Smith Thompson

Smith Thompson was born in 1768 in Amenia, New York, and graduated from Princeton University in 1788. He practiced law in Troy and Poughkeepsie, New York, before being elected to the New York State Assembly in 1800. Thompson served as an associate justice and later chief justice of the New York State Supreme Court from 1802 to 1818. He was appointed the 6th Secretary of the Navy in 1819 and later served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1823 until his death in 1843.

Smith Thompson's judicial career reveals a consistent commitment to Native American rights, as evidenced by his dissent in *Cherokee Nation v. Georgia*. This stance contrasts with his otherwise traditionalist approach to federal authority, suggesting a nuanced ideological positioning. His rhetorical style, often rooted in legal precedent and moral argumentation, underscores a deeply principled, if occasionally idiosyncratic, commitment to justice.