William
Strong (May 6, 1808 –
August 19, 1895) was an American jurist and politician. He served as a justice of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania and was successfully appointed as an Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States by President Ulysses S. Grant. He also served on the Commission that
adjudicated the disputed presidential
election of 1876. Strong was born in Somers, Connecticut and
later moved to Pennsylvania. He was the
eldest of eleven children of William Lightbourn Strong,
a descendant of Elder John Strong] and Harriet (Deming) Strong. He was the brother of Newton Deming Strong and
the cousin of U.S.
Representative Theron Rudd Strong of
New York. William Strong attended the Monson Academy in Massachusetts, and graduated from Yale University in 1828 Phi Beta Kappa. He taught school in Burlington, New Jersey while studying law with Garret D. Wall, and then completed his legal education with a
six-month course at Yale Law School. After
being admitted to the bar Strong started a legal practice in Reading, Pennsylvania,
remaining in practice from 1832 to 1857. He was elected as a member of
the American Philosophical
Society in 1866. In 1846, Strong was elected to the United
States House of Representatives as an abolitionist Democrat.
Strong served two terms in the House, and was the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on
Elections during his second term. He did not seek reelection in
1850, but returned to private practice. Strong was elected to the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania in 1857 as a Democrat. Strong switched to
the Republican Party soon
after taking the bench. He resigned from the court in 1868 to return to a
lucrative private practice in Philadelphia. When
Justice Robert C. Grier retired
from the U.S. Supreme Court, Strong was suggested as a possible replacement.
However, President Ulysses S. Grant was heavily lobbied to nominate
former Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton was nominated, and confirmed by
the United States Senate, but
he died just four days later without having served on the Court. Grant then
nominated Strong on February 7, 1870, who was confirmed without a recorded vote
and was sworn in on March 14, 1870. Strong ruled for states rights and against
the Civil Rights Act of 1866,
which had allowed African Americans to testify against Whites, in Bylew v. United States.
In United States v. Given, 25 F. Cas. 1324 (C.C.D. Del. 1873),
Justice Strong, riding on circuit, upheld an indictment under the Enforcement
Act of 1870 when election officials prevented black Americans from voting.
Justice Strong held that the Reconstruction Amendments allowed Congress to
enact legislation punishing private individuals when a state failed to protect
constitutional rights. Justice Strong wrote the opinion for an early equal protection case in Strauder v. West Virginia,
100 U.S. 303 (1879). Strong was one of five Supreme Court justices who sat on
the Electoral Commission that was convened to resolve the disputed electoral
votes in the U.S. presidential election of
1876. Strong voted along with his fellow Republicans, who held the majority on
the Commission, to award every disputed vote to Rutherford B. Hayes, the
Republican candidate, thus ensuring his presidency. Strong served on the
Supreme Court until December 14, 1880, when he retired despite still being in
good health, partly to set an example for several infirm justices who refused
to give up their seats. He resumed the practice of law and pursued religious
causes until his death, at Lake Minnewaska in Ulster County, New York,
on August 19, 1895. Following funeral services at the chapel of the Charles Evans Cemetery in
Reading, Pennsylvania he was laid to rest at that cemetery. The Historical Society of
Berks County has in its collection a few pieces relating to
Justice Strong. After his retirement from the Supreme Court, Strong served as
an arbitrator for an international dispute between Haiti and
the United States, according to a 1884 agreement between the two nations. Two
American citizens claimed damages due to the conduct of the Haitian government.
He issued his award on June 13, 1885.