William Brockenbrough was a justice of the Court of Appeals (1834–1838), a General Court judge (1809–1834), a member of the Council of State (1803–1806), and a representative to the House of Delegates from Essex (1801–1803) and Hanover (1807–1809) counties. A respected member of the state judiciary, Brockenbrough also wrote and published a number of influential articles that defended the states’ rights interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and federal system and criticized the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall. Throughout his adult life, Brockenbrough was identified, along with his brother Dr. John Brockenbrough, as a member of the so-called Richmond Junto, a political clique of Virginia conservatives.
Brockenbrough wrote essays under the pseudonym Amphictyon in the March 30 and April 2, 1819, issues of the state’s leading newspaper, the Richmond Enquirer. He condemned the Court for construing the Constitution too broadly and allowing the national government to expand its power at the expense of the states. The states’ rights countermovement succeeded in putting Marshall and the nationalists on the defensive, and the chief justice entered the fray with a public response to Brockenbrough’s attack.
In 1818 he served on the Rockfish Gap Commission, along with Thomas Jefferson, which recommended Charlottesville as the site of the new University of Virginia.
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Categories: Members of the Richmond Junto