Column: History Minute — Judge Andrew Scott |
Reputations are built over years of work. But one act can destroy that reputation forever. Judge Andrew Scott, an early territorial judge, saw a promising career fall apart as he became the epicenter of controversies that ultimately left a fellow judge and a legislator dead.
Andrew Horatio Scott was born into a large family in 1789 in Hanover County, Virginia, in the eastern part of the state. His father was an immigrant from Scotland. When he was 18, the family decided to move west to find new opportunities and arrived in eastern Missouri in 1808, then part of the new Louisiana Purchase.
His older brother was already an established attorney in the area. Scott began learning law as an apprentice to his brother in the absence of established law schools nearby. In 1811, he was admitted to the bar and married.
The Missouri Territory was established by Congress in 1812 as Louisiana became a state. As a result, what would become Arkansas was actually a part of Missouri for seven years until Arkansas was established as its own territory and Missouri prepared for statehood.
In the meantime, an ambitious young Scott saw many opportunities in the Missouri Territory. He became the first clerk of the Territorial House of Representatives, keeping careful records of legislative proceedings. He moved to nearby Potosi in 1815 and established a private school in the young, prospering lead mining community. In........