BREWSTER, BENJAMIN HARRIS

BREWSTER, BENJAMIN HARRIS

Benjamin Harris Brewster was the 37th attorney
general of the United States, serving from 1881
to 1885 in the administration of President
CHESTER ARTHUR. Previously, Brewster was
appointed by President JAMES POLK as a special
commissioner for the adjudication of claims by
the members of the Cherokee Indian tribe
against the U. S. government.
Brewster was born in Salem County, New
Jersey, on October 13, 1816. In 1834 he graduated
from Princeton College. Like many other
aspiring lawyers of the period, Brewster did not
attend law school. Instead these aspirants “read
law” by performing various clerical and administrative
duties for a lawyer who had already
been admitted to the bar. Brewster studied
under a Philadelphia attorney named Eli Price.
After mastering the necessary requirements,
Brewster took and passed the bar exam in 1838.
After his admittance to the Pennsylvania bar, he
continued to practice law in Philadelphia.
Although he had established a lucrative law
practice, Brewster, like many other ambitious
young lawyers his age, became interested in politics
and government service. Brewster had a
personal connection, his father-in-law, Robert J.
Walker. In the decade between 1835 and 1845,
Walker had served as the U.S. senator from Mississippi.
In 1845,Walker was appointed by President
James Polk to be secretary of the Treasury.
Twelve years later,Walker would serve as governor
of the Territory of Kansas.
It was through Walker that Brewster became
a special commissioner for the adjudication of
claims by the Cherokee Indians against the federal
government. In 1846 Walker convinced
President Polk to appoint his son-in-law to the
position. The Cherokee had established a republican
form of government called the Cherokee
Nation. In the years leading up to the early nineteenth
century, the Cherokee tribe was one of
the most progressive and well-to-do tribes in
North America. The Cherokee lived in the
southeastern part of the country on lands that
subsequently whites came to define as the states
of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and
Alabama. As time went on, more and more
white settlers moved into the area claiming land
that belonged to the Cherokee Nation.
Some Cherokee leaders signed the Treaty of
New Enchola in 1835 that agreed to their
removal to land west of the Mississippi River. A
number of Cherokee opposed the relocation
and under the leadership of Chief JOHN ROSS
tried to resist. In 1838 President ANDREW JACKSON
sent U.S. troops to forcibly move the Indians
to the new land, the dry plains of the area
that later became Oklahoma. The brutal relocation
journey of between 13,000 and 17,000 people
that became known as the Trail of Tears took
place over winter and resulted in the deaths of
thousands of Cherokee.
The leaders of those who survived
regrouped as the Cherokee Nation and sought to
make claims against the federal government
concerning the forced relocation and their
losses. As special commissioner in 1846,
Brewster reviewed the claims and granted some
relief before returning to his law practice in
Philadelphia.
By now a prominent Pennsylvania attorney
with strong connections to the REPUBLICAN
PARTY, Brewster once again pursued political
aspirations. In 1867, he was appointed by Governor
Geary to be attorney general for the state
of Pennsylvania. After a brief tenure, Brewster
returned to private practice.
In September of 1881, following the assassination
of JAMES GARFIELD, Vice-President
Chester Arthur succeeded Garfield as president.
In December of that year, Garfield’s attorney
general, ISAAC MACVEAGH, resigned so that the
new president could make his own appointment.
Arthur, who had practiced law in New
York, appointed Brewster.
Many had anticipated that Arthur would
continue as a supporter of the spoils system,
whereby loyal party workers were given
appointive office without attention to merit.
Arthur surprised the analysts and the electorate
by promoting government reform. Brewster
backed the president, and in 1883, Congress
enacted the Pendleton Act, which provided for
civil service reform and helped to reduce the
primacy of the spoils system.
Brewster also vigorously prosecuted the Star
Route Trials, a group of cases involving several
prominent Republicans who were found guilty
of fraudulent activities concerning the United
States Post Office Department.
Brewster continued his work as attorney
general until GROVER CLEVELAND was elected
president in 1884. In 1885 Brewster returned to
Pennsylvania. He died in Philadelphia on April
4, 1888.

FURTHER READINGS
Hall, Kermit L. 1989. The Magic Mirror: Law in American
History. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Justice Department. Attorneys General of the United States,
1789–1985.Washington, D.C.: GPO.
State Department Timeline. “Indian Treaties and the
Removal Act of 1830.” Available online at
(accessed June 17, 2003).

CROSS-REFERENCES
Attorney General; Cherokee Cases; Native American Rights.