William Wirt

Born in Maryland in 1772, William Wirt built his career as a lawyer in Virginia and gained a national reputation for his eloquence in court and in print. He is especially remembered for serving as attorney general of the United States from 1817 to 1829, working under Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.

Wirt was not only a major legal figure but also a man of letters. He wrote The Letters of the British Spy, a work that helped establish his literary reputation, and he later published a well-known biography of Patrick Henry. His writing and speaking style made him one of the most recognizable public voices of his era.

In 1832, he became the Anti-Masonic Party’s candidate for president, an unusual chapter in a career better known for law than party politics. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1834, but his long service in national government and his reputation for polished argument kept his name alive in American legal history.