Henry Tazewell
Henry Tazewell was an American lawyer, judge and politician who was instrumental in the early government of Virginia, and also served as a US senator. He served as President pro tempore of [the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the United States Senate in 1795]. Tazewell County, among other places, is named in his honor.
Early life
Born in Brunswick County, Virginia, Tazewell was the son of the former Mary Gray, and her first husband Littleton Tazewell, the clerk of Brunswick County from 1751 until his death. His mother was descended from Thomas Gray, an "ancient planter" who had emigrated to the Virginia colony before 1616. His mother remarried to the Rev. William Fanning, who attended to the boy's education. Henry Tazewell graduated from the College of William & Mary at Williamsburg in 1770. He then read law under the guidance of his uncle John Tazewell, who would become clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates in its first two sessions.Personal life
Henry Tazewell married Dorothea Elizabeth Waller, the daughter of prominent Williamsburg lawyer Benjamin Waller, on January 13, 1774. Two of their children survived this man and married within the First Families of Virginia. Their son Littleton Waller Tazewell, who had actually been raised by his grandfather Waller during the Revolutionary War, graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1791 and began his legal practice in Williamsburg. By 1798 Littleton Waller had begun following his father's path of public service in the Virginia House of Delegates, and eventually became a senator and governor of Virginia. Their daughter Sophia Ann received a legacy from their grandfather Waller. In 1795 she married Benjamin Taliaferro, who was named one of the executors of this man's will. However, Taliaferro died in 1801. In 1804, the widowed Sophia Ann married Larkin Smith. Smith served as a captain during the Revolutionary War and became the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegate.Career
Tazewell was admitted to the bar in 1773, and began his practice. During the American Revolutionary War, he raised and was commissioned captain of a troop of cavalry.Brunswick County voters elected Tazewell as one of their representatives to the House of Burgesses in 1775, where he replaced Thomas Stith and served with Frederick Maclin. They elected Maclin and Tazewell to each of the five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions, and then the first two sessions of the Virginia House of Delegates, but in 1778 Joseph Peebles replaced Maclin as Brunswick's other delegate. Tazewell was a member of the legislative committee that prepared the Virginia Declaration of Rights, as well as drafted the new state's first state constitution.
In 1775, Governor Patrick Henry appointed Tazewell and William Langhorne to number in sequence all treasury notes which the colony issued to finance the war, fearing counterfeiters. That fear proved warranted, for in June 1776, Governor Nash of North Carolina helped capture several counterfeiters spreading bogus money in both states, and in late 1778 information from a slave named Kitt led to the discovery of another ring based in Brunswick and Dinwiddie Counties, so that rewards were offered for twelve named men and in 1779 the General Assembly passed special legislation awarding Kitt his freedom.
From 1779 to 1785, Tazewell was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Williamsburg, where he had moved, succeeding fellow lawyer George Nicholas. Former Virginia Attorney General and captain of Williamsburg's volunteers in the Revolutionary War James Innes succeeded Tazewell when legislators elected him a judge of the Virginia General Court in 1785.
Elevated to chief judge of that court by his colleagues, Tazewell served from 1789 to 1793. When Virginia legislators reorganized the court in 1793, Tazewell became a judge on what was named the "Supreme Court of Appeals," which after further reorganization later became the Virginia Supreme Court.
In 1794, legislators elected Tazewell to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy that had been caused by the resignation of John Taylor. Tazewell may be best known for leading the opposition to John Jay's treaty with England. Re-elected in 1798, Tazewell served from December 29, 1794, until his death in Philadelphia in 1799. Fellow Senators selected him as the president pro tempore of the Senate in 1795.
When Tennessee Senator William Blount was impeached on account of treason in 1797, Tazewell cast the lone dissenting vote against Blount's expulsion from the Senate. Tazewell was one of four senators to vote against authorizing military force for the Quasi-War.
Tazewell owned slaves, and may have leased them out, according to Virginia tax records. In 1786, he lived in Williamsburg and paid taxes for owning nine named Negroes, as well as four horses and a cow. The following year he owned 15 adult and 13 teenaged slaves in Greensville County, and in 1788 he was likely the nonresident owner of ten adult and one teenaged slave in York County outside Williamsburg.
Death
Tazewell died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 24, 1799, and was interred at Christ Church Burial Ground. He had written his last will and testament in 1797, which was admitted to probate in James City County. Although James City County records were later destroyed, the Library of Virginia has a copy.Tazewell County, Virginia; Tazewell, Virginia; Tazewell, Tennessee; New Tazewell, Tennessee; and possibly Tazewell County, Illinois are named after him.