St. George Tucker

author

St. George Tucker

1752–1827

A Bermuda-born lawyer, judge, and writer, he helped shape early American legal thought after the Revolution. He is especially remembered for teaching law at William & Mary and for an influential American edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries.

1 Audiobook

Dissertation on Slavery With a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it, in the State of Virginia

Dissertation on Slavery With a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it, in the State of Virginia

by St. George Tucker

About the author

Born in Bermuda in 1752, St. George Tucker came to Virginia as a young man, studied at the College of William & Mary, and read law with George Wythe. During the American Revolution he served in the military, then built a career in Virginia as a lawyer and public figure.

Tucker went on to become a respected judge and legal educator. At William & Mary, he succeeded Wythe as professor of law and helped raise expectations for formal legal study, and he later served on Virginia’s high court as well as on the federal bench.

He is often remembered today for his 1803 American edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries, which adapted English legal ideas to the constitutional world of the new United States. Alongside his legal work, he also wrote on public issues, making him a revealing figure in the intellectual and political life of the early republic.