Moorfield Storey stands as one of the most remarkable yet often overlooked figures in American legal and social history. Born in the era of slavery's expansion and dying on the cusp of the Great Depression, Storey's life spanned a period of unprecedented transformation in American society. From his earliest days as a young Bostonian absorbing the abolitionist traditions of his city to his final years leading the nation's premier civil rights organization, Storey dedicated his considerable energies to the causes of justice, equality, and constitutional liberty. His career offers a window into the complex intersections of law, politics, and social reform that characterized the American Progressive Era, and his achievements continue to resonate in contemporary debates about American power and purpose.
What distinguished Storey from other reformers of his generation was not merely his commitment to particular causes but his willingness to take on multiple struggles simultaneously. While many activists focused their efforts on a single issue, Storey moved fluidly between anti-imperialism, civil rights, labor reform, and constitutional advocacy. He brought to each cause the same rigorous legal mind, the same moral clarity, and the same willingness to challenge entrenched power structures. His ability to connect seemingly disparate issues—the exploitation of Filipino peasants and the persecution of African American farmers in Arkansas, for example—demonstrated his understanding that injustice anywhere threatened justice everywhere.
This biography traces the arc of Storey's extraordinary career, examining his formative experiences, his development as a lawyer and reformer, his leadership in the Anti-Imperialist League and the NAACP, and his landmark Supreme Court arguments. Through careful analysis of his speeches, legal briefs, and private correspondence, we gain insight into the mind of a man who devoted his life to the proposition that law should serve human welfare rather than the interests of the powerful. Storey's story is not simply a historical curiosity but a testament to the possibility of principled leadership in a nation still struggling to fulfill its founding ideals.
Moorfield Storey was born on March 19, 1845, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, which at the time was a separate city from Boston but would later be annexed as one of its neighborhoods. His birth came at a critical moment in American history, just three years before the Mexican-American War would dramatically expand the nation's territory and intensify the national debate over slavery. The social and political tensions that would tear the nation apart two decades later were already visible on the horizon, and the environment in which Storey grew up was shaped by these looming conflicts.
The Storey family had deep roots in Massachusetts, with ancestors who had settled in the colony during the seventeenth century. This long heritage gave the family a sense of security and belonging that would prove important in shaping Moorfield's later willingness to take controversial positions. Having no need to court popular favor or to seek advancement through conformity, Storey was free to chart an independent course based on his understanding of principle and justice. This independence of mind would become one of his most distinctive characteristics and would enable him to take stands that more cautious politicians would avoid.
The family was comfortable without being wealthy, occupying a position in Boston's upper-middle class that provided both material security and social standing. Moorfield's father, also named Moorfield Storey, was a successful lawyer in Boston, practicing in the city's courts and building a reputation for professional competence and personal integrity. The elder Storey's legal career gave his son early exposure to the practice of law and planted the seeds of Moorfield's own legal vocation. The younger Storey would later note that his father's example had taught him that the legal profession could be a vehicle for serving the public good as well as for earning a livelihood.
Boston in the 1850s was one of the nation's centers of abolitionist activity, a city where opposition to slavery was not merely a matter of private conscience but of public advocacy and political action. The city had been shaped by generations of religious dissent and reform activism, from the Puritan founders who had established Massachusetts as a refuge for religious freedom to the more recent abolitionists who demanded an end to the peculiar institution. Storey came of age in this environment, absorbing its moral energy and learning that citizens had both the right and the responsibility to speak out against injustice.
The most important influence on young Storey's intellectual development was his proximity to the great abolitionist orator and statesman Charles Sumner. Although Storey would not meet Sumner personally until later in his life, the Senator's exploits were common knowledge in Boston circles. Sumner's dramatic assault by South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks in 1856, caned nearly to death on the floor of the Senate for his anti-slavery speeches, had made him a martyr to the cause and had intensified northern sentiment against the slave power. Storey grew up with stories of Sumner's courage and of the struggle against slavery, experiences that would shape his own commitment to principled opposition to injustice.
The atmosphere of Boston's intellectual circles reinforced these lessons. The city's leading citizens included merchants, lawyers, and academics who debated the great questions of the day with passion and sophistication. Storey's family moved in these circles, and young Moorfield had opportunity to observe and participate in discussions that ranged across politics, literature, and philosophy. This exposure to serious intellectual discourse gave him a foundation for the careful reasoning and eloquent expression that would later characterize his legal arguments and public speeches. The combination of moral seriousness and intellectual rigor that characterized Boston's reform community would become hallmarks of Storey's own approach to public issues.
Storey's formal education began at the Boston Latin School, the nation's oldest public school and a training ground for generations of New England's intellectual and political elite. Founded in 1635, the school had produced signers of the Declaration of Independence, presidents of Harvard, and leaders in every field of American endeavor. Its rigorous curriculum emphasized classical languages, mathematics, and literature, providing students with the foundation for later study at the college and professional school levels. For a young man of Storey's abilities and ambitions, Boston Latin offered an ideal preparation for the intellectual challenges ahead.
Storey distinguished himself as a student at Boston Latin, demonstrating the qualities of diligence and analytical acuity that would characterize his later career. The school's emphasis on classical languages, particularly Latin, proved particularly valuable, giving him a facility with language that would serve him well in his legal career. The ability to parse complex texts, to identify logical fallacies, and to construct persuasive arguments—skills developed through years of studying Latin prose and Greek philosophy—would become essential tools in his work as a lawyer and advocate. The discipline required to master these subjects also instilled habits of careful preparation and thoroughness that remained with him throughout his life.
Storey graduated from Boston Latin School in 1862, at the age of seventeen. His graduation coincided with the darkest days of the Civil War, as Union armies suffered defeats in Virginia and the nation struggled to find a path to victory. The war had already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and would ultimately claim hundreds of thousands more before its conclusion. For a young man coming of age in this period, the conflict was not an abstraction but a present reality that shaped every aspect of American life. Storey would later recall how the war had awakened him to the moral questions at the heart of American politics and had pointed him toward a career devoted to justice and reform.
Following his graduation from Boston Latin, Storey enrolled at Harvard College, the nation's premier institution of higher learning and the training ground for New England's intellectual and political leadership. His time at Harvard, extending from 1862 to 1866, coincided with the Civil War and its aftermath, a period of transformation that would reshape every aspect of American society. The war that had begun when Storey entered college would end before his graduation, and the nation that emerged from the conflict would be fundamentally different from the one he had known as a boy.
Storey's college years were marked by intensive study in the classical curriculum that still dominated American higher education. He studied Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, mathematics, and natural science, gaining a broad foundation in the liberal arts that would serve him well in his later career. The study of classical texts—particularly the works of Greek and Roman historians and philosophers—introduced him to enduring questions about justice, governance, and the proper relationship between citizens and their governments. These classical models would inform his understanding of republican virtue and civic responsibility throughout his life.
The Civil War profoundly affected Harvard during Storey's years as a student. Many young men from the university enlisted in the Union armies, and the campus was emptied of students who would never return. Those who remained behind were acutely aware of the sacrifices being made by their classmates and contemporaries, and the war cast a shadow over college life. Storey himself did not serve in the military, perhaps because of physical limitations or family responsibilities, but he was deeply affected by the conflict and by the issues it raised about American democracy and its promise of liberty and equality for all.
Storey graduated from Harvard College in 1866, at the age of twenty-one. His graduation came at a pivotal moment in American history, just one year after the end of the Civil War and during the early days of Reconstruction. The nation was struggling to determine how to integrate the freed slaves into the body politic and how to heal the wounds of four years of bloody conflict. These questions would occupy American politics for decades to come, and Storey would play an important role in the ongoing struggle for racial justice. His Harvard education had prepared him intellectually for this work, but his real preparation for a career in reform would come through his association with Charles Sumner.
Following his graduation from Harvard College, Storey enrolled at Harvard Law School, the nation's leading institution for legal education. The law school at this time was undergoing significant changes, moving away from the purely practical training that had characterized earlier periods toward a more theoretical and scholarly approach to legal education. Under the leadership of James Bradley, the school was developing the case method that would become its hallmark and that would transform legal education throughout the country. Storey was among the first generation of students to benefit from these innovations.
Storey's legal education at Harvard exposed him to the fundamental principles of American law and to the intellectual tools necessary for rigorous legal analysis. He studied property law, contract law, constitutional law, and the other core subjects that formed the foundation of legal practice. He learned to identify the relevant legal principles in complex situations, to analyze facts carefully, and to construct logical arguments based on precedent and principle. These skills would prove essential in his later career as a lawyer and advocate, enabling him to handle complex cases and to persuade courts and juries of the justice of his clients' causes.
The study of law also introduced Storey to the fundamental tensions in American constitutional development. The law school curriculum during his years as a student dealt extensively with questions of slavery, federalism, and civil rights that were at the heart of the nation's ongoing struggles. The great cases of the antebellum period—Dred Scott v. Sandford and the other decisions that had inflamed sectional conflict—provided cautionary tales about the dangers of judicial error and the importance of principled constitutional interpretation. Storey absorbed these lessons and developed a deep appreciation for the role of law in advancing or undermining the cause of justice.
Storey completed his legal studies at Harvard Law School and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1869. His admission to the bar marked the beginning of a legal career that would span more than sixty years and would encompass some of the most important civil rights and constitutional cases of the Progressive Era. Before establishing his own practice, however, Storey would have an experience that would profoundly shape his subsequent career: his service as private secretary to Charles Sumner, the great abolitionist senator from Massachusetts.
In 1867, shortly after his admission to the bar, Storey began service as private secretary to Charles Sumner, the Senator from Massachusetts who had been one of the nation's most prominent abolitionists for more than two decades. The arrangement was a natural fit given Storey's Boston background, his legal training, and his commitment to the causes that Sumner had championed throughout his career. For the next two years, from 1867 to 1869, Storey worked closely with one of the most influential figures in American political life, absorbing lessons about leadership, principle, and advocacy that would guide him throughout his career.
Sumner was at the height of his influence during the years Storey worked for him. The Senator had recovered from the physical injuries sustained in his beating by Preston Brooks and had emerged as a leader of the Radical Republicans in the Senate during Reconstruction. He was instrumental in the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, which abolished slavery, guaranteed citizenship and equal protection to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and prohibited denial of the vote on account of race. These constitutional changes represented the high-water mark of Reconstruction and the most ambitious attempt in American history to fulfill the nation's founding promises of liberty and equality.
Working in Sumner's office gave Storey an intimate view of the legislative process and of the strategies employed by effective advocates for reform. He observed how Sumner built coalitions, how he countered opposition, and how he used the Senate floor as a platform for advancing his moral and political arguments. These lessons in political strategy would serve Storey well in his later work as a reformer and advocate. He learned that effective advocacy required not merely logical argument but also an understanding of political realities and the ability to build coalitions among diverse constituencies.
The years Storey spent with Sumner coincided with the most ambitious attempt in American history to restructure Southern society and to create genuine equality for the freed slaves. The Radical Republicans who dominated Congress during Reconstruction sought not merely to restore the prewar Union but to transform the South into a society based on free labor and equal citizenship. These goals required fundamental changes in the Southern political and economic order, including land reform, universal suffrage, and the protection of civil rights through federal legislation and constitutional amendment.
Storey absorbed the Radical Republican vision during his years with Sumner, developing a commitment to racial equality that would guide his subsequent career. This commitment went beyond mere opposition to discrimination to encompass a positive vision of what racial justice required. Like Sumner, Storey believed that the federal government had both the power and the responsibility to protect the rights of all citizens, regardless of race, and that the constitutional amendments adopted during Reconstruction were not merely temporary measures but permanent enlargements of the scope of American liberty.
The failure of Reconstruction and the redemption of the South by white supremacist forces had a profound effect on Storey's subsequent political development. As the gains of Reconstruction were rolled back and African Americans in the South were subjected to a new system of racial oppression, Storey became increasingly disillusioned with the capacity of the two-party system to advance the cause of racial justice. This disillusionment would eventually lead him to become an independent voice for reform, working outside the party structure to advocate for the causes he believed in. The experience of Reconstruction's failure also deepened his understanding of the importance of legal strategies for protecting civil rights, a lesson that would inform his later work with the NAACP.
Beyond the substantive lessons about race and politics, Storey's years with Sumner provided crucial training in constitutional interpretation. Sumner was a skilled parliamentarian and constitutional scholar who understood the importance of careful legal reasoning in advancing political goals. He had studied the Constitution intensively and had developed sophisticated arguments for the sweeping powers he claimed for Congress during Reconstruction. These arguments provided Storey with models for constitutional analysis that he would employ throughout his career.
Sumner's approach to constitutional interpretation combined respect for text and precedent with attention to the fundamental purposes that constitutional provisions were designed to serve. He did not treat the Constitution as a static document to be interpreted according to original meanings fixed at the moment of adoption, but rather as a living charter whose provisions must be understood in light of their essential purposes. This approach, which combined textual fidelity with purposive interpretation, would characterize Storey's own constitutional reasoning and would inform his arguments before the Supreme Court in cases involving civil rights and individual liberty.
The mentorship relationship with Sumner also gave Storey access to the network of reformers and activists who surrounded the great Senator. Through Sumner's office, Storey met many of the leading figures of the post-Civil War reform community, including other Radical Republicans, African American leaders, and activists for various causes. These connections would prove valuable throughout Storey's subsequent career, providing him with allies and supporters for his various reform efforts. The personal relationships formed during these years helped establish Storey as a serious figure in the reform community and opened doors for his subsequent activities.
After completing his service with Sumner in 1869, Storey established his own legal practice in Boston. He had spent two years learning the craft of political advocacy at the highest levels, but he now needed to apply those lessons in the more mundane context of private legal practice. The transition from political aide to practicing lawyer was not always smooth, but Storey brought to his practice the same intellectual rigor and ethical seriousness that had characterized his work with Sumner. His practice grew over the years, and he established a reputation for competence, integrity, and commitment to his clients' interests.
Storey's early practice focused on the commercial and corporate matters that comprised much of the legal business in Boston during the postwar period. He handled contract disputes, corporate formations, and other matters that came before the city's courts and business community. While these cases did not involve the dramatic social issues that would later concern him, they provided valuable experience in the practical aspects of legal practice. Storey learned to manage complex transactions, to represent clients effectively in court, and to navigate the procedural requirements of legal practice. These skills would prove essential when he later took on more significant cases involving constitutional and civil rights questions.
The demands of legal practice did not prevent Storey from maintaining his involvement in public affairs. He continued to participate in the reform community that had surrounded Sumner and to advocate for the causes in which he believed. He gave speeches, wrote articles, and participated in organizations dedicated to civil rights and good government. This combination of private practice and public advocacy would characterize Storey's entire career, as he maintained his legal work while simultaneously pursuing his reform activities. The income from his practice provided financial independence that allowed him to take controversial positions without concern for personal consequences.
Over the decades that followed his admission to the bar, Storey rose to professional distinction in the Boston legal community. His reputation for competence and integrity attracted clients with complex legal problems, and his success in handling their cases enhanced his standing among his colleagues. By the turn of the century, he had established himself as one of the leading lawyers in Massachusetts, a figure whose opinion was sought on matters of legal importance and whose advocacy was valued in significant cases.
Storey's professional success reflected not merely his legal abilities but also his commitment to the highest standards of professional ethics. He was known for his refusal to take cases that he considered unjust or to employ tactics that he considered unethical, even when such refusal meant turning away lucrative business. This commitment to principle earned him the respect of his colleagues and enhanced his effectiveness as an advocate, since his arguments carried the weight of personal integrity. Clients knew that when Moorfield Storey represented them, he would represent them honestly and would not sacrifice his principles for their benefit.
The recognition Storey received from his professional community extended beyond his immediate practice. He was elected president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, one of the highest honors available to lawyers in the state. He also served as president of the American Bar Association, the national organization of the legal profession, from 1898 to 1900. These leadership positions gave Storey platforms for advancing his views on legal education, professional ethics, and the role of the legal profession in American society. He used these opportunities to advocate for reforms that would enhance the quality of legal services and increase access to justice for ordinary citizens.
Storey's position in the Boston legal establishment gave him both opportunities and constraints in his reform activities. On one hand, his professional standing gave him credibility and access that allowed him to advance his causes more effectively. When a respected lawyer argued for a position, it carried more weight than when the same argument came from a less credentialed source. Storey's success in private practice thus enhanced his effectiveness as a reformer by lending authority to his advocacy.
On the other hand, Storey's position in the establishment sometimes created tensions with his reform activities. The legal profession in Boston, like elsewhere, was dominated by members of the upper class who had significant investments in the existing social and economic order. While these men might support some reforms, they were generally hostile to challenges to the fundamental arrangements of American society. Storey's growing commitment to anti-imperialism and civil rights would eventually bring him into conflict with some of his professional colleagues, forcing him to choose between his reform convictions and his standing in the legal community.
Despite these tensions, Storey maintained his position in the Boston legal establishment while pursuing his reform activities. He was too successful and too respected to be excluded from professional recognition, and his colleagues could not easily dismiss arguments that came from a lawyer of his stature. This ability to maintain standing in the establishment while challenging its assumptions was one of Storey's most valuable assets as a reformer. It allowed him to advocate for change from a position of strength rather than from the margins of society.
The Spanish-American War of 1898 marked a turning point in American foreign policy and in Moorfield Storey's career. The war, which began in April 1898 with American intervention in Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain, concluded in August with American victory and the acquisition of Spain's Pacific and Caribbean territories, including the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. These acquisitions transformed the United States from a continental power into an imperial nation with overseas possessions, raising fundamental questions about the nature of American government and the values that should guide American foreign policy.
The war's aftermath created a movement of opposition that would become the American Anti-Imperialist League, an organization that would play a central role in Storey's subsequent career. The League was founded in June 1898 at a meeting at Boston's Faneuil Hall, the historic site of American revolutionary oratory and a fitting location for a movement dedicated to preserving American principles against the corrupting influence of empire. Storey was among the founders of the League and would soon emerge as one of its most prominent and effective leaders.
The Anti-Imperialist League brought together Americans from diverse backgrounds who shared concern about the direction of American foreign policy. The movement included former Populists who saw imperialism as an extension of the economic exploitation practiced by Eastern bankers and industrialists, Progressives who believed that empire would corrupt American democracy and undermine domestic reform, intellectuals who valued the American tradition of liberty and feared its corruption by imperial power, and African American leaders who saw in imperialism a continuation of the white supremacy that had oppressed them since emancipation. Storey's leadership of this diverse coalition demonstrated his ability to build bridges across ideological divides in service of common goals.
The Anti-Imperialist League's primary focus was American policy in the Philippines, where the United States had acquired Spain's former colony following the Spanish-American War. The acquisition faced opposition because the Philippines had been promised independence in the Treaty of Paris that ended the Spanish-American War, and many Americans believed that taking the islands as permanent colonies violated the principles for which the nation had fought. The Philippine-American War that followed American acquisition, a conflict that cost hundreds of thousands of Filipino lives, only intensified opposition to American imperial policy.
Storey was particularly disturbed by the human rights violations committed by American forces in the Philippines. Reports of atrocities—massacres of civilians, torture of prisoners, and destruction of entire villages—reached the United States and provoked outrage among those who had believed that American forces would bring civilization and freedom to the Filipino people. Storey and other anti-imperialists pointed to these atrocities as evidence that imperialism was incompatible with American values and that the Philippines should be granted independence as the Filipino people had been promised.
The anti-imperialist movement's opposition to the Philippine-American War was not merely a matter of humanitarian concern. Storey and his colleagues also argued that imperialism would corrupt American institutions and undermine democracy at home. They pointed to the constitutional questions raised by colonial rule—how could the United States maintain republican government when it ruled subject peoples without their consent?—and warned that the spirit of empire would inevitably affect American politics more broadly. These arguments anticipated concerns about American power that would recur throughout the twentieth century and would become central to debates about American foreign policy.
Storey served as president of the Anti-Imperialist League from 1905 to 1921, providing steady leadership through a period of intense controversy and gradual decline. Under his guidance, the League mounted a sustained campaign against American imperial policy, publishing pamphlets and newspapers, organizing public meetings, and lobbying political leaders. The organization attracted a membership of thirty thousand at its peak and maintained chapters in cities across the country. While the League ultimately failed to prevent American acquisition of the Philippines, it succeeded in raising fundamental questions about American power that would continue to resonate in subsequent debates.
Storey's leadership style emphasized moral clarity and principled argument rather than political maneuvering. He believed that the case against imperialism was so strong that it would ultimately prevail if properly presented, and he devoted his efforts to articulating that case with precision and force. His speeches and writings during this period constitute some of the most powerful statements of anti-imperialist sentiment in American history, combining constitutional argument, moral suasion, and practical analysis of the consequences of imperial policy.
The Anti-Imperialist League declined after World War I as American attention turned to domestic issues and as the colonies gradually moved toward independence. The organization's dissolution in 1920 marked the end of an era in American reform politics, but its legacy lived on in the arguments its members had articulated and in the network of activists it had developed. Storey's leadership of the League had established him as one of the nation's leading voices for anti-imperialism and had prepared him for his subsequent role in the civil rights movement.
Storey's anti-imperialism was grounded in constitutional principle as well as moral concern. He argued that American acquisition of overseas territories violated fundamental principles of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence by denying the inhabitants the right to self-governance that was the birthright of all mankind. This argument drew on the traditions of American republicanism and on the specific constitutional provisions that the nation's founders had established to protect liberty and limit governmental power.
The constitutional question at the heart of the anti-imperialist argument concerned the status of the territories acquired from Spain. The Constitution had been drafted for a nation of continental dimensions, and its provisions assumed a relationship between the federal government and the states that did not easily apply to overseas colonies. The Supreme Court had addressed these questions in the Insular Cases, a series of decisions holding that constitutional protections did not automatically apply to territories acquired by the United States. Storey and other anti-imperialists rejected these decisions as inconsistent with constitutional principles and with American traditions of liberty.
Storey also argued that imperialism would undermine constitutional government at home by creating a standing army and a presidential power that would threaten republican institutions. He pointed to historical examples of empires that had corrupted the democracies that established them and warned that America would face similar dangers if it continued on the path of imperial expansion. These arguments anticipated concerns about the national security state that would become prominent in later decades and demonstrated Storey's understanding of the relationship between foreign policy and domestic political institutions.
The founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909 marked a turning point in the American civil rights movement, and Moorfield Storey played a central role in the organization's establishment. The NAACP was founded by a coalition of white and Black activists who shared concern about the resurgence of white supremacy in the South and the failure of the federal government to protect the constitutional rights of African American citizens. Storey, with his established reputation as a reformer and his experience in constitutional advocacy, was a natural choice to lead the new organization.
Storey served as president of the NAACP from its founding in 1909 until 1925, providing leadership during the organization's formative years. His selection as president was significant not only because of his abilities but also because it signaled that the NAACP would have the support of influential white reformers. At a time when many white Americans considered racial inequality a settled question, Storey's willingness to take a public stand for African American rights demonstrated that the cause of civil rights had influential allies in the white community.
As president of the NAACP, Storey guided the organization through a period of intense struggle against the system of Jim Crow that had been established across the South following the collapse of Reconstruction. The organization worked through multiple strategies—legal challenges to discriminatory laws, public education campaigns, lobbying for federal legislation, and support for local civil rights activists—and Storey's leadership helped integrate these various efforts into a coherent strategy for advancing the cause of racial justice.
A central element of the NAACP's approach under Storey's leadership was the use of legal strategy to challenge discriminatory laws and practices. The organization recognized that lasting change would require not merely public opinion but also the transformation of constitutional doctrine, and it assembled a team of skilled lawyers to pursue test cases that would challenge segregation and discrimination in the courts. Storey himself played a key role in this legal effort, arguing important cases before the Supreme Court and helping to develop the constitutional arguments that would eventually lead to the dismantling of Jim Crow.
The legal strategy focused on several key constitutional provisions, particularly the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection and the Fifteenth Amendment's prohibition on racial discrimination in voting. NAACP lawyers sought cases that would allow the Supreme Court to reconsider the doctrine of "separate but equal" established in Plessy v. Ferguson and to strike down the discriminatory laws that had proliferated across the South. This strategy would eventually succeed, culminating in the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, but the process of legal change was slow and required sustained effort over many decades.
Storey's involvement in the legal strategy reflected his belief that law could be an instrument of social reform when properly understood and applied. He rejected the notion that constitutional interpretation should be static and originalist, arguing instead that constitutional provisions should be understood in light of their fundamental purposes. This approach allowed him to develop arguments for expanding civil rights protection that were grounded in the text and history of the Constitution but that pointed toward more protective doctrine.
One of the most significant episodes in Storey's civil rights career involved the so-called Arkansas Cases, a series of prosecutions that followed a racial massacre in Phillips County, Arkansas, in 1919. The violence had erupted during an effort by African American tenant farmers to organize for better working conditions, and white planters had responded with a campaign of terror that killed hundreds of Black residents. The surviving Black farmers had been prosecuted for murder, with twelve men sentenced to death and dozens more receiving long prison terms.
The NAACP took up the case of the convicted men, known as the Elaine Twelve, and Storey led the organization's efforts to secure their release. The case raised fundamental questions about the fairness of Southern justice for African Americans and about the willingness of courts to protect Black defendants from mob violence. Storey assembled a legal team that challenged the convictions on the ground that they had been obtained through proceedings dominated by racial prejudice and that the defendants had been denied due process of law.
The Arkansas Cases demonstrated both the potential and the limitations of legal strategy in the struggle for civil rights. While Storey and his colleagues were unable to secure the outright release of all the convicted men, their efforts brought national attention to the injustice of the prosecutions and raised questions about the fairness of Southern justice. The case also demonstrated the importance of legal advocacy in contexts where political solutions were impossible, as the Black farmers of Arkansas had no prospect of obtaining justice through the political process in a state dominated by white supremacists.
One of Storey's most significant legal victories came in Buchanan v. Warley, a 1917 Supreme Court case in which he argued that a Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance requiring residential segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. The case challenged one of the mechanisms by which white supremacists sought to maintain racial separation in Northern as well as Southern cities, and a victory would strike a blow against the system of residential segregation that confined African Americans to the least desirable neighborhoods.
Storey's argument before the Supreme Court combined constitutional analysis with practical demonstration of the harms that segregation caused. He showed that the Louisville ordinance was not merely a reasonable exercise of police power but a discriminatory measure that restricted African Americans' right to own property and to live where they chose. He emphasized that the Fourteenth Amendment protected the fundamental rights of all citizens, regardless of race, and that laws that discriminated on the basis of race could not be sustained under the Constitution.
The Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Storey's arguments in Buchanan v. Warley, holding that the Louisville ordinance violated the Fourteenth Amendment. While the decision did not immediately end residential segregation—white cities found other mechanisms to enforce separation, including racially restrictive covenants—it established an important precedent that would be built upon in subsequent cases. The decision also demonstrated Storey's ability to persuade the Supreme Court to adopt more protective interpretations of constitutional provisions, a skill that would serve the civil rights movement well in the decades to come.
Beyond his work on civil rights cases, Storey argued several other significant matters before the Supreme Court during his long legal career. One of the most important was a case involving the Missouri Pacific Railway, in which he represented the railroad in a dispute over the validity of state regulations affecting interstate commerce. The case raised fundamental questions about the relationship between state and federal authority in the regulation of transportation and required careful analysis of the commerce clause and its implications for state power.
Storey's argument in the Missouri Pacific case demonstrated his ability to master complex factual and legal issues and to present them persuasively to the Supreme Court. He showed that the state regulations at issue conflicted with federal law and that allowing them to stand would undermine the uniform regulation of interstate commerce that the Constitution contemplated. His argument helped persuade the Court to adopt a more expansive view of federal power over interstate transportation, a view that would prove important for the subsequent development of administrative law.
The Missouri Pacific case was significant not only for its immediate outcome but also for the principles it established regarding the relationship between state and federal authority. The decision helped define the boundaries between state and federal power in an era when the national economy was becoming increasingly integrated and when the need for uniform national regulation was becoming more apparent. Storey's contribution to this development demonstrated his understanding of the constitutional implications of economic change and his ability to translate that understanding into effective legal advocacy.
Storey's Supreme Court practice spanned a wide range of constitutional issues, from civil rights to federalism to individual liberties. He was particularly interested in cases that raised questions about the scope of federal power and the protection of individual rights against governmental infringement. His arguments before the Court helped shape constitutional doctrine in these areas and established his reputation as one of the most effective constitutional advocates of his generation.
A recurring theme in Storey's constitutional litigation was the importance of federal courts as protectors of constitutional rights against infringement by state governments. He recognized that in a federal system, the ultimate protection for individual rights often lay in the willingness of federal courts to review state actions and to strike down those that violated the federal Constitution. This understanding informed his approach to civil rights cases, in which he consistently sought to invoke federal constitutional provisions as a check on state discriminatory practices.
Storey also contributed to the development of federal question jurisdiction, the body of law governing the authority of federal courts to hear cases arising under the Constitution and federal statutes. He understood that effective enforcement of constitutional rights required access to federal courts, and he worked to establish principles that would facilitate such access. His litigation practice helped define the scope of federal court authority and contributed to the development of doctrines that would enable subsequent generations of civil rights lawyers to pursue constitutional claims in federal court.
Even in his later years, Storey continued to argue important cases before the Supreme Court. His final appearance before the Court came in his early eighties, when he argued a case involving the constitutionality of a federal statute affecting the rights of American citizens. This final argument demonstrated the remarkable persistence and mental acuity that characterized his entire career, as he brought the same analytical rigor and rhetorical skill to the case as he had demonstrated decades earlier.
Storey's later cases often involved questions that connected his various reform interests. He argued cases involving the rights of labor unions, the protection of free speech, and the scope of federal power in ways that reflected his broader commitment to justice and equality. These cases demonstrated his ability to see connections between seemingly disparate issues and to develop constitutional arguments that served multiple purposes simultaneously.
The body of Supreme Court litigation that Storey developed over his long career constituted a significant contribution to American constitutional law. While not all of his arguments were successful, his cases established important precedents and helped develop the constitutional doctrine that would eventually be applied in the civil rights victories of the mid-twentieth century. His work demonstrated the potential of strategic litigation to transform constitutional meaning and to advance the cause of social reform through legal means.
Moorfield Storey's career intersected with the broader Progressive Era reform movement that sought to address the social and economic problems created by industrialization and urbanization. While Storey is best known for his work on anti-imperialism and civil rights, he was also involved in many of the other reform causes that characterized the Progressive Era, including labor rights, women's suffrage, and good government initiatives. His involvement in these causes reflected his understanding that the various reform movements were interconnected and that progress in one area often depended on progress in others.
Storey's approach to Progressive Era reform was characterized by a willingness to take on powerful interests in pursuit of justice. He understood that many of the problems of industrial America—exploitation of workers, corruption of politics, inequality of wealth—resulted from the concentration of power in the hands of those who benefited from the status quo, and he believed that effective reform required challenging that concentration of power. This willingness to take on powerful interests made him a valuable ally for various reform movements and earned him the respect of activists across the ideological spectrum.
The Progressive Era reform movement achieved many of its goals during Storey's lifetime, including the adoption of labor protection laws, the expansion of democracy through women's suffrage and direct election of senators, and the establishment of administrative agencies to regulate business practices. While Storey did not claim credit for all of these achievements, he contributed to the broader reform climate that made them possible and worked alongside other reformers who achieved specific legislative victories. His career demonstrated the value of sustained engagement with public affairs and the potential for dedicated individuals to influence the course of events.
Storey was a consistent supporter of labor rights throughout his career, recognizing that the exploitation of workers was a form of injustice that required legal response. He represented labor unions in important cases, helped draft protective legislation, and spoke out in support of workers' right to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers. His support for labor rights reflected his broader commitment to equality and his understanding that economic power, like political power, required legal regulation to prevent abuse.
One of Storey's significant contributions to labor rights came through his representation of unions in cases involving the rights of workers to engage in collective action. He understood that the right to strike and to form unions was essential to the ability of workers to improve their conditions, and he worked to establish legal protections for these rights. His arguments in labor cases helped develop the constitutional doctrine that would eventually recognize labor rights as fundamental aspects of American liberty.
Storey's support for labor rights was connected to his broader critique of concentrated economic power. He recognized that the great industrial and financial corporations of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era represented a concentration of economic power that threatened both workers and consumers, and he believed that effective reform required controlling that concentration. This understanding led him to support antitrust enforcement, regulation of business practices, and other measures designed to promote competition and protect the public interest.
Storey was also involved in good government initiatives aimed at cleaning up politics and making government more responsive to the needs of citizens. He supported measures to reduce corruption, to expand voter participation, and to make government more efficient and effective. These efforts reflected his belief that representative democracy required active citizen engagement and that corruption and inefficiency undermined the legitimacy of governmental institutions.
One of Storey's significant contributions to good government came through his work on Boston's municipal finances. He served on commissions charged with reforming the city's financial practices and helped develop recommendations that would reduce waste and improve the efficiency of city services. His work demonstrated the importance of technical expertise in governmental reform and showed how careful analysis could identify opportunities for improvement that were not apparent to less systematic observers.
Storey's good government work also included advocacy for structural reforms to the political system, including the direct election of senators, initiative and referendum procedures, and other measures designed to make government more directly accountable to the people. These reforms were part of the broader Progressive Era agenda for democratic renewal, and Storey's support helped build momentum for their adoption. His belief in the capacity of ordinary citizens to participate effectively in governance distinguished him from more elitist reformers who wanted to improve government by excluding popular influence.
Moorfield Storey's personal life was marked by the same dedication to principle and public service that characterized his professional career. He married twice, first to Katherine Broughton in 1874 and then, following her death, to Elizabeth B. Van Buren in 1915. Both marriages provided Storey with companionship and support as he pursued his demanding career, and his wives shared his commitment to the causes in which he believed. The stability of his personal life provided a foundation for his public activities and allowed him to maintain the sustained engagement with reform causes that defined his career.
Storey's family background shaped his character in important ways. The long heritage of his family in Massachusetts gave him a sense of security that allowed him to take controversial positions without personal fear, while the reform traditions of his community gave him a model for how public-spirited citizens should behave. His father's example as a lawyer committed to professional ethics demonstrated that legal practice could be consistent with high moral standards, a lesson that Storey absorbed and applied throughout his career.
The relationships Storey formed with other reformers were also important to his personal development and effectiveness. His connection with Charles Sumner had introduced him to the world of reform activism and had provided him with a model for principled advocacy. Subsequent relationships with other reformers—African American leaders, labor organizers, anti-imperialists—expanded his understanding of the various forms of injustice that required response and provided him with allies in his various campaigns. These personal connections gave Storey's reform work a human dimension that complemented his more abstract constitutional arguments.
Storey's intellectual approach combined rigorous legal analysis with moral passion and practical wisdom. He was trained in the classical tradition of legal education that emphasized careful attention to precedent and principle, but he also understood that law served social purposes and that legal doctrine must be evaluated by its effects on human welfare. This combination made him an effective advocate in both courtrooms and public debate, as he could ground his arguments in legal authority while connecting them to broader moral and practical considerations.
Storey was also a prolific writer, producing articles, pamphlets, and speeches that articulated his views on the issues of his day. His writing was characterized by clarity of expression, logical organization, and moral seriousness. He could explain complex legal and political issues in terms that ordinary citizens could understand, and he could inspire his readers with accounts of the injustices that required response. This ability to communicate with broad audiences enhanced his effectiveness as a reformer and helped build support for the causes he championed.
Among Storey's most significant written works were his constitutional arguments, which demonstrated his ability to develop legal reasoning that served reform purposes. His briefs and opinions in civil rights cases combined careful analysis of precedent with attention to the practical effects of various doctrinal approaches, producing arguments that were both legally sound and morally compelling. These writings continue to be cited by scholars and practitioners interested in the development of constitutional doctrine and in the role of law in advancing social reform.
Storey's character was marked by several distinctive qualities that shaped his effectiveness as a reformer. He was remarkably consistent in his commitment to principle, maintaining his positions even when they were unpopular or when adherence to them cost him professionally or personally. This consistency gave credibility to his advocacy and made him a trusted figure in reform circles. He was not swayed by personal advantage or by the pressure of public opinion, but held to his understanding of right and wrong regardless of the consequences.
Storey was also characterized by his willingness to take on difficult causes that more cautious reformers would avoid. He did not seek out controversy for its own sake, but he did not avoid it when justice required him to take a stand. His leadership of the Anti-Imperialist League and the NAACP, both controversial organizations, demonstrated his willingness to associate himself with unpopular causes and to advocate for positions that powerful interests opposed. This courage was essential to his effectiveness, as it allowed him to take stands that more timid reformers would have avoided.
The leadership style that emerged from these qualities emphasized moral clarity, intellectual rigor, and personal integrity. Storey led by example rather than by command, demonstrating through his own actions what committed advocacy looked like. He was generous with his time and resources, supporting causes that he believed in even when they offered little personal return. These qualities made him a respected figure across the reform community and enabled him to build coalitions that advanced the various causes to which he devoted his life.
Moorfield Storey died on October 24, 1929, just weeks after the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression. His death came at the end of a long life devoted to the service of justice and reform, a life that had spanned the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, and the early years of the modern civil rights movement. He had witnessed enormous changes in American society and had contributed to many of the movements that had shaped those changes. His death marked the end of an era in American reform politics and the passing of a generation that had committed itself to the achievement of justice for all.
Storey's final years were marked by continued activity in the causes he had championed. Even in his eighties, he maintained his involvement in the NAACP and other reform organizations, offering advice and support to the next generation of activists. He continued to write and speak on the issues of the day, bringing his characteristic clarity and moral passion to bear on the problems of the post-war world. His longevity allowed him to see some of the fruits of his labor, including the growing success of the NAACP's legal strategy and the gradual expansion of American opposition to imperialism.
The Great Depression that began shortly before Storey's death would have confirmed his concerns about the concentration of economic power and the need for reform. He had spent his career warning about the dangers of unbridled capitalism and about the exploitation of workers and minorities by those who controlled the nation's wealth. The economic catastrophe that followed his death demonstrated the accuracy of his warnings and suggested that his reform vision might have offered solutions to the problems that afflicted American society.
Historians and scholars have recognized Storey as one of the most important reformers of the Progressive Era and as a foundational figure in the American civil rights movement. His leadership of the Anti-Imperialist League established him as a leading voice against American imperialism, while his presidency of the NAACP helped launch the organization that would become the nation's premier civil rights group. His legal career demonstrated the potential of constitutional litigation to advance social reform and provided a model for subsequent generations of civil rights lawyers.
Storey's significance extends beyond his specific achievements to the example he set of principled public service. He demonstrated that it was possible to maintain high ethical standards while succeeding in a competitive profession, that it was possible to take controversial positions without losing effectiveness, and that it was possible to devote a lifetime to the service of justice without compromising one's principles. These lessons remain valuable for contemporary reformers who seek to advance justice in a society that often seems resistant to change.
The connection between Storey's various reform activities—anti-imperialism, civil rights, labor rights, good government—demonstrates his understanding that justice is indivisible and that the struggle for equality in one area reinforces the struggle in others. This holistic vision of reform anticipated later understandings of the interconnectedness of various forms of oppression and liberation. Storey's career thus offers resources for contemporary activists who seek to build coalitions across issue areas and to develop integrated approaches to the pursuit of justice.
Storey's influence extended to subsequent generations of reformers who built upon the foundations he had established. The NAACP's legal strategy, which Storey helped develop, eventually achieved its goal of dismantling Jim Crow through the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. The constitutional arguments that Storey had advanced in cases like Buchanan v. Warley provided precedents and inspiration for the lawyers who won those later victories. His work with the Anti-Imperialist League established traditions of anti-imperialist activism that would be revived in subsequent periods of American expansionism.
The network of activists and organizations that Storey helped develop continued to operate after his death, carrying forward the reform traditions he had championed. The NAACP remained at the forefront of the civil rights movement, eventually achieving the legislative and constitutional victories that Storey had sought but did not live to see. Other organizations carrying forward his legacy included the ACLU, which was founded by former members of the Anti-Imperialist League, and various labor and good government organizations that had benefited from his support.
Storey's example also inspired subsequent generations of lawyers who sought to use legal skills in service of social reform. His career demonstrated that legal practice need not be merely a business but can be a form of public service, and that lawyers can contribute to the achievement of justice through careful analysis, effective advocacy, and sustained engagement with difficult issues. This model of the lawyer-reformer has continued to influence legal education and practice, inspiring lawyers who seek to combine professional success with commitment to social justice.
Moorfield Storey's life offers a compelling example of principled leadership in a nation struggling to fulfill its founding ideals. From his birth in the era of slavery's expansion to his death on the eve of the Great Depression, Storey witnessed and participated in the major reform movements of his era. His career demonstrated the possibility of maintaining commitment to principle while achieving practical results, of taking controversial stands without losing effectiveness, and of building coalitions across diverse constituencies in service of common goals.
Storey's contributions to American law and politics were substantial and lasting. His leadership of the Anti-Imperialist League established important precedents for opposition to American imperial expansion, while his presidency of the NAACP helped launch the organization that would lead the civil rights movement for more than a century. His Supreme Court arguments helped develop constitutional doctrine that would eventually be applied in the dismantling of Jim Crow, and his support for labor rights and good government contributed to the broader Progressive Era reform movement that transformed American society.
Beyond his specific achievements, Storey's career offers lessons for contemporary reformers. He demonstrated the value of sustained engagement with difficult issues, of building coalitions across diverse constituencies, and of grounding reform advocacy in careful legal analysis and moral clarity. His willingness to take on powerful interests in pursuit of justice, even when the prospects for success seemed dim, provides a model for activists facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles. His example reminds us that change is possible when dedicated individuals commit themselves to the pursuit of justice over the long haul.
The story of Moorfield Storey is thus not merely a historical curiosity but a resource for contemporary efforts to advance justice and equality. His life demonstrates that American institutions can be reformed, that constitutional principles can be expanded to protect previously excluded groups, and that individual citizens can make a difference in the ongoing struggle to fulfill the nation's founding promises. In an era when many Americans are discouraged about the possibility of meaningful change, Storey's career offers evidence that persistent, principled advocacy can transform the nation, even if the transformation comes slowly and requires the efforts of multiple generations.
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorfield_Storey
2.https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2018/06/moorfield-storey
3.https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0431
4.https://uscivilliberties.org/biography/4545-storey-moorfield-18451929.html
5.https://aaregistry.org/story/moorfield-storey-lawyer-and-activist-born/
6.https://www.jstor.org/stable/24445105
7.https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/segregation-era.html
8.https://www.nytimes.com/1929/10/25/archives/moorfield-story-leader-of-bar-dies-former-president-of-american-bar.html
9.https://ualrexhibits.org/elaine/100-years-ago/judicial-approach/moore-v-dempsey/
10.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Anti-Imperialist_League