The Early Supreme Court and the Challenges of Riding Circuit

The ratification of the United States Constitution ushered in a new system of government. No longer did the thirteen states merely hang together by the threads of a confederation; they now bonded to each other as one nation. Organized chiefly by the first three articles of the Constitution, a federal government began to take shape. The Framers expressly laid out the functions and duties of the first two branches in the first two articles—the legislative and executive. However, Article III, which organized the judiciary, remained short and ambiguous. The Founders charged the First Congress with the task of organizing the federal judiciary. Even after Congress created the judiciary, however, questions still plagued the system. This essay argues that the actions taken by the Justices of the early Supreme Court to ease the burden of circuit riding expanded and further defined the judiciary's role as a branch of government.