Tapping Reeve
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Tapping Reeve (October 1, 1744 – December 13, 1823) was an American lawyer and law educator. He was born in Brookhaven, New York, and in 1784 opened the Litchfield Law School, the first law school in the United States, in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Tapping Reeve was born in Brookhaven, New York, on Long Island, to Reverend Abner Reeve. He graduated with his Bachelors degree in 1763 from the College of New Jersey in Princeton, NJ. While earning his Masters there (completed 1766) he also served as a headmaster of the grammar school associated with the college in nearby Elizabeth, NJ. It was here that he tutored the two children of the college president, Rev. Aaron Burr— Aaron Burr, Jr., who would later serve as Vice President of the U.S., and Burr's sister Sarah, known as Sally, who became his wife on June 4, 1771 when she was 17 years old.
Reeve also tutored at the college from 1767 to 1770. In 1771 he began to study law with Judge Root, of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1772 he moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, situated on the crossroads of important inland trade routes, to open a new law practice. In 1773, he built a six-room, two story house.
Reeve, while a fervent supporter of the patriot cause, did not enter active service early in the Revolutionary War. His wife's poor health held him at home. However, in December of 1776, the Connecticut Assembly called upon him to travel the state to drum up volunteers for the Continental Army. He then accepted a commission as an officer and accompanied his recruits as far as New York before returning to his ailing wife.
In 1780, Reeve would add a downstairs wing to his house in Litchfield so that Sarah might avoid having to climb the stairs. And on October 3 of that year, she would give him an only child: Aaron Burr Reeve. Aaron Burr Reeve would go on to graduate from Yale, and would become a lawyer in Troy, New York. He died at the age of 29. His own son, Tapping Burr Reeve, would die at age 20.
In 1781 Reeve worked with Thomas Sedgwick to defend Elizabeth Freeman (known as Mum Bett), who had been a slave in Sheffield, MA. Freeman had listened to discussions related to the Massachusetts Constitution and had heard the phrase "all men are created equal." Sedgwick and Reeve would successfully employ this argument in court to secure her freedom. This case, (Brom & Bett v. Ashley) would set a precedent that would later lead to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.
Like his own teacher, Judge Root, Reeve had taken his brother-in-law, Aaron Burr, Jr. as a student. In the beginning, Aaron Burr lived upstairs and took instruction in the downstairs parlor, adjacent to the gathering room where Reeve would hold mock court. Also on the first floor was Reeve's private law office. Due in part to notoriety gained from the Elizabeth Freeman case, Reeve's enrollment began to grow. In 1784, he added a second building (known as the Samuel Seymour House) to house and instruct his students.
Also among his students was John C. Calhoun. Like Aaron Burr, he would also go on to become Vice President of the U.S.
On March 30, 1797 his wife, Sarah, died. She was 43 years old. Reeve married again in 1799, but had no other children.
In 1798, Reeve became a Judge of Connecticut's Superior Court. Reeve then hired James Gould, a former student, to assist in running the school. Together, they built up the most prominent law school of its time.
Reeve is also noted for brining Rev. Lyman Beecher, a noted adversary of Unitarianism, to serve as a minister in Litchfield in 1810.
In 1814, Reeve would be appointed as Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Connecticut. At this time, Gould took over the school. Reeve would continue contact with the school until 1820, three years before his death. The school continued to operate until 1833.
Judge Tapping Reeve died on December 13, 1823 in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was 79 years old.
