Remaking Custom: Law and Identity in the Early American Republic

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments A dear friend of mine recently told me that writing acknowledgments was like a “gracious victory lap.” Many friends, colleagues, and family members deserve to join me on that victory lap, because they gave me so much support while this project evolved from idea to dissertation to book. I was Jack P. Greene’s sixty-ninth doctoral student—we Jackobites keep count—but we were never just a number with Jack. He is a remarkably skilled and patient mentor, and I will always be grateful for his wise advice. His unique ability to cultivate an intellectual community among his students sets an example for all of us. Many years ago, Warren M. Billings of the University of New Orleans recognized some trace of scholarly potential in me, and I thank him for his continued guidance and friendship. Over the years, many scholars have taught me the meaning of collegiality and professionalism. At a crucial time in my graduate career, Mark F. Fernandez peeled me off the ceiling, made me laugh, and has continued to serve as my “intellectual big brother.” At the Johns Hopkins University, the members of Jack’s Colonial British America Research Seminar offered many useful suggestions. Michael Johnson’s lively seminars always gave me food for thought, and he provided valuable criticism at the dissertation stage as well. Good friends and colleagues Brad Wood, Jeff McClurkin, Matthew Paoni , Michelle LeMaster, Catherine Cardno, Craig Yirush, Emma Hart, and Kelly Schrum helped me to endure the rigors of research and writing. Other Hopkins scholars who shared their expertise with me include John Marshall, Richard Kagan, and J. G. A. Pocock. Akhil Reed Amar, Jack Rakove, and the participants in the Supreme Court Historical Society’s 2000 Summer Workshop made helpful suggestions. Donald Lutz, Peter Onuf, Ralph Lerner, and x | Acknowledgments participants in the Liberty Fund’s second annual “Camp Constitution” provided spirited and thought-provoking debate over American identity and the Founding. Peter Onuf’s mentorship has extended far beyond this conference . He is truly a dude above all other dudes. Charles Goetsch, Esq. of New Haven generously shared his own research with me early in the project. My colleagues at the University of North Carolina Asheville have made teaching , research, and writing a joy. Former History Department chair Grant Hardy and current chair Dan Pierce have offered me invaluable advice and have led by their own scholarly examples. I owe a special debt to Alfred Brophy, Eliga Gould, Kevin Gutzman, Sally Hadden, David Konig, and the late Kathryn Preyer, who read and commented on parts of this work along the way. Warren Billings read the entire manuscript, and Mary Sarah Bilder, bless her, read it twice. It is a better product because of their rigorous criticism . Several grants and fellowships helped to fund my research for this project . The Johns Hopkins University supported me with teaching, tuition, and research fellowships. The American Historical Association provided a Littleton-Griswold Research Grant, and the Virginia Historical Society supplied a Mellon Fellowship that funded my research in their beautiful facilities . I am particularly grateful to Frances Pollard and the staff of the VHS for their hospitality. I also relied on the kind assistance of Margaret Cook and her staff at the Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary and archivists at the Alderman Library Special Collections of the University of Virginia, the Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins, the Library of Congress, the Rockefeller Library of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and the South Carolina Historical Society. Catherine Fields and her staff at the Litchfield Historical Society always welcomed me with open arms and made the very best of lunch companions. Chapter 1 draws on my earlier essay entitled “Revising Custom, Embracing Choice: Early American Legal Scholars and the Republicanization of the Common Law,” in Empire and Nation: The American Revolution in the Atlantic World, edited by Peter Onuf and Eliga Gould and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 2004. I gratefully acknowledge the Press’s permission to republish it. Richard Holway and the staff at the University of Virginia Press have been patient and professional throughout the publishing process. I especially want to thank project editor Ruth Steinberg and copy editor Jane Curran, whose careful review of the manuscript caught ever so many rookie mistakes. Acknowledgments | xi Finally, I thank my family for giving me love and support over the years. My late...