William Blackstone influenced American law

It is the birthday of English barrister William Blackstone (1723), who is remembered for writing Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769), a four-volume treatise on common law—the rights of people and things, and the difference between private wrongs and public wrongs. It was immensely popular in England, though not without detractors. Perhaps its greatest influence, however, was on the development of law in the American colonies and later in the fledgling United States. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and the early formation of the Supreme Court were all affected by Blackstone's writing. Indeed, the Supreme Court, even in modern times, continues to quote from Blackstone.

Happy birthday, Justice Thurgood Marshall

It is the birthday of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (1908), the first African-American appointed the the nation's highest judicial body. While he was a lawyer, Marshall successfully argued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case before the Supreme Court in 1954. That case led to the end of racial segregation in public schools. Marshall was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1967. Marshall's writing was collected as Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions and Reminiscences (2001).

Henry Miller wrote Tropic of Cancer

Henry Miller

It is the birthday of writer Henry Miller (1891), whose explicit novels Tropic of Cancer (1934), Black Spring (1936), and Tropic of Capricorn (1939) were banned for decades in America. Miller wrote them as an expatriate in Paris. The Tropic books created a new genre of novel, combining fiction with autobiography, philosophical reflection, and social criticism. Black Spring was a retelling of Emily Bronte's literary classic Wuthering Heights.

Miller first visited Paris with his second wife, June Edith Smith, in the late 1920s, where they met French writer Anais Nin. Miller and Nin had an immediate attraction. In 1930, Miller returned to Paris alone. He and Nin lived a bohemian lifestyle together, although Nin was married at the time. They mixed with writers and French Surrealist painters, and became immersed in the city's creative culture. Miller worked as a proofreader at the Chicago Tribune's  Paris edition but mostly he was supported by Nin as he wrote of his life during the period, including detailed accounts of his sexual encounters. The result became Tropic of Cancer, which Nin paid with borrowed money to have published.

The book was banned as obscene in America but was often smuggled into the country. In 1961, Grove Press published the book in the United States. Officials called the book obscene and sought to have it banned, suing individual booksellers for selling it. The case went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1964, where Tropic of Cancer was declared a work of literature.

Tropic of Capricorn was a prequel to Tropic of Cancer. It detailed Miller's
difficult life with his wife, June, in New York during the 1920s before they went to Paris. At the time, he worked for Western Union Telegraph Company and wrote on the side, struggling to find his voice as a writer. This book, too, was sexually explicit and was  banned in the United States but the Justice Department eventually declare it not obscene.

Miller also wrote The Colossus of Maroussi (1941), a travelogue based on a visit to Greeece; Sunday After The War (1944), a collection of excerpts from other Miller writing; and The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945), an early indictment of America's wasteful, throw-away culture.

Legacy of Chief Justice John Marshall

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He didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence like his president, John Adams, did but John Marshall was about as busy as any one patriot could be.

He was a friend of George Washington and wrote his biography, he was a member of the U.S. House and a White House cabinet member, and he served as fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for 35 years, longer than any other Supreme Court Justice in history.

A letter he wrote in 1800, a few months before he became Chief Justice, is in the collection of rare and unusual items at Lighthouse Books, ABAA. It is framed along with an engraved portrait taken from a painting by Henry Imman, a noted New York artist. Asher Brown Durand, one of the best engravers in New York at the time, is responsible for the engraving. (Later Durand became one of the leaders of the Hudson River School painting style.)