Justice, Department of

Attorneys General

Congress routinely asked the first nine attorneys general Edmund Randolph, William Bradford, Charles Lee, Levi Lincoln, John Breckenridge, Caesar A. Rodney, William Pinkney, Richard Rush, and William Wirt to act as its counselor and render opinions of Congressional actions. But by this time, the duties of the attorney general had increased to almost unmanageable size.

The attorney general was expected to give opinions to the president, to the heads to the executive departments, and to Congress. William Wirt, the ninth attorney general, decided to remedy the situation. In 1819, Wirt wrote to President James Monroe, announcing that effective immediately, the office of the attorney general would revert to the original Judiciary Act of 1789 and render opinions only to the president and heads of the executive departments. Wirt's action did not decrease the workload of the attorneys general.

Roger B. Taney, of Dred-Scot case fame, Benjamin F. Butler and Felix Grundy served as attorneys general under Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Henry Dilworth Gilpin, the 14th attorney general from 1840–41 was born in Lancaster, England and came to the United States to earn his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and work for Van Buren and his adopted country. John J. Crittenden served as the 15th attorney general in 1841 and the 22nd attorney general, from 1850 to 1853.

President James Buchanan appointed Edwin McMasters Stanton the 25th attorney general and he served from 1860 to 1861. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him Secretory of War and he continued in that office until President Andrew Johnson suspended him on August 12, 1867. The Senate reinstated him on January 14, 1868, and he continued in office. President Ulysses Grant offered Stanton a justiceship on the Supreme Court, and he was confirmed on December 20, 1869, although he died before he could occupy the post.

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