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William Wirt (November 8, 1772–February 18, 1834) was a U.S. statesman and is credited with turning the position of United States Attorney General into one of influence.
Born in Bladensburg, Maryland to a Swiss father and a German mother, Wirt was privately educated, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1792. After several years as a lawyer, he became clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates, then chancellor of the Eastern District of Virginia. In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson ask him to be the prosecutor in Aaron Burr's treason trial. President James Monroe named him the ninth Attorney General of the United States in 1817, a position he held for 12 years, through the administration of John Quincy Adams, until 1829. After leaving Washington, D.C., he returned to Baltimore, Maryland, was an unsuccessful candidate for President in 1832 as the candidate of the Anti-Masonic party - and, in winning Vermont, became the first candidate of an organized third party to carry a state - and then practiced law until his death in 1834.
This article contains material from the US Department of Justice Attorneys General of the United States (http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/ls/agbiographies.htm#wirt) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
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