Roll 1, February 5, 1790 to May 31, 1898.

139. Bittenbender, ‘Woman in Law’, supra note 11 at 242–43.

140. Stanton, Anthony, and Gage, Woman Suffrage, supra note 33 at 601, 615.

141. Ibid, at 536.

142. 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 162 (1875).

143. Stanton, Anthony, and Gage, Woman Suffrage, supra note 33 at 626; Sachs and Wilson, Sexism, supra note 16 at 109–10.

144. Warren, Supreme Court, supra note 67 at 551.

145. Ibid.; Thompson, Carpenter, supra note 61 at 84.

146. Carson, History, supra note 72 at 439; Tribe, Constitutional Law, supra note 64 at 423.

147. Hand, Learned, The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses of Learned Hand (New York, 3rd. ed., 1960) 81Google Scholar.

148. Sachs and Wilson, Sexism, supra note 16 at 100; Fairman, Reconstruction, supra note 64 at 1366; Tribe, Constitutional Law, supra note 64 at 441, n.20.

149. Brown, Barbara A., Emerson, Thomas I., Faulk, Gail, and Freedman, Ann E., ‘The Equal Rights Amendment: A Constitutional Basis for Equal Rights for Women’, 80 Yale law Journal 876 (1971)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

150. Dothard V. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 344 n.2 (1977) (Marshall, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

151. Chicago Legal News, August 17, 1872, at 424, col. 2.