James Moore Wayne - Biography

Biography

Born in Savannah, Georgia, Wayne was the son of Richard Wayne, who came to the US in 1760 and married, on Sept. 14th, 1769, Elizabeth Clifford (? - 1804), born in Charleston, SC. Wayne graduated from Princeton University in 1808, read law to be admitted to the bar in 1810, and began his practice in Savannah. He served in the United States Army during the War of 1812, from 1812 to 1815, as an officer in the Georgia Hussars. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1815 to 181. He then served as the mayor of Savannah from September 8, 1817 to July 12, 1819, thereafter returning to private practice in Savannah until 1824.

He then served as a Judge, first of the Court of Common Pleas in Savannah, Georgia from 1819 to 1824, and then of the Superior Court of Georgia from 1824 to 1829, until he was elected as a Jacksonian to the United States Congress from March 4, 1829, to January 13, 1835. He resigned to accept the appointment as an Associate Justice to the Supreme Court. He was nominated by President Andrew Jackson on January 6, 1835, to a seat vacated by William Johnson, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 9, 1835, receiving his commission the same day. He served on the court from January 14, 1835 to his death on July 5, 1867. He favored free trade, opposed internal improvements by Congress, except of rivers and harbors, and opposed the rechartering of the United States Bank.

Wayne died in Washington, D.C., and was interred in Laurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia. His sister Mary was the great-grandmother of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA. In 1831, he sold his home to William Washington Gordon, Juliette's grandfather. This home is now called the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace.

In order to prevent President Andrew Johnson from appointing any justices, Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act in 1866, eliminating three seats from the Supreme Court as they became vacant. Justice John Catron had already died in 1865, and upon Wayne's death, it reduced the number of justices from ten to eight. In 1869, Congress passed the Circuit Judges Act, setting the court at nine members. As only two seats were vacated between 1866 and 1869, the Court had eight justices at the time of this Act, so one new seat was created.