Isaac Wayne MacVeagh Biography

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World of Criminal Justice on Isaac Wayne MacVeagh

Isaac Wayne MacVeagh served as U.S. attorney general from March to October 1881 under Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur. The assassination of President Garfield just four months into his presidency led to a shakeup in the cabinet. MacVeagh, as others in the cabinet, resigned out of deference to President Arthur, leaving him free to appoint his allies.

MacVeagh was born on April 19, 1833 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He earned a degree from Yale University in 1853 and then decided he wanted to become a lawyer. At this time in the nation's history, most attorneys entered the profession through a term of apprenticeship commonly known as "reading the law." MacVeagh followed this course, apprenticing with a West Chester, Pennsylvania lawyer. After a lengthy term of service that included clerical duties as well as legal research, MacVeagh passed the state bar exam in 1856. After several years in private practice he became the local district attorney.

MacVeagh volunteered to fight during the Civil War and was commissioned an officer. He commanded both infantry and cavalry troops but poor health led to his discharge. On his return to West Chester, MacVeagh concluded that he needed to move beyond the position of a local prosecutor. The road to higher officer meant that he had to become active in politics. He aggressively courted state Republican leaders and though he was not a man of wealth or power, secured a diplomatic post in the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant. His one year in Turkey persuaded MacVeagh that a foreign posting was not to his liking, so he returned to the United States in 1871 to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania. However, the state legislature, which at that time elected senators, turned his bid aside.

In 1877, MacVeagh played a significant role in the dismantling of Reconstruction, ending a 12 year program that sought to rehabilitate the defeated southern states and improve the lot of African Americans. President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed MacVeagh to head a commission that was charged with resolving political problems in Louisiana. After the Civil War, federal troops occupied the former Confederate states. During the Reconstruction period, the federal presence insured that the newly freed slaves would have the opportunity to exercise political and social freedom. In addition, the troops sought to prevent vigilante actions by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists groups. Despite these goals, the white political leadership of the South bitterly resented the federal occupation. MacVeagh and the commission recommended major changes in federal policy, which lead to the removal of federal troops from all southern states. With the end of federal occupation, the states quickly moved to disenfranchise African Americans of their political freedoms.

President Garfield appointed MacVeagh attorney general in March 1881, but the July assassination of the president came so early in his term that MacVeagh had done virtually nothing. However, Garfield did not die of his wounds until September 1881. By that time MacVeagh was ready to submit his resignation, which President Arthur accepted in October. MacVeagh died on January 11, 1917 in Washington, D.C.