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Wirt, William

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Wirt, William (1772-1834)

US lawyer, cabinet officer, and author. As US attorney general (1817-29) under presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams he argued landmark cases. He was the reluctant presidential candidate of the Anti-Masons in 1832.

Born in Bladensburg, Maryland, the son of Swiss-German tavern-keepers, he read law and began his practice in Virginia. After three terms as clerk of Virginia's House of Delegates (1800-02), he gained fame as assistant prosecuting attorney in Aaron Burr's treason trial in 1807.

With some ambition to have a literary reputation, he enjoyed considerable popularity with The Letters of the British Spy (1803), observations on society supposedly written by an English visitor. Less successful was his Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (1817).
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