Later Years
Considered a hero upon his return to Washington, DC, Woodward soon focused himself on science (a lifelong interest) and the establishment of the University of Michigan along similar themes to the University of Virginia which was founded by Woodward's friend, Thomas Jefferson.
It has been said that Woodward was among the first to recognize the coming of the scientific age. In 1816, he published his seminal work, A System of Universal Science.
With Reverend John Montieth and Father Gabriel Richard, Woodward drafted a charter for an institution he called the Catholepistemiad or the University of Michigania. On August 26, 1817, the Governor and Judges of the Michigan Territory signed the university act into law. This institution became the University of Michigan. It was ahead of its time. No mere charter, it was a detailed blueprint for the organization of a first class university.
Woodward was also a Freemason.
One of Woodward's legacies is the Woodward Code: a series of statutes serving as the basis of the Territorial Supreme Court legal procedures.
August 26, 1824, saw Woodward's return to the judiciary, as President James Monroe appointed him to a judgeship in the new Territory of Florida. Woodward served in that capacity until his death July 12, 1827, at the age of 52.
He is commemorated in a Michigan Legal Milestone erected by the State Bar of Michigan.
Read more about this topic: Augustus B. Woodward
Famous quotes containing the word years:
“It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your County who twelve years ago knew me a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flat boat—at ten dollars per month to learn that I have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“A person of mature years and ripe development, who is expecting nothing from literature but the corroboration and renewal of past ideas, may find satisfaction in a lucidity so complete as to occasion no imaginative excitement, but young and ambitious students are not content with it. They seek the excitement because they are capable of the growth that it accompanies.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)