Henry St. George Tucker, Sr.

For other people named Henry Tucker, see Henry Tucker (disambiguation).

Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. (December 29, 1780–August 28, 1848) was a Virginia jurist, law professor, and U.S. Congressman (1815–1819).

Biography

Tucker was born in Chesterfield County, Virginia on December 29, 1780 to St. George Tucker and Frances Bland, the daughter of Theodorick Bland of Cawsons. As a young man, he pursued classical studies at the College of William & Mary; he graduated in 1798. Tucker stayed in Williamsburg, Virginia to study law at William and Mary as well as under his father who was an established Virginia lawyer. He excelled in the study of law, obtaining his law degree in 1801. After being admitted to the Virginia bar, Tucker commenced a legal practice in Winchester, Virginia.

Notably, Tucker was appointed to the law faculty at the College of William & Mary (1801–1804) and later was captain of Cavalry in the War of 1812. He was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives and served for two terms, from 1815 to 1819. In 1823 he had a son, John Randolph Tucker. From 1824 to 1831 he operated the Winchester Law School. He went on to be judge and president of the Court of Appeals of Virginia (1831–1841) and then became a professor of law at the University of Virginia (1841 to 1845).

As a law professor, Tucker authored Tucker's Commentaries as well as several treatises on natural law and on the formation of the Constitution of the United States. He is also widely known for adding a mandatory pledge to the student honor code while a professor at the University of Virginia. On July 4, 1842, St. George Tucker offered the following resolution as a gesture of confidence in students: "...resolved, that in all future examinations ... each candidate shall attach to the written answers ... a certificate of the following words: I, A.B., do hereby certify on my honor that I have derived no assistance during the time of this examination from any source whatsoever." Tucker's pledge was adopted and soon became the following: "I do hereby certify on honor that I have derived no assistance during the time of this examination from any source whatever, whether oral, written or in print." This basic pledge has, in one form or another, been adopted at many American universities.

Tucker resigned in July, 1845 due to ill health. He died in Winchester, Virginia in 1848. The papers of the Tucker-Coleman family, including the papers of Henry St. George Tucker, are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.

His home near Leetown, West Virginia, known as Woodbury, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Works

• Commentaries on the Law of Virginia (2 vols., Winchester, 1836–1837)
• Lectures on Constitutional Law (Richmond, 1843)
• Lectures on Natural Law and Government (Charlottesville, 1844)

See also

• Tucker County, West Virginia, named for Tucker.

References

• Henry St. George Tucker, Sr. at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
•  "Tucker, Thomas Tudor". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1889.

External links

• Find-A-Grave biography
• Finding aid for the Tucker-Coleman Papers