Law library study aids, flanked by a toy wolf.

The Wolf Law Library at the William & Mary Law School is a library of wolves, raised by wolves, for the wolves!

Page one of a report from the committee to ascertain the value of the several species of gold and silver in the Colonies, May 22, 1776. Image from 'The Papers of the Continental Congress.'

Page two of a report from the committee to ascertain the value of the several species of gold and silver in the Colonies, May 22, 1776. Image from 'The Papers of the Continental Congress.'

This week in 1776, the Second Continental Congress appoints George Wythe to a committee of seven, to ascertain the value of various coins circulating in the Colonies. The committee's final report is largely in Wythe's distinctive handwriting: wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Re... #WytheWednesday #USA250

The official seal of the United States Supreme Court, featuring a circular design with the words “Supreme Court of the United States” surrounding a central emblem of a balanced scale of justice and a laurel wreath, symbolizing law, authority, and fairness.

🧵 The arguments behind landmark Supreme Court rulings have never been freely available… until now.

More than 125,000 #SCOTUS records & briefs (1830–2019) are now open on the Internet Archive.

Full announcement ⤵️
blog.archive.org/2026/04/20/u...

@wolflawlibrary.bsky.social

April 22, 1776: John Adams’ pamphlet “Thoughts on Government” is published in Philadelphia. One of the leading advocates for independence in Congress, writing as "a Gentleman," looks ahead to how an American government should be constructed to avoid the tyranny the colonies are now rejecting. 1/7

Important legal news

I love sharing good news about access to information! @archive.org @wolflawlibrary.bsky.social blog.archive.org/2026/04/20/u...

Some of my students were filming a video for graduation and asked themselves "who in the law school would appreciate a visit from the mace?" They guessed right!

Today In Grateful Dead History
Dave's Picks Volume 37 | College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA • 4/15/78

This week, the William & Mary Law Review published a symposium piece about the Supreme Court's decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson. A must-read for anyone interested in the criminalization of our neighbors. wmlawreview.org/issue-4-volu...

Picture of Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Ghazala Hashmi and Suzanne Hagedorn in front of a William & Mary backdrop.

I had a good chat with Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi after she gave a talk on the Federalist Papers at William & Mary last night—I thanked her for coming to an AAUP organizing event last month!

John Adams

Samuel Adams

April 16, 1776: Both Adamses who represent Massachusetts in the Continental Congress express determination that the colonies move toward independence. John Adams writes to Joseph Ward: “You seem to wish for independence. Do the resolves for privateering and opening the ports satisfy you… 1/4

Free Law Project is Scanning America’s Case Law; Goal is to Scan 2.5 million Pages by the Fall www.infodocket.com/2026/04/16/r... #legalresearch #law #libraries #researchtools @free.law

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789

This last resolution would later be ordered to "lie on the table," May 6, 1776: www.google.com/books/editio...

'Journals of the Continental Congress,' vol. 4, January 1-June 4, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), p. 284. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journals_of_the_Continental_Congress_177/ljQSAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA284&printsec=frontcover

and 2), along with Carter Braxton and John Jay, Wythe is ordered to investigate how residents "who assist any of the enemies of these United Colonies in the captures of vessels or goods, may be made liable to make good the damages to the sufferers": www.google.com/books/editio...

'Journals of the Continental Congress,' vol. 4, January 1-June 4, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), p. 282. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journals_of_the_Continental_Congress_177/ljQSAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA282&printsec=frontcover

Page one of "George Washington to the President of Congress, 4 April 1776." Image from The Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-04-02-0027

#OTD in 1776, George Wythe is appointed to two committees in the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia: 1) referred a letter from General Washington (with Benjamin Harrison and Samuel Adams): wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Ge... #WytheWednesday #USA250

Braxton

Braxton’s letter

April 14, 1776: Congress member Carter Braxton, a wealthy Virginia planter and slaveowner, writes to his conservative uncle Landon Carter seeking advice on political affairs. The Virginian fears he was "improperly called" to support the revolution and the colonies’ armies can’t beat the British. 1/2

Page one of reports from George Wythe and committee, including letters from General Schuyler, and the Committee for Indian Affairs, Northern department, dated read April 19, 1776. Image from 'The Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789.'

'Journals of the Continental Congress,' vol. 4, January 1-June 4, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), p. 260. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journals_of_the_Continental_Congress_177/ljQSAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA260&printsec=frontcover

This week in Congress, 250 years ago: George Wythe, Benjamin Harrison, and Samuel Adams report on letters from General Schuyler, and recommend Robert Yates (NY) for secretary of the Committee for Indian Affairs (Northern Department): wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Wy... #WytheWednesday #USA250

The Winners of $2.25 Million in Circuit Court Record Preservation Grants for 2026! The Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP) Grant Review Board met on March 24, 2026, to evaluate 151 grant requests from 104 circuit courts across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Winners of $2.25 Million in Circuit Court Record Preservation (CCRP) Grants for 2026! "Most of the approved applications were for professional conservation treatment for over 460 [Virginia] records that date from the 1640s to the mid-20th century." uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/blog/2026/04...

Founders Online: II. To John Penn, 27 March 1776 II. To John Penn, 27 March 1776

27 MARCH 1776, PHILADELPHIA: Continental Congress delegates William Hooper and John Penn set out to return to their home colony of North Carolina, each carrying one of the two earliest drafts of John Adams’s Thoughts on Government: founders.archives.gov/documents/Ad...

Page one of "Philip Schuyler to John Hancock, 21 March 1776." Image from 'The Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789.'

Page one of "New York Committee of Safety to John Hancock, 26 March 1776." Image from 'The Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789.'

'Journals of the Continental Congress,' vol. 4, January 1-June 4, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), p. 240. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journals_of_the_Continental_Congress_177/ljQSAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA240&printsec=frontcover

March 29, 1776: Letters from General Schuyler in Albany, and the New York Committee of Safety, are referred to a committee of George Wythe, Benjamin Harrison, and Samuel Adams: wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Ph... #WytheWednesday #USA250 wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Wi...

As the country celebrates the 250th anniversary of independence, the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO introduces a new historical series looking at the debates that fueled the Founders’ concerns and how they relate to our heated politics of today.

Read more: tinyurl.com/bdcn5edr

"Philip Schuyler to John Hancock, 7 March 1776, pg 1." Image from 'The Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789.'

Peter Force, 'American Archives,' Fourth Series, vol. 5 (Washington, D.C.: M. St. Clair Clarke and Peter Force, 1844), pp. 103-104. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027756447&seq=114

"A letter of the 7th from general Schuyler, with a return of the forces before Quebec, was laid before Congress and read. Resolved, That it be referred to Mr. Wythe, Mr. Harrifon, and Mr. S. Adams." 'Journals of Congress, Containing the Proceedings from: January 1, 1776, to January 1, 1777' (Yorktown, PA: John Dunlap, 1778), p. 102. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journals_of_Congress_Jan_1_1776_to_Jan_1/p401AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA102&printsec=frontcover

This week in history, 250 years ago: George Wythe and committee are referred a letter from General Phillip Schuyler in Albany, on March 21, regarding (among other matters) the difficulties in transporting heavy cannon: wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Ph... #WytheWednesday #USA250

See here: bsky.app/profile/wolf...

Wythe

Lee

March 22, 1776: The issue of independence sharpens as Congress spends four hours debating the wording of its preamble on a resolution to authorize privateering against British ships. The draft by Virginia’s Richard Henry Lee and George Wythe personally blames the king for America’s misfortunes. 1/3

Dixon and Hunter’s Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg

A privateering commission, 1779

March 23, 1776: The Continental Congress authorizes privateers to seize any ships belonging to “enemies of these United Colonies.” This act also gives Congress and the individual colonies authority to distribute the gains from ships taken as prizes “according to the laws and Usages of nations. 1/4

Happy #pubday to "The American Revolution on Trial: A New Nation Confronts the Burden of Independence" by T. H. Breen!

A master historian uncovers a spellbinding story illustrating the stakes for the new nation in the American War for Independence

www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10198/

#skystorians

Journals of the Continental Congress

The resolutions which passed in Congress March 23, 1776, agreeing to allow privateering against the British in reprisal to their attacks on free trade does not, finally, contain Wythe's preamble: books.google.com/books?id=PfA... #WytheWednesday #USA250

Edmund C. Burnett, ed. 'Letters of Members of the Continental Congress,' vol. 1, August 29, 1174-July 4, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution, 1921), p. 404.

Richard Smith of New Jersey recorded in his diary for March 22: "Wyth [sic] reported the preamble about Privateering. he and Lee moved an Amendt. wherein the King was made the Author of our Miseries instead of the Ministry": books.google.com/books?id=4Am...

'Journals of the Continental Congress,' vol. 4, January 1-June 4, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), p. 289.

Page one of a draft resolution in relation to British hostilities, in the handwriting of George Wythe, from 'Documents, 1728-1816: Relating to the Province of Pennsylvania and to the American Revolution,' American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia, 131. https://therevolutionarycity.org/islandora/documents-1728-1816-relating-province-pennsylvania-and-american-revolution-page-131

"Proposed Preamble to a Congressional Resolution on Privateering, [before 23 March 1776]," Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0230

March 19, 1776: at the order of Congress, George Wythe drafts a *strongly-worded* preamble in regards to attacks on trade from the Colonies, in which he paraphrases Pliny on Nero, accusing the British of becoming 'hostem humani generis': "enemies of the human race": wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Dr...

Print with a decorative border of blue leafy vines. On the left side of the print, Thomas Jefferson sits at a round table with papers, quill pens, spectacles, and books laid out in front of him. He is in an interior room with green walls, large paned windows, and a grandfather clock. On the right side of the print, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sits at a small, worn table on a stool, wearing a blue jumpsuit and holding his hands together in front of him as he looks down at papers with writing on the table in front of him. The grid of dark grey bars criss-crossing the grey background indicate that he is sitting inside a prison cell. Beneath the image, handwritten in pencil: "8/25" in the lower left, "As Free and Independent States" in the lower center, and "Faith Ringgold 5/4/09" in the lower right.

Faith Ringgold, As Free and Independent States, 2009, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum