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Supreme Court

Hudson River Towing: Austin’s Albany & Canal Line

March 16, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Canal Boats on the North River, New York in Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, December 25, 1852Jeremiah J. Austin, Jr. was born in 1819, just 12 years after the first commercial steamboat trip on the Hudson River and two years after construction of the Erie Canal began at Rome, New York. His father Jeremiah J. Austin Sr. was a prominent Albany businessman involved in Hudson River commerce.

After the Erie Canal opened, freight could be transported all the way across the Great Lakes to the entrance to the canal at Buffalo and then along the canal to Albany where it was shipped down the Hudson River to New York Harbor. From there freight could be fairly easily transported to any port on the East Coast, Europe or the Caribbean. [Read more…] about Hudson River Towing: Austin’s Albany & Canal Line

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, East River, Erie Canal, Hudson River, Legal History, Maritime History, New York City, New York Harbor, Steamboating, Supreme Court, Transportation History

Franklin Williams: An Unsung Civil Rights Hero

January 2, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Franklin WilliamsLarger-than-life figures such as Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King and, going back further, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington, functioned as the “celebrities” of the equal rights movement, the public face of the crusade for racial justice.

But outside the spotlight, “bridge figures” such as New Yorker Franklin H. Williams — men and woman unencumbered by the sometimes blinding “star quality” of the Kings and Marshalls while also shunning the divisive tactics of militants such as Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, and Malcolm X — made enormous but often underappreciated contributions. [Read more…] about Franklin Williams: An Unsung Civil Rights Hero

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Black History, Civil Rights, Jim Crow Laws, John F. Kennedy, Legal History, Lyndon Johnson, NAACP, New York City, New York State Archives, Peace Corps, Political History, Queens, Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall

Sandra Adickes: New York City Teacher and Civil Rights Activist

December 19, 2022 by Alan J. Singer 2 Comments

Sandra Adickes teaching at Benjamin Franklin High SchoolOn June 25, 1964, The New York Times reported that thirty New York City public school teachers, most of them women, young, and white, would travel to rural Mississippi to teach African American children in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades for six weeks. While in Mississippi the teachers would live in the homes of Black families and join the families on Sundays in “Negro churches.”

On June 30, 1964, at the end of the school year, eight New York City teachers boarded a bus bound for Memphis, Tennessee where they would receive training before continuing on to Mississippi. Another 23 New York City teachers were expected to join them. [Read more…] about Sandra Adickes: New York City Teacher and Civil Rights Activist

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Black History, Civil Rights, Education, Harlem, Legal History, New York City, Political History, Supreme Court

William Paterson & The Constitution of the United States

April 14, 2022 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Washington_Constitutional_Convention_1787William Paterson was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1745. His family immigrated to America when William was two years old. Arriving first at New Castle, Delaware, the family settled for a short time in New London, Connecticut. At first, his father traveled around the country selling tin ware, moving the family several times. He eventually settled in Princeton, New Jersey where he became a merchant and manufacturer of tin goods.

Paterson attended local private schools and eventually the College of New Jersey (Princeton) where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1763 and a master’s degree in 1766. Showing an interest in law, Paterson apprenticed with Richard Stockton, who later signed the Declaration of Independence. Paterson practiced law in New Bromley, South Branch. In 1779, he settled near New Brunswick at Raritan Estate, all in New Jersey. [Read more…] about William Paterson & The Constitution of the United States

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, American Revolution, Irish Immigrants, James Madison, Legal History, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Political History, Supreme Court

Wall Street History: The Great Depression & A New Deal For Working People

March 14, 2022 by James S. Kaplan 1 Comment

out of work men during the Great Depression (retouched)In 1933, during Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s first year as President, the Democrats launched a number of New Deal social welfare and economic recovery efforts to combat the Great Depression.

Among the more popular and successful of these was the creation of the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), jobs programs which were modeled on similar programs in New York State. [Read more…] about Wall Street History: The Great Depression & A New Deal For Working People

Filed Under: Food, History, New York City Tagged With: Agricultural History, Charles Evans Hughes, Culinary History, Dairy, Economic History, FDR, Financial History, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Great Depression, Industrial History, Labor History, Legal History, New Deal, New York City, Political History, Supreme Court, Wall Street, Wall Street History Series, World War Two

Finding Missing Judge Joseph Crater (Historians Podcast)

December 17, 2021 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, Stephen Riegel discusses his book Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age NY (USRYC, 2021).

Judge Joseph Crater was a New York State Supreme Court Justice who disappeared in New York City in 1930. [Read more…] about Finding Missing Judge Joseph Crater (Historians Podcast)

Filed Under: Books, History, New York City Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Legal History, New York City, Podcasts, Political History, Supreme Court

Albany’s Ira Harris: From Rights Advocate to Lincoln’s Assassination

September 27, 2021 by Peter Hess 3 Comments

Ira HarrisIra Harris was born at Charleston, Montgomery County, NY on May 31st, 1802 to Fredrick Waterman Harris and Lucy Hamilton. When he was six years old, his family moved to Preble, NY where his father became one of the largest landowners in Cortland County.

Harris attended Homer Academy and graduated from Union College in 1824. He studied law for one year in Homer, New York and then moved to Albany where he assisted one of that city’s most highly regarded jurists, Ambrose Spencer. [Read more…] about Albany’s Ira Harris: From Rights Advocate to Lincoln’s Assassination

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: 1846 NYS Constitution, Abe Lincoln, Albany, Albany County, Albany Law School, Albany Med, Albany Rural Cemetery, Anti-Rent War, Cortland County, Crime and Justice, Horace Greeley, Legal History, Medical History, Montgomery County, Political History, politics, Supreme Court, Temperance, Union College, Vassar College, William Seward, womens history

‘The Caddy Court’ Coming To The Armory Show

February 25, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Caddy CourtIn the early 1970s, American artists Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz began work on The Caddy Court, a 1966 Dodge van between the front and back ends of a 1978 Cadillac, which reimagines the Supreme Court of the United States in one of its original functions as a “riding circuit” court. [Read more…] about ‘The Caddy Court’ Coming To The Armory Show

Filed Under: Events, History, New Exhibits, New York City Tagged With: Art Exhibit, Art History, Judical History, New York City, Supreme Court

A 1920 Election Presidential Front-runner Bows Out

January 16, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

Charles Evans HughesA year ahead of the 1920 presidential election former New York Gov. Charles Evans Hughes was considered a likely shoo-in for the Republican nomination, after narrowly losing the last election.

Hughes was New York governor from 1907 to fall 1910, when he resigned to accept nomination as a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice. [Read more…] about A 1920 Election Presidential Front-runner Bows Out

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Charles Evans Hughes, New York City, Political History, Supreme Court

Featured Records: A Surrogate Records Back Door (1648-1848)

January 5, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Supreme Court of the United StatesTwo record collections available online offer a different approach to surrogate court records in New York State.

Between 1786 and 1829 the Supreme Court and the county courts of common pleas shared with the Surrogate’s Courts the power to prove and record wills devising real property, and also wills whose witnesses were unable to appear in court. In addition, between 1801 and 1829 the Supreme Court had the exclusive power to prove and record wills devising real property located in several counties. [Read more…] about Featured Records: A Surrogate Records Back Door (1648-1848)

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Genealogy, Historic Preservation, New York State Archives, Supreme Court

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