Gale Encyclopedia Of American Law 3Rd Edition Volume 5 P11 docx

(Joint Tribal Council v. Morton, 528 F.2d 370
[1st Cir. 1975]). Prior to the Gignoux decision,
Maine Indians were considered “colonial”
Indians and not the Indians of the frontier that
Congress meant to protect in the Noninter-
course Act. Gignoux ruled in 1975 that the
statute did apply, thus making some previous
land transactions illegal and making the Maine
tribes “federal” Indians.
Gignoux’s reputation as a trial judge spread
quickly. According to one of his former law
clerks, lawyers and other judges packed his
courtroom during their spare time to watch
Gignoux’s performance.
Gignoux was serious about the fair and
equitable administration of justice. Throughout
the 1960s and 1970s, he served the U.S. Judicial
Conference. The Judicial Conference is the
principal machinery through which the federal
court system operates, establishing the stan-
dards policies governing the federal
JUDICIARY.In
recognition of his efforts with the Conference,
Gignoux recieved the Devitt Award in 1987.
Gignoux’s work with the Judicial Confer-
ence brought him national recognition, and in
1970 he was considered for a nomination to the
U.S. Supreme Court. Although he w as not
appointed, he did make an impression on future
Court justice
DAVID H. SOUTER. When Souter

filled out a questionnaire in pre paration for his
confirmation
HEARING 20 years later, he noted a
voting-rights case that he had arg ued in 1970
before Gignoux. He said, “It was one of the
most gratifying events of my life, for the
argument included a genuinely dialectical
exchange between the great
JURIST and me.”
As Gignoux’s reputation grew, Chief Justice
WARREN E. BURGER called on him to preside over
some very political, and potentially explosive,
cases. In 1973 Warren appo inted him to preside
over the contempt trial of Abbie Hoffman,
Bobby Seale, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, David
Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Lee Weiner, and John
Froines. These 1960s radicals known as the
Chicago Seven (even though there were eight of
them) had already been tried and convicted for
their participation in violent demonstrations at
the 1968 Democratic National Convention, in
Chicago. Following their trial, contempt charges
were filed against the individuals and the ir
lawyer,
WILLIAM M. KUNSTLER, for their behavior in
court. Gignoux found only Hoffman, Rubin,
Dellinger, and their lawyer to be in contempt,
but he did not impose additional sentences on
the parties involved , saying that their
CONVICTION

and their previous time served were punish-
ment enough.
On June 1, 1983, after 25 years on the federal
bench, Gignoux took senior (or semiretired)
status, but he continued to hear cases around the
country and to serve on the
TEMPORARY EMERGENCY
COURT OF APPEALS
,whichheardcasesfromdistrict
courts on the Emergency Natural Gas Act of
1977. Gignoux’s ability to uphold both the letter
and the spirit of the law, against overwhelming
political and social pressures, was still very much
IN EVIDENCE when, during his first year of
“retirement,” he was asked to preside over the
trial of U.S. district judge Alcee L. Hastings (see
IMPEACHMENT [sidebar]). Hastings, who was later
acquitted of
CONSPIRACY to solicit a bribe and of
obstruction of justice, was the first sitting U.S.
judge to face criminal charges. Although pres-
sured to drop the charges throughout the trial,
Gignoux said that “the court is entirely persuaded
that the government has submitted evidence
that is sufficient to sustain a finding by the jury
of guilty.” Also during the Hastings trial, Gignoux
rejected one of the first serious efforts to open
a federal court trial to
TELEVISION coverage;
Gignoux believed that he was prohibited by

federal law from permitting cameras in the
courtroom.
Gignoux died on November 4, 1988, in
Portland, Maine. Shortly before his death, the
city renamed the federal courthouse there in his
honor. Gignoux was acknowledged by friend
and circuit judge Frank M. Coffin as an
“inspiration” and as a jurist who served
honorably and well “in the most demanding
and delicate of trial situations.”
v
GILBERT, CASS
Cass Gilbert was the U.S. architect responsible
for the traditional style and regal proportions
seen in many of the nation’s finest public
buildings—including the Supreme Court Build-
ing, in Washington, D.C. His remarkable body
of work included
FEDERAL, state, municipal,
educational, and religious structures as well as
facilities designed for commercial, in dustrial,
and private
USE. Gilbert believed strongly that
architecture should serve the established poli ti-
cal and social order; much of his work
continues to serve its public purpose decades
after its conception and completion.
TRIALS WHICH
PROCEED IN
ACCORDANCE WITH

THE LAW
, THE RULES
OF EVIDENCE AND THE
STANDARDS OF
DEMEANOR NOT ONLY
REAFFIRM THE
INTEGRITY AND
VIABILITY OF THE
JUDICIAL PROCESS
,
BUT ALSO SERVE TO
INSURE THE ABILITY
OF EACH ONE OF US
TO PROTECT THE
RIGHTS AND
LIBERTIES WE ENJOY
AS CITIZENS
.
—EDWARD GIGNOUX
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
88 GILBERT, CASS
Gilbert was born November 24, 1859, in
Zanesville, Ohio, where his grandfather, Charles
Champion Gilbert, was the first mayor. He
attended school in Zanesville until the death of
his father, Samuel Augustus Gilbert, in 1868. At
that time, his mother, Elizabeth Fulton Wheeler,
apprenticed him to an architectural firm in
St. Paul, Minnesota. There he completed his
education and trained as a surveyor. In 1878

Gilbert enrolled at the Massachusetts
INSTITUTE of
Technology, where he studied architecture for
one year.
Income from occasional surveying work
allowed Gilbert to embark, in 1879, on the
customary grand tour of Europe, undertaken by
many young men of his social standing and
economic means. He traveled in Eng land,
France, and Italy and was exposed to many of
the classic architectural styles that would later
dominate his work.
Upon his return to the United States,
Gilbert was employed as a draftsman by the
New York architectural firm of McKim, Mead,
and White, where he was influenced by name
partner and noted architect Stanford White. His
association with this firm gave him an opportu-
nity to hone his skills and to learn the business
side of running an architectural enterprise.
Seeing his promise, the firm sent him to
St. Paul in 1881 to oversee a building project.
By December 1882 Gilbert had severed ties
with McKim, Mead and formed a partnership
with St. Paul architect James Knox Taylor.
Together, Gilbert and Taylor pursued both
institutional and residential work, but they were
unable to succeed financially. The business
partnership dissolved. Well organized and
efficient, Gilbert found that he preferred to

work alone; he did not form another profes-
sional partnership during his career. His
architectural work from this period included
the Dayton Avenue Church, St. Paul (1888);
St. Martin’s by the Lake, Minneapolis (1888);
and the Lightner House, St. Paul (1893).
Gilbert did establish a personal partnership,
on November 29, 1887, when he married Julia
T. Finch. Their growing family—which ulti-
mately included Emily, Elizab eth Wheeler, Julia
Swift, and Cass, Jr.—added to the financial
burdens of the struggling architect. To supple-
ment his income from design work, Gilbert sold
watercolors. He had begun painting during his
European travels, and he was known locally as a
talented artist.
Cass Gilbert.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
▼▼
▼▼
Cass Gilbert 1859–1934
18501850
19001900
19251925
19501950
18751875
❖
1859 Born,
Zanesville,
Ohio

1861–65
U.S. Civil War
◆
1868 Began
apprenticeship
at architectural
firm in St. Paul
1879–80 Went on
grand tour of
Europe; studied
architecture in
England, France,
and Italy
◆
1896
Appointed
architect for
the Minnesota
State Capitol
1902–07 Design
and construction
of U.S. Custom
House in New
York City
◆
1908 Elected president of the
American Institute of Architects
◆
1910 Appointed to National
Commission of Fine Arts

◆
1914–18
World War II
◆
1918 U.S.
Treasury
Annex
completed
1913 Woolworth
building completed
1939–45
World War II
❖
1934 Died,
Brockenhurst,
England
1928–35 Design and
construction of U.S.
Supreme Court building
◆
1924 U.S.
Chamber of
Commerce
building
completed
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
GILBERT, CASS 89
In 1896 Gilbert landed the job that would
launch him to national prominence: He was
appointed architect for the Minnesota State

Capitol Building, in St. Paul. The majestic
domed structure that he created was immensely
popular. Both its scale and detail were consid-
ered appropriate for its public purpose. His
success convinced Gilbert that he was ready to
compete in New York.
Shortly after moving to New York, Gilbert
was among those invited to submit plans for the
U.S. Custom House. He won the competition,
but not without controversy. Other firms
involved in the competition thought Taylor,
then architect of the Treasury Building, in
Washington, D.C., had unfairly influenced the
choice of his former partner. Despite the
controversy, Gilbert was eventually awarded
other commissions, including the Union Club
and the West Street Building, in New York,
and the Essex County Courthouse, in Newark,
New Jersey.
He also began to play a role in organiza-
tions associated with his profession, being
elected president of the American Institute of
Architects in 1908. At various points in his
career, he was an active member of the
Architectural League of New York, Academy
of Design, National Institute of Arts and
Letters, Academy of Arts and Letters, Royal
Institute of British Architects, Royal Institute
of Canada, Architectural Society o f Liverpool,
Royal Academy of Arts, and French Legion

of Honor.
Although Gilbert entered, and won, a
number of competitions during his career, most
of his work came from his professional associa-
tions and his power of persuasion. His pursuit
of the contract for the Woolworth Building, in
New York, is just one example of his tenacious
nature.
HEARING that Frank W. Woolwo rth was
going abroad before naming an architect for his
new building, Gilbert booked passage on the
same boat; he had a signed contract in hand
before the boat docked.
The Woolworth Building, with its tremen-
dous height and inventive use of terra-cotta, was
a huge success. It was the tallest building in the
world and it towered over the New York skyline
for almost 20 years. The building made Gilbert
a celebrity and substantially increased the
demand for his professional services. The Scott
Memorial Fountain, Detroit (1914); Detroit
Public Library (1917); Brooklyn Army Terminal
(1918); St. Louis Public Library (1921); and a
host of other schools, banks, libraries,
museums, and municipal structures were
commissioned in the years following his
completion of the Woolworth Building in 1913.
In 1910 Gilbert was appointed to the
National Commission of Fine Arts by President
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT. He was reappointed for

another term by President Woodrow Wilson in
1914. Through this association, Gilbert secured
some of his most prestigious work, including
the U.S. Treasury Annex (1918), Chamber of
COMMERCE (1924), and, finally, the Supre me
Court Building.
In 1928 Chief Justice and former president
William Howard Taft became chairman of the
Supreme Court Building Commission, created
by Cong ress to build a permanent home for the
nation’s High Court. Taft remembered Gilbert’s
work on the National Commission of Fine Arts
and selected him to design the new Court
building.
The structure envisioned by Gilbert was
a monumental temple of justice—one that
evoked the power, authority, and solemnity of
the Court. His design, which filled the square-
block site, featured a neo-classical white mar ble
structure with an enormous central hall housing
the courtroom. Two symmetrical wings on
either side of the central hall contained offices,
libraries, and other Court functions. The focus
of the Court chamber was an elevated bench,
which looked out on seating for more than
three hundred spectators.
The interior layout of the building separ-
ated the justices’ private areas from the public
areas, and was designed to facilitate grand
entrances into the courtroom. The building’s

private areas contained three-room office
suites, a robing room, underground parking
and entrances, temperature- and humidity-
controlled library and
DOCUMENT storage facili-
ties, and pressrooms.
Gilbert’s architectural sketches were ap-
proved by the commission in 1929, and
construction began in 1931. The building was
not completed until after Gilbert’s death in
1934; Gilbert’s son, Cass, Jr., supervised the
final stages of the project.
The Supreme Court Building opened its
doors to the public on Monday, October 7,
LET US PAY OUR
ARCHITECTURAL
DEBTS TO THE
CREATORS OF THE
PLAN OF
WASHINGTON.
—CASS GILBERT
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
90 GILBERT, CASS
1935. Initially, the building was criticized for
both its size and its exterior embellishment.
To a large extent, the size was dictated by the
site: Gilbert strove to complement the scale
of the
ADJACENT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS and of
other buildings in the Capitol complex. Charges

of wasted space in the halls and corridors,
and excessive seating in the courtroom, have
diminished with time. The building’s exterior
embellishment featured prominent legal figures
and themes and was executed by some of the
finest artists and sculptors of the day. It is said
that one of the toga-clad figures depicted on the
building bears the likeness of the architect
himself.
As a space designed for hearing arguments
and holding public discussion, the large court-
room was also criticized for its poor acoustics.
Time and improved sound technology have
diminished this criticism. In the early 2000s, the
Supreme Court Building is considered the
pinnacle of Gilbert’s work and is one of the
nation’s finest public buildings.
While developing the Supreme Court Build-
ing, Gilbert also continued to work in New York
and across the country. Durin g this period he
designed the New York Life
INSURANCE Building,
the U.S. Courthouse in New York City, the
GEORGE WASHINGTON Memorial Bridge , and the
state capitol buildings in Arkansas and West
Virginia.
Biographer Egerton Swartwout described
Gilbert as “purposely impressive in manner
and rather pompous at times.” This description
could as easily be applied to the public buildings

Gilbert designed. Gilbert’s work stayed true to
the traditional themes that inspired him as a
young man traveling in Europe. Though his
Woolworth Building and other commercial
structures contributed to the evolution of the
modern skyscraper, Gilbert w as not a fan of the
modern functional architecture that emerged in
the 1920s. The turmo il of
WORLD WAR I and the
economic difficulties of the 1920s were said to
have solidified Gilbert’s commitment to classic
traditional style.
Still much in demand by those who shared
his architectural vision, Gilbert died suddenly
May 17, 1934, on a golf holiday at Brockenhurst,
England, at age seventy-five. He is buried in New
York City. His personal and professional papers
are housed at the Library of Congress—across
the street from his Supreme Court Building.
FURTHER READINGS
Blodgett, Geoffrey. 2005. Cass Gilbert, Architect, Conservative
at Bay. Journal of American History 72 (December)
———. 2001. Cass Gilbert: The Early Years. St. Paul, MN:
Minnesota Historical Society.
Bluestone, Daniel M. 1988. “Detroit’s City Beautiful and the
Problem of Commerce.” Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians 47, no. 3 (September).
Gaskie, Margaret F. 1981. “The Woolworth Tower.”
Architectural Record (November).
Irish, Sharon Lu. “Cass Gilbert’s Career in New York, 1899–

1905.” Ann Arbor, MI: Univ. Microfilms.
———. 1989. “A Machine That Makes the Land Pay: The
West Street Building in New York.” Technology and
Culture 30.
———. 1973. “Mr. Woolworth’s Tower: The Skyscraper as
Popular Icon.” Journal of Popular Culture.
Jones, Robert Allan. 1976. Cass Gilbert, Midwestern Architect
in New York. Ph.D. dissertation, Case Western Reserve
Univ.
McGurn, Barrett. 1982. “Slogans to Fit the Occasion.”
Washington, D.C.: Supreme Court Historical Society.
Murphy, P. 1981. “Minnesota’s Architectural Favorite Son.”
Architecture: the AIA Journal 3.
Myers, Rex C. 1976. “The Montana Club: Symbol of
Elegance.” The Magazine of Western History 26, no. 4
(autumn).
Thompson, Neil B. 2005. Minnesota’s State Capitol: The Art
and Politics of a Public Building. Minneapolis: Minne-
sota Historical Society.
Tunick, Susan, and Jonathan Walters. 1982. The Wonderful
World of Terra Cotta. Historic Preservation.
v
GILLETT, EMMA MELINDA
Emma Melinda Gillett was a remarkable ATTOR-
NEY
who helped establish one of the first co-
educational law schools in the United States. In
1896, Gillett and a colleague,
ELLEN SPENCER
MUSSEY

, sponsored a series of lectures in
Washington, D.C., for local women interested
in law. Despite social pressures against women
in the legal profession, Gillett and Mussey held
the lectures for two years. They expan ded their
curriculum and created Washington College of
Law, a co-educational
INSTITUTION that later
became part of American University.
Gillett was born July 30, 1852, in Princeton,
Wisconsin. After her father, Richard J. Gillett,
died in 1854, Gillett moved to Girard, Pennsyl-
vania, with her mother, Sarah Ann Gillett, and
family. Like Mussey, Gillett attended Lake Erie
Seminary in Painesville, Ohio. Upon graduation
in 1870, Gillett becam e a public school teacher.
After ten years of teaching, she decided to
move to Washington, D.C., to pursue a
LEGAL
EDUCATION
and career. Her plans were thwarted
by the refusal of most district law schools to
admit women. Gillett overcame the obstacle by
THE MAJORITY OF
THE
[WOMEN]
PRACTITIONERS WHO
ARE STICKING TO
THEIR WORK AND
PLODDING ON

[THEIR]
WAY TO SUCCESS
ARE UNMARRIED
.
—EMMA GILLETT
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
GILLETT, EMMA MELINDA 91
enrolling at Howard University Law College, a
well-known, predominantly African American
institution that did accept female students.
Gillett earned a law degree from Howard in
1882 and a master of law degree in 1883. She
began a successful law practice in Washington,
D.C., and became
VICE PRESIDENT of the D.C.
region of the previously all-male
AMERICAN BAR
ASSOCIATION
. She also was elected president of
the Women’s
BAR ASSOCIATION of the DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
.
Both Gillett and Mussey had been denied
admission to the all-male, all-white law schools
in Washington, D.C., which likely motivated the
women to form the Washington College of Law.
Three additional motivating factors have also
been identified. First, women’s voluntary asso-
ciations had experienced significant growth

during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Second, opportunities for women in higher
education had expanded. Third, the women’s
SUFFRAGE movement had grown considerably.
Gillett and Mussey established a co-
educational institution, rather than a women-
only law school. They believed that admitting
both men and women as students, as well ashiring
male faculty and administrators, were necessary to
promote gender equality. Perhaps as important,
Gillett and Mussey knew that admitting men as
students and employing men in faculty and
administrative positions were necessary to pro-
mote the long-term success of the school. Fifteen
years after its establishment, in fact, the number of
men enrolled in the school outnumbered the
number of women, due largely to the fact that two
other law schools in Washington, D.C., began to
admit women as students. Nevertheless, only
women served as deans of the Washington
College of Law until 1947. Washington College
of Law earned accreditation from the American
Bar Association in 1940 and became a part of
American University in 1949.
Gillett succeeded Mussey as dean of the law
school in 1913, heading the institution for ten
years. Gillett died on January 23, 1927, in
Washington, D.C., at the age of 74.
FURTHER READINGS
Clark, Mary L. 1998. “The Founding of the Washington

College of Law: The First Law School Established by
Women for Women.” American Univ. Law Review 47,
no. 3.
“Emma Melinda Gillett.” 1927. Women Lawyers’ Journal.
Available online at />WLHP/articles/gillettobit.htm; website home page:
(accessed July 26, 2009).
“Emma M. Gillett.” History of WCL. Washington College of
Law. Available online at />history/gillett.cfm; website home page: .
american.edu (accessed September 4, 2009).
v
GILPIN, HENRY DILWORTH
Henry Dilworth Gilpin served as attorney
general of the United States from 1840 to
1841 under Pres ident
MARTIN VAN BUREN. He was
born April 14, 1801, in Lancaster, England. He
and his parents, Joshua Gilpin and Mary
Dilworth Gilpin, boarded a ship for the United
States in 1802. The Gilpins were aristocratic and
socially prominent, not a struggling immigrant
family. Gilpin’s grandfather Thomas Gilpin was
a manufacturer and businessman w ho had been
shipping goods to U.S. harbors since colonial
days. He was among those who helped to plan
and execute the construction of the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal (which connects the head
of Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware River
estuary and thereby shortens sea routes to
Baltimore from the north and from Europe).
Gilpin’s father, an author and poet with

▼▼
▼▼
Emma Melinda Gillett 1852–1927
18501850
19001900
19251925
19501950
18751875
❖
❖
1852 Born,
Princeton,
Wis.
1861–65
U.S. Civil War
◆
1870
Graduated
from Lake Erie
Seminary
◆
1883 Earned
LL.B. and LL.M.
from Howard
University Law
College
◆
1890
Admitted
to U.S.

Supreme
Court bar
1898 Founded
Washington
College of Law
with Ellen
Spencer Mussey
1896–98 Sponsored series of
lectures for women interested in law
1914–18
World War I
1913–23 Served
as president of
Washington
College of Law
◆
◆
1927 Died,
Washington,
D.C.
1921 Founder and first president of
Women's Bar Association of D.C.
1920–21 Served as vice president of D.C.
chapter of American Bar Association
1939–45
World War II
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
92 GILPIN, HENRY DILWORTH
published works in both England and the
United States, dabbled in a number of artistic

and business ventures in the United States. He
eventually settled in Pennsylvania, where he ran
a successful papermaking business.
Gilpin was brought up near Philadelphia and
was educated at the University of Pennsylvania.
He graduated as valedictorian of his class in 1819
and began to study law with a local
ATTORNEY.In
1822 he was admitted to the bar but he did not
establish a practice. Instead, he went to work as
an agent for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
Company. The position allowed him to travel
and to pursue the literary interests encouraged by
his father. From 1826 to 1832 he wrote detailed
accounts of his visits to Harper’s Ferry, the
Shenandoah Valley, Weyer’sCave,Natural
Bridge, Lexington, Charlottesville, Fredericks-
burg, Washington, D.C., and other locations in
the Atlantic and southern states. His writings
were collected by his father and later published
in a seven-volume work called Atlantic Souvenirs
(1826–1832).
Gilpin’s pedigree and business interests
permitted him to mix with prominent citizens
wherever he trav eled. During this early period
of travel, he met and married Eliza Johnson, of
New Orleans. In 1826 he attended—and wrote a
famous account of—President John Quincy
Adams’s inaugural ball and public reception.
On subsequent trips to the nation’s capital, he

developed an interest in politics by writing
profiles of men like
HENRY CLAY, DANIEL WEBSTER,
and
ANDREW JACKSON.
Gilpin was a great admirer of Jackson and
was active in Jackson’s successful bid for the
presidency in 1828. In appreciation for Gilpin’s
support, Jackson named him to the board of
directors of the Second National
BANK OF THE
UNITED STATES
. The First National Ban k, located
in Gilpin’s hometown of Philadelphia, was
established as the nation’s centra l bank in
1816 during the financial crisis after the
WAR
OF
1812. It had opened in 1791 and closed in
1811 after its renewal
CHARTER was successfully
challenged by agricultural interests who were
not served by the bank’s commercial focus.
Like its predecessor, the Second National
Bank had strong opposition. Jackson believed
that it had become too powerful, and he wanted
to diminish its influence by withdrawing
FEDERAL
funds and depositing the money in selected state
Henry Dilworth Gilpin 1801–1860

▼▼
▼▼
18001800
18751875
18501850
18251825
❖❖
1801 Born,
Lancaster,
England
1812–14
War of 1812
◆
◆
1819
Graduated
from
University of
Pa.
1822
Admitted to
Pa. bar;
joined
Chesapeake
and
Delaware
Canal
Company
1826–32
Traveled

throughout
mid-Atlantic
states;
Atlantic
Souvenirs
published
1832–35
Served as
U.S.
attorney
for the
Eastern
District of
Pa.
1837–40 Served as solicitor
of the U.S. Treasury
◆
1841 Left public service for
successful private practice
1840–41 Served as U.S.
attorney general
1860 Died,
Philadelphia, Pa.
1861–65
U.S. Civil War
Henry D. Gilpin.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
GILPIN, HENRY DILWORTH 93
banks. The Bank War, as the debate over the

bank’s role in the federal economy came to be
called, was a central issue in Jackson’s second
presidential campaign. Jackson’s re-election,
along with the presence of his ally Gilpin on
the board, ensured the bank’s
DEMISE. Gilpin
successfully pressed Jackson’s arguments against
the
INSTITUTION, and the renewal of the bank’s
charter was rejected. The bank closed in 1836
when its charter expired.
Gilpin’s willingness to act as Jackson’s chief
spokesman at the height of the Bank War
resulted in his removal from the board in the
bank’s final years. To fill the void left by his
removal, Gilpin renewed his interest in the
PRACTICE OF LAW, and from 1832 to 1835 he
served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania. He also pursued a number of
land-investment and business opportunities in
the Michigan Territory.
Jackson named Gilpin territorial governor
of Michigan in 1835, but the president’s opp-
onents in Congress blocked the confirmation. It
was not until President Van Buren was elected a
year later that Gilpin returned to a role in the
federal government.
Van Buren named Gilpin to be
SOLICITOR of
the U.S. Treasury in 1837 and elevated him to

serve as attorney general of the United States
from 1840 to 1841. As in his early years, Gilpin
continued to chronicle his experiences. The
Gilpin Reports, published in 1837, and the
Opinions of Attorneys-General of the United
States, published in 1840 , record his service to
the Van Buren administration.
Gilpin’s term as attorney general increased
the demand for his legal services, and after leaving
the
CABINET, he devoted the last 20 years of his life
to the practice of law. He also continued to
oversee development of the Chesapeake and
Delaware Canal Company, where he rose to the
positions of secretary and director.
Gilpin retained a lifelong interest in politics
and the
DEMOCRATIC PARTY and served as a
DELEGATE to the party’s national convention in
1844. Gilpin tutored his younger brother,
William, in the study of the law and was
instrumental in launching the latter’s political
career. His brother went on to become the
governor of Colorado.
Gilpin died on January 29, 1860, in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
FURTHER READINGS
Gerdts, William H. 1983. “The American ‘Discourses’ A
Survey of Lectures and Writings on American Art,
1770–1858.” American Journal of Art 15, no. 3.

Gray, Ralph D. 1968. “A Tour of Virginia in 1827. Letters of
Henry D. Gilpin to his Father.” Virginia Magazine of
History and Biography 76, no.3 (October).
Gray, Ralph D., ed. 1965. Washington in 1825: Observations
by Henry D. Gilpin. Delaware Historical Society.
Rimini, Robert V. 1967. Andrew Jackson and the Bank War.
New York: Norton.
Tobias, Clifford I. 1975. “Henry D. Gilpin: Governor in and
over the Territory of Michigan.” Michigan History.
———. 1975. Henry D. Gilpin and the Bank War, A Study in
Reform Politics. Cleveland, Ohio: Case Western Reserve
Univ. Press.
v
GINGRICH, NEWTON LEROY
With his election as Speaker of the U.S. House
of Representatives in January 1995, NEWTON
LEROY GINGRICH
(R-Ga.) became a powerful
politician. Assuming control of the first Repub-
lican majority in the House since 1952,
Gingrich ruled that body during his first year
with an authority not seen since the nineteenth
century. The veteran congressman from Geor-
gia used his new position to proclaim the arrival
of an era in which his conservative agenda—
including lower taxes, decentralized govern-
ment, and deep cuts in social programs—would
fundamentally alter the fabric of U.S. society.
Since his arrival on the Washington, D.C.,
scene in 1979 as a brash and combative new

member of Congress, Gingrich has shaped and
guided Republican efforts on Capitol Hill. With
an affinity for both intellectual debate and
backroom deal making, this white-haired for-
mer professor provided the vision, verve, and
ideas that built a Republican majority. His
opponents, however,
ACCUSED him of posessing a
lack of concern for poo r and disadvantaged
persons, as well as an overly optimistic view of
technology and the free market. Observ ers have
described his actions in Congress as alternately
brilliant and petty, leaving many to wonder
whether he will be a passing footnote or a
pivotal chapter in U.S. political history.
Gingrich was born June 17, 1943, in Harris-
burg, Pennsylvania. His parents, Newton C.
McPherson and Kathleen Daugherty McPherson,
were separated after only three days of
MARRIAGE.
Gingrich’s mother remarried three years after
his birth, and her new husband, Robert Bruce
Gingrich, adopted Gingrich. Gingrich’s adoptive
father was a career army officer, and the family
I KNOW FEW THINGS
MORE STRIKING IN
THE HISTORY OF
HUMANKIND THAN
THAT KINDLING
ENTHUSIASM WHICH

,
SPRINGING FROM ONE
INDIVIDUAL SWAYS
THE CONDUCT OF
IMMENSE BODIES
OF MEN
.
—HENRY GILPIN
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
94 GINGRICH, NEWTON LEROY
moved frequently, living in Kansas, France,
Germany, and Fort Benning, Georgia.
In 1958 the 15-year-old Gingrich accompa-
nied his family on a trip to Verdun, France, site
of the bloodiest battle of
WORLD WAR I. Deeply
moved by the story and scene of the battle,
along with a visit to rooms filled with bones of
the dead, Gingrich experienced an epiphany
that he later described as “the driving force
which pushed me into history and politics, and
molded my life.” The day after this visit, he told
his family that he would run for Congress,
because politicians could prevent such senseless
bloodshed.
At age 19, Gingrich, who was then an
undergraduate at Emory University, married
his former high school math teacher, Jackie
Battley.Thecouplehadtwodaughters,Linda
Kathleen and Jacqueline Sue. Gingrich com-

pleted his bachelor of arts degree at Emory in
1965 and obtained a doctor of philosophy
degree in modern history at Tulane University
in 1971. A liberal, reform-minded Republican
in these years, Gingrich worked for Nelson A.
Rockefeller’s 1968 presidential campaign in
Louisiana.
Gingrich took his first college teaching job
at West Georgia College, in Carrollton, Georgia,
with one eye toward an eventual seat in
Congress. He nevertheless became a popular
teacher at West Georgia, and founded environ-
mental studies and future studies programs.
In 1974 and 1976, Gingrich ran for a seat in
the U.S. House from Georgia’s Sixth District, a
rural and suburban region on the northern
outskirts of Atlanta. Still voicing moderate and
even liberal positions, he was endorsed in 1974
by the liberal newspaper the Atlanta Constitu-
tion. He narrowly lost both
ELECTIONS.Ina
move that some have called a calculated ploy to
gain political office, Gingrich cast himself as
a conservative for the 1978 election. In his
platform he called for lower taxes and opposed
the Panama Canal Treaty. He beat the Demo-
cratic contender by 7,600 votes, earning a seat in
the 96th Congress.
Shortly after his election, Gingrich and his
wife separated. He married Marianne Ginther

in 1981.
Newt Gingrich.
CALLISTA GINGRICH,
GINGRICH
PRODUCTIONS
Newton Leroy Gingrich 1943–
▼▼
▼▼
2000
1975
1950
◆
◆
◆◆
❖
◆
◆
◆
◆
◆◆
2002 How to Win: A
Battle Plan for Victory
in the War on Terror
published
1999 Appointed to U.S.
Commission on National
Security/21st Century
1986–95
Served as
chair of

GOPAC
1979–99
Represented
Georgia in
the U.S.
House
1984 Window of Opportunity
published; helped shape
Republican party platform
1989 Elected House minority whip
1974
Made
first run
for
Congress
1971 Earned
Ph.D. from
Tulane; began
teaching at
West
Georgia
College
1965 Earned B.A.
from Emory University
1943 Born Newton
Leroy McPherson,
Harrisburg, Pa.
1939–45
World War II
1950–53

Korean War
1961–73
Vietnam War
2001 September 11
terrorist attacks
2003 Founded the
Center for Health
Transformation
1994 Republicans won
majority in Congress
◆
1994 Helped
draft Contract
with America
◆
◆
1995 Elected
Speaker of the
House, led
battle for
balanced
budget
◆
1996 Reprimanded and fined by House
Ethics Committee for ethics violations
2008 Real
Change published
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
GINGRICH, NEWTON LEROY 95
In Washington, D.C., Gingrich joined a

number of Republican first-year Congress
members eager to leave their mark on the
political landscape. Unafraid of making ene-
mies, he vigorously attacked Demo crats and
sometimes his own party, criticizing it fo r a
complacent acceptance of its minority status in
Congress. He called instead for an aggressive
effort to build a Repub lican majority, a feat he
would orchestrate 16 years later.
In February 1983 Gingrich began meeting
regularly with other young conservatives in an
organization they called the Conservative Op-
portunity Society—a name designed to contrast
with “liberal
WELFARE state,” the favorite target for
their ideological barbs. Gingrich and other young
Republicans also gained notoriety for their
creative use of the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs
Network (
C-SPAN), which broadcast live proceed-
ings of the House. This group used the “special
orders” period of the House, during which
members of Congress may read items into the
record, as a platform to denounce Democrats
and advance their own views. Although they
were actually reading their material before an
empty House chamber, Gingrich and his collea-
gues attempted to create the impression that they
were making unchallenged arguments to specific
Democrats. House Speaker Thomas P. (“Tip”)

O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) responded by ordering the
C-SPAN cameras to periodically pan the empty
chamber.
By 1984 Gingrich had developed the basic
outlines of his conservative philosophy. He
published his views in a book, Window of
Opportunity, cowritten with his wife, Marianne,
and David Drake. It remains an excellent guide to
Gingrich’s thought. In it, he exhibited, in addition
to a strong belief in the efficacy of the free market,
a strong devotion to technology as an answer to
social ills. He wrote of a “window of opportunity”
represented by “breakthroughs in computers,
biology, and space.” Among his futuristic propo-
sals was an ambitious space program, including a
lunarresearchbaseby2000.
He contrasted this vision of a bright future
with a “window of vulnerability” that opened
onto an alternative future of Soviet expansion-
ism and U.S. decline. This dystopia was to be
prevented by large-scale
WEAPONS programs such
as Star Wars, also known as the Strategic
DEFENSE Initiative, and the dismantling of welfare
programs and excessive
TAXATION. The seventh
chapter of the book, “Why Balancing the
Budget Is Vital,” foreshadowed a 1995–96
showdown between Gingrich and President
BILL

CLINTON
over the FEDERAL BUDGET.
At the 1984 Republican National Conven-
tion in Dallas, Gingrich gained national atten-
tion as he led a move to make the party
platform more conservative, successfully insert-
ing planks against tax increases and
ABORTION.
He won still more in fluence in 1986 when he
became chair of GOPAC, a Republican
POLITICAL
ACTION COMMITTEE
that serves as a principal
source of funding for Republican candidates
across the United States. The organization,
which Gingrich once called “the Bell Labs of
politics,” also provided the means for him to
spread his conservative gospel. GOPAC has
distributed printed and aud iovisual works by
Gingrich to hundreds of Republican candidates.
In the early and mid-1990s, it came under
investigation by the
FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
for alleged improprieties, including illegal assis-
tance to Gingrich during his 1990 election
campaign. Gingrich stepped down as the head
of GOPAC in 1995.
In 1987 Gingrich took on a major Washing-
ton, D.C., figure when he accused House Speaker
Jim Wright (D-Tex.) of ethics violations. Gin-

grich claimed that Wright had violated House
rules in his dealings with a Texas developer and
in the manner by which he had profited from
sales of a book. Gingrich’sfoesimmediately
attacked him as an irresponsible upstart, but
he remained unwavering in his attacks. As he
later told a newspaper, “Ididn’tcomehereto
pleasantly rise on an escalator of self-serving
compromises.” Gingrich won a major coup in
1989 when the House Ethics Committee formally
charged Wright with 69 ethics violations and
Wright resigned from the House.
That same year, Gingrich lobbied for and
won (by two votes) the position of House
minority whip, making him the second highest-
ranking Republican in the House of Representa-
tives. This victory represented an important step
in his transformation from party pugilist to party
leader. However, Gingrich himself soon became
the object of a House Ethics Committee probe of
alleged violations of House rules on outside gifts
and income. The allegations focused on his
earnings from two books, including Window of
Opportunity. Later that year, Gingrich was
investigated again by the same committee for
WE MUST MAKE
GOVERNMENT MORE
EFFICIENT
, MAKING
SURE TAXPAYERS GET

THEIR MONEY
’S
WORTH
.
—NEWT GINGRICH
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
96 GINGRICH, NEWTON LEROY
improperly transferring congressional staff to
work on his reelection campaigns. In both cases,
the committee did not find sufficient grounds to
reprimand Gingrich.
Gingrich nearly suffered defeat in the
elections of 1990 and 1992, winning the former
CONTEST by fewer than 1,000 of the 156,000 votes
cast. But these narrow victories were followed
by a much wider reaching victory for both
Gingrich and his party in 1994.
Gingrich had done much to lay the
groundwork for his 1994 win, particularly
through his organization of the
CONTRACT WITH
AMERICA
, a ten-point plan of action that was
intended to give Republicans a unified front
against their Democratic opponents. The con-
tract called for such measures as tax breaks, a
balanced budget amendment to the Constitu-
tion, a presidential line-item
VETO, term limits
for members of Congress, get-tough proposals

on crime, reduction of government regulations,
welfare reform, military budget increases, and
more. In September 1994 Gingrich gathered
more than 300 Republican candidates for
Congress to sign the contract on Capitol
grounds.
The big GOP win in 1994 gave the party a
gain of 54 seats and majority status in the
House. In January 1995 Gingrich was voted
Speaker of the House. His leadership soon led to
a dramatic change in House protocol. Wresting
control from committee chairs by placing
loyal associates—many of them first-year Re-
publican Congress members—on key commit-
tees, Gingrich became one of the most powerful
speakers since the nineteenth century, at times
virtually dictating the content of legislation.
Riding the crest of publicity attached to his
new positio n, Gingrich published two books,
To Renew America (1995) and 1945 (1995). To
Renew America was a best-selling work com-
municating Gingrich’s vision for the country. It
presents a thesis that cultural elites have torn
down the traditional culture of U.S. society. It
also contains his already familiar calls to balance
the
FEDERAL budget and decentralize the federal
BUREAUCRACY by returning power to states and
localities. The book 1945 is a “what if” novel
that explores what the consequences would

have been if Nazi Germany had been trium-
phant in
WORLD WAR II.
Gingrich, eager to make his mark as Speaker,
initiated a 100-day plan to enact the Contract
with America into law. He passed nine of the ten
items of the contract through the House, but
only three—the Congressional Accountability
Act (Pub. L. No. 104-1, 109 Stat. 3), the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (Pub. L. No.
104-4, 109 Stat. 48), and the Paperwork Reduc-
tion Act (Pub. L. No. 104-13, 109 Stat. 163)—
were signed into law by the president.
Gingrich fought especially hard for one
element of the contract: a balanced budget
amendment to the Constitution. After its defeat
in the Senate, he organized a Republican plan to
balance the federal budget in seven years. This
plan included tax reductions and deep cuts in
federal social programs. Most controversial were
provisions requiring large cuts to such programs
as
MEDICARE and MEDICAID, which provide health
care to elderly, disabled, and poor people. Over
the course of 1995, President Clinton gradually
adopted the goal of a seven-year balanced budget
plan—a change of mind that symbolized the
pervasive power of the Republican agenda.
When President Clinton vetoed the House
budget plan late in 1995, Gingrich and his

Republican colleagues refused to compromise
their budget priorities. As a result, the federal
government was forced to shu t down nones-
sential services for lack of funding. The budget
showdown forced national parks , agencies, and
other elements of the federal government to
close their doors. Gingrich came under fire as
people complained of undelivered paychecks
and other problems. The impasse ended in
January 1996, when Gingrich and Clinton
reached a compromise that allowed provisional
funding of the federal government and aban-
doned the seven-year goal of balancing the
budget.
In 1995 Time magazine named Gingrich its
Man of the Year, a fitting recognition of the
Speaker’s large role in shaping the national
political agenda. Such power had not translated
into universal public approval for Gingrich,
however, particularly given the unpopularity of
the federal government shutdown.
President Clinton and Congress, despite
their collective ideological differences, managed
to achieve a budget surplus in 1998, years ahead
of expectations. The surpluses grew from $69
billion in 1998 to $122.7 billion in 1999.
Nevertheless, Gingrich’s popularity dwindled
during the late 1990s, due in large part to his
policies and brash personality.
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION

GINGRICH, NEWTON LEROY 97