GARLAND, AUGUSTUS HILL
Augustus Hill Garland served as attorney general of the United States from 1885 to 1889
under President GROVER CLEVELAND.
Garland was born June 11, 1832, in Tipton County, Tennessee. His parents, Rufus K. Garland
and Barbara Hill Garland, settled in Hempstead
County, Arkansas, when he was an infant.
Garland was educated at local schools in Hempstead
County, and at St. Joseph’s College, in
Bardstown, Kentucky. He graduated from St.
Joseph’s in 1851 and was admitted to the bar in
1853. Garland’s first practice was established in
Washington, Arkansas. He eventually moved to
Little Rock, Arkansas, where he earned a reputation
as one of the best lawyers in the South. He
married Sarah Virginia Sanders in Little Rock.
She died early in their marriage, and Garland’s
mother ran his household for most of his life.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Garland
opposed the secession of Arkansas, but he eventually
supported his state when the ordinance of
secession was passed.He was elected to the Confederate
provisional congress, in Montgomery,
Alabama, and to the first and second Confederate
congresses, in Richmond.
In an effort to unify the North and South
after the war, President ANDREW JOHNSON
granted a full pardon to Garland (and others) for
wartime service to the Confederacy. The president’s
actions were not widely supported; Congress
enacted a number of laws that continued to
punish the pardoned Southerners for their
wartime allegiances by restricting their ability to
participate in their former businesses or professions.
Two restrictions, enacted in 1865, required
attorneys to swear a test (loyalty) oath affirming
that they had not participated in the rebellion, as
a condition for appearing before the U.S.
Supreme Court, the district and circuit courts,
and the Court of Claims (13 Stat. 424).Attorneys
who could not take the oath were denied the
right to appear before the high courts—and
thereby prevented from practicing law.
Garland challenged the law in 1867. He
argued that the law was unconstitutional, and
that even if the law were constitutional, he
would be released from compliance with its provisions
by his presidential pardon. The Supreme
Court found the law to be unconstitutional
because it violated the president’s power to pardon.
“When a pardon is full,” the majority opinion
said, “it releases the punishment, and blots
out of existence the guilt” (Ex parte Garland, 71
U.S. [4 Wall.] 333, 18 L. Ed. 366 [1866]). The
case restored Garland’s right to practice law
before the nation’s high courts and established
him as a nationally recognized constitutional
lawyer. It also reestablished him as a political
force in the South.
In 1867, Garland was elected to the U.S. Senate
by the legislature of Arkansas, only to be
denied a seat because Congress found that his
state had not been sufficiently rehabilitated. For
the next few years, he used his abilities to return
his state to favor. By 1874, he was elected governor
of the state; his administration is credited
with bringing order out of the chaos that permeated
Arkansas during the Reconstruction era.
In 1877, Garland was finally allowed to take his
seat in the U.S. Senate. He was reelected in 1883
and became a ranking member of the Senate’s
Judiciary Committee.
Garland resigned his Senate seat on March 4,
1885, to accept the position of attorney general
in President Cleveland’s cabinet. As attorney
general, he was frequently consulted on issues of
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. He was known as an
advocate who insisted on the enforcement of
constitutional freedoms for all citizens.
He also worked to earn the trust of those
who condemned him for his Confederate service.
As a U.S. senator and cabinet officer, Garland
was wary of both individuals and
institutions who sought to influence his opinions
and actions. It is said that he steadfastly
avoided society events and that he refused to
read daily newspapers. Even so, he was once
called back from a holiday by an angry President
Cleveland to explain his ownership of stock in a
company that would have been helped by a JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT lawsuit. (The lawsuit was
eventually withdrawn.)
In 1889 Garland returned to the PRACTICE
OF LAW, and he maintained an active caseload
until the end of his life. He also began to record
his life’s work for publication. His Experience in
the Supreme Court of the United States and Federal
Practice were published in 1898.
Having fought so hard to retain his right to
appear before the nation’s high courts, Garland’s
final hour was fitting: he died while arguing a
case before the SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED
STATES on January 26, 1899.
FURTHER READINGS
Watkins, Beverly Nettles. 1985. Augustus Hill Garland,
1832–1899: Arkansas Lawyer to United States Attorney-
General. Auburn, Ala.: Auburn Univ. Press.
