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Text Box:        Joseph Story Joseph Story of Salem was appointed by President Madison to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1811. Story, who was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, became the youngest person ever to serve on the Supreme Court. He was graduated from Harvard in 1798 and practiced law in Salem, Massachusetts, before becoming a member of the Massachusetts State House of Representatives from 1805 to 1807. He then served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1808 to 1809.  While serving on the U.S. Supreme Court Story, along with John Marshall, joined in rulings that supported the expansion of federal power. Story was firmly against slavery and expressed his views on this in a number of decisions that ordered repatriation to Africa of blacks brought into American ports by slave traders. One of the more famous cases was that of the slave ship Amistad in which a group of slaves revolted and took control of the ship. On March 9, 1841, Justice Story said that the blacks were kidnapped Africans, who were entitled to their freedom. Steven Spielberg commemorated the Amistad with his 1997 film of the same name.  In 1829 Story began teaching law at Harvard, while at the same time sitting on the Supreme Court. Story worked hard to establish national and uniform legal standards to prevent legal advantage or disadvantage in different regions of the country.  Joseph Story and Thomas Jefferson were ever at odds. Story disliked Jefferson’s economic views and much of his political philosophy. Jefferson accused Story of being a “pseudo republican” and a Tory. In his book The Jeffersonian Crisis: Courts and Politics in the Young Republic, Richard Ellis quotes Story as saying, "Though I was a decided member of what was called the republican party, and of course a supporter of the administration of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison, you are not to imagine that I was a mere slave to the opinions of either, or that I did not exercise an independent judgment on public affairs. The Republican party then and at all other times embraced men of very different view on many subjects." It’s clear from reading some of Story’s letters to his friends that he doesn’t like Jefferson at all. It may also be true  Besides serving on the high court and teaching law at Harvard, Story wrote a number of books on legal subjects, wrote numerous magazine articles and reviews, and spoke at various public events. He died September 10, 1845. His home in Salem still stands on Winter Street. □