Post-Revolutionary America and the 1800s

As you know, the Revolutionary War ended (or started to end) in 1776. In the aftermath of that War, big changes occurred in the way all of our laws and justice systems developed.  We cannot possibly cover all of the historical developments here, but I would like for you to take a look at the three most influential documents of that time: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence, (which was based on the ancient Magna Carta) established for the first time that the colonists had “inalienable” rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (However, at the time, the word "colonists" referred only to the white men.   Poor people, former slaves and women were added later.)

Next, the Constitution laid out the structure for our government, and the Bill of Rights established the essentials of all of the rights we now take for granted with the criminal justice system, such as the right to a trial, the right to an attorney, the right to remain silent, and the right to have a jury hear our criminal cases.

Article III of the Constitution creates a Supreme Court and “such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Those are not very clear instructions!  So it is not surprising that the “inferior courts” – meaning the lower trial and appellate courts – went through a lot of growing pains. As the populations within the states grew, legal issues became more complex. And the courts necessarily became busier and more complex, too.

In order to manage the rapid growth in population and lawmaking, Congress passed multiple Judiciary Acts that molded the way the federal courts operated. Remember, these Acts applied only to the federal courts.  The state courts, which handle most criminal matters, cherry picked from these Acts to create their state-level court systems, which we will cover in the next Lesson.

Volumes of books have been written about all of the significant changes that occurred within the courts during the post-Revolutionary era.  But to sum it all up, there were six fundamental changes that you need to be familiar with in order to really understand how our modern criminal courts came into being:

• We moved away from having the King appoint our judges, with some states having popular elections and others using gubernatorial or legislative appointment;
• Although federal judges continued to be appointed for life, the states adopted term limits for judges as part of the effort to reduce their power and influence;
• We implemented means of controlling judicial discretion and jury behavior by requiring judges to use “jury instructions,” which will be discussed more in the Lesson about Juries;
• We started to see interest groups acting as “amicus curia,” or “friends of the court.” For example, people affiliated with the Progressive movement formed the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents and started lobbying the courts to treat children differently than adults in the judicial process.
• The professional prosecutor emerged.  Previously, private citizens prosecuted crimes.  This era saw the development of a professional prosecutor to handle criminal cases; and
• The legal field, including the judiciary, became more formal and professional.  Beginning during this era, lawyers and judges had to go to special schools and obtain special certifications (sort of like our modern law schools and bar exams).

That is a lot of information to absorb, isn't it?  Do not worry, we will revisit all of these points later on.  Right now, I simply want to introduce you to the ideas and concepts.