John B. Minor

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John Barbee Minor (June 2, 1813July 29, 1895) was a law professor at the University of Virginia for half a century. He taught several notable Americans, including Supreme Court Justice James Clark McReynolds; Edwin M. Stanton, best known as President Lincoln's Secretary of War; and President Woodrow Wilson.[1][2] He is one of three faculty members who announced Charlottesville’s surrender to the Confederacy on Liberation and Freedom Day.[3] Minor Hall on UVA's Grounds is named for him.[4]

Professor Minor, around the time of the Civil War.[5]

For more information on Minor's colleagues and his workplace during the Civil War era, see our page about the University of Virginia during the Civil War.

Early years

Minor was born in Louisa County on June 2, 1813 to Launcelot Minor and Mary Overton Tompkins.[2] He studied at Kenyon College in Ohio before returning to the University of Virginia for his law degree. He graduated in 1834, and practiced law for several years before becoming UVA’s Professor of Law.[2] Minor married three times: his first wife was Martha Macon Davis, sister of his law professor, A.G. Staige Davis, his second wife was Anne Colston, and his third wife was Ellen T. Hill.[6]

Teaching Career

Minor was hired by the University in 1845, when he was thirty-two years old. After 1851, when increased attendance forced the department to hire more staff, Minor began to specialize in common law and statute law.[2] As a professor, Minor deferred fees for students who could not afford to pay them, and established a summer course for those already practicing the law who needed a "refresher." In 1870, Minor published his Institutes of Common and Statute Law. With Minor's famously rigorous coursework available to the public, he gained a reputation as a legal thinker beyond his institution. He taught at the University for fifty years, retiring several weeks before his death.[7] Minor became an Episcopalian in his later years, and taught Sunday Schools for his students and for people enslaved at the University. He received two honorary doctorates from Washington and Lee University and Columbia University.[2]

Civil War and Slavery

This picture shows two places Minor taught law: the Rotunda and Pavilion X (foreground, right). UVA Law Library.[8]

Much like the founder of Minor's institution, Thomas Jefferson, Minor disagreed with slavery in the abstract but never attacked the practice. He was hesitant to call the institution "good," as some of his peers did, but he deemed the forced labor necessary to maintain his preferred standard of living. In the 1840s, Minor helped pass resolutions at the Charlottesville Lyceum which denounced Virginia's particular brand of slavery as “a social and political evil” and debated the merits of gradual emancipation.[1] In 1850, Minor enslaved five people. In 1860, he enslaved ten. His 1863 tax records show that he enslaved 21.[9] He frequently "hired out" enslaved people from other locals to supplement the labor being performed in his home in Pavilion X.[10] He did not free the people he enslaved, and he used his status to intimidate people enslaved by him and around him into submission. Against his son's requests, he threatened to sell a ten-year-old boy to slave traders, separating him from his mother, as punishment for attempting to run away. He "hired out" many of his slaves, gaining wealth even when the labor was not being performed for his direct benefit.[1]

Minor's conflict over the institution of slavery was evident in his legal scholarship. Minor doubted the constitutionality of secession. He also doubted the constitutionality of Vermont nullifying the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, allowing those escaping slavery to stay in Vermont without fear of being tracked down and forced into bondage again. However, he opposed similar fugitive slave laws in Virginia, deeming them inhumane. From his students' notes, Minor might have believed that slavery was necessary because “we could not possibly get along, or exist as a society if slaves were emancipated.” In line with his constitutionality doubts, Minor opposed secession, but eventually loosened his stance when he believed it was necessary to protect "Southern institutions," specifically, slavery.[9] He strongly supported the main principle of the Compromise of 1850, which would preserve the Union but allow certain states to continue slavery. He believed in a universal desire for liberty, but refused to grant it. He advocated against "unnecessary" physical violence against enslaved people, and hoped that they could achieve "spiritual freedom." Because of these beliefs, Minor considered himself a "moderate" on the topic of slavery. His Unionist beliefs and his distaste for flying the Confederate battle flag led those around him to believe that he was "indifferent to Southern honor." His students attempted to discredit him as an abolitionist. Minor had a falling out with his brother, who supported secession.[1]

Union troops approached Charlottesville in early 1865, arriving on the morning of March 3. Confederate propaganda and fearmongering convinced many white Charlottesvillians that the troops would burn the University of Virginia, which had treated about 22,500 wounded Confederate soldiers at the 500-bed Charlottesville General Hospital and had produced over one thousand soldiers for the pro-slavery effort.[11][12][3] Nearly 1,000 enslaved Charlottesvillians were impressed into Confederate service.[11] With Mayor Christopher L. Fowler, chairman of the faculty Socrates Maupin, and Rector Thomas L. Preston, Minor went to meet Sheridan and appealed to their shared love of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who designed the University of Virginia, successfully claiming that the school was a benefit to the nation, not just the Confederacy.[3][12][11] Sheridan agreed to not burn the University, and left Charlottesville three days later. March 3 is celebrated in Charlottesville as Liberation and Freedom Day.[3]

Amnesty Oath Sworn by Minor, May 18, 1865

Amnesty Oath

After the Civil War many white Virginians could not vote because they had supported the Confederacy. In June 1865, the General Assembly restored voting rights to some of those white men, but the federal government required men who had supported the Confederacy to take an oath of allegiance to the United States or obtain a presidential pardon before they could regain the suffrage. By signing this oath Minor was granted amnesty for his actions during the Civil War. The document, issued by the Provost Marshal's office, specifies that the signee must recognize and support all acts of Congress and proclamations by the president concerning the status of former slaves.

AMNESTY OATH
Office of Provost Marshal,
Charlottesville, Va., May 18th 1865.
I John B. Minor do solemnly swear, in the presence of ALMIGHTY GOD, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States thereunder; that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all Acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all Proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion, having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court—So HELP ME GOD.
Sworn and subscribed to, before me this 18th day of May 1865. John B. Minor [13]
James A. Skelly,[14] Major 11th Pa Cav. Asst. Provost Marshal;
Minor Hall between 1911 and 1921. University of Virginia Press.[15]

Later life, death, and namesakes

Professor Minor died on July 29, 1895. Minor Hall, which sits adjacent to Warner Hall and the McIntire Amphiteater, housed the Law School from 1911 until 1932, when it outgrew the space and moved to Clark Hall.[4][15] The University of Virginia School of Law established a John B. Minor professorship in Law and History.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Web. John B. Minor & the Tensions of Mastery, the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Web. University of Virginia: Its History, Influences and Characteristics. Volume 1., Lewis Publishing Company, 1904, retrieved August 2, 2022.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Web. Remembering 150th anniversary of the surrender of Charlottesville, UVa to troops under Custer and Sheridan, David A. Maurer, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, March 1, 2015, retrieved August 22, 2022.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Web. Board of Visitors minutes: November 14, 1911, University of Virginia Library, retrieved August 2, 2022.
  5. Web. The University of Virginia During the Civil War, John H. Moore, Virginia Cavalcade, Winter 1963-64, retrieved August 8, 2022.
  6. Web. Genealogies of Virginia Families: from the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982, retrieved August 8, 2022.
  7. Web. John Barbee Minor: Biographical Information, Arthur J. Morris Law Library Special Collections, retrieved August 8, 2022.
  8. Web. New Book Uncovers Untold History of Law School's Architecture — And Its Infamous Murals, UVA School of Law, March 16, 2017, retrieved August 9, 2022.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Web. Our Former Faculty: Minor, John Barbee, UVA Law Library, October 1, 2021, retrieved August 9, 2022.
  10. Web. Slavery and the UVA School of Law: Pavilion X, UVA School of Law, retrieved August 9, 2022.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Jordan Jr., Ervin L. "Charlottesville During the Civil War." Encyclopedia Virginia. Ed. Brendan Wolfe. December 14, 2020. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. July 7, 2021 <http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Charlottesville_During_the_Civil_War>.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Web. I'll Fly Away, Ineke La Fleur, Website, March 2019, retrieved July 7, 2021.
  13. Web. The Papers of John B. Minor, 1845-1893Amnesty Oath Sworn by Minor, 18 May 1865, The John M. Woolsey Collection of Legal Documents, University of Virginia School of Law Library Special Collections., retrieved January 4, 2024.
  14. Web. History of the Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry : together with a complete roster of the regiment and regimental officers, Pennsylvania Cavalry 11th Regt., 1861-1865., Page 190, 1902, retrieved January 4, 2024.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Web. Architecture at U.Va.'s Law School, Huffington Post, July 6, 2017, retrieved August 8, 2022.

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