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WILLIAM CUSHING
was born on March 1, 1732, in Scituate, Massachusetts.
After graduation from Harvard College in 1751, Cushing
taught school for one year in Roxbury, Massachusetts,
and then read law in Boston. He was admitted to practice
in 1755. In 1760, Cushing moved to Lincoln County, Massachusetts
(Now Dresden, Maine), to become a Probate Judge and Justice
of the Peace. In 1772, he was appointed to the Superior
Court of Massachusetts Bay Province. Under the new State
Government, Cushing was retained as a Justice of the Massachusetts
Superior Court, and in 1777 he was elevated to Chief Justice.
From 1780 to 1789, he served as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court. Cushing strongly supported ratification
of the United States Constitution and served as Vice Chairman
of the Massachusetts Ratification Convention. On September
24, 1789, President George Washington nominated Cushing
one of the original Associate Justices of the Supreme
Court of the United States. The Senate confirmed the appointment
two days later. Cushing served on the Supreme Court for
twenty years and died on September 13, 1810, at the age
of seventy-eight. |
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