Career
Hemphill served as Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court for eighteen years while Texas was an independent republic and in the period of statehood before the Civil War. He was called the 'John Marshall' of Texas for the role he played in the development of Texan law. He became known for an incident in which he fought Indian warriors who had attacked him in a courtroom while his court was in session.
Hemphill was considered an expert on Spanish and Mexican law, and is remembered for expanding women's rights and supporting homestead rights. Hemphill replaced Sam Houston as United States Senator from Texas when Houston would not support the right of states to secede from the United States.
Read more about this topic: John Hemphill (senator)
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“John Brown’s career for the last six weeks of his life was meteor-like, flashing through the darkness in which we live. I know of nothing so miraculous in our history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)