Notes Concerning the Author
Beverly Tucker (1784-1851) was born into a socially prominent and politically influential Virginia family. His father was the noted legal scholar St. George Tucker, whose works are also listed in the Society website. His half-brother was the famous whose works are also listed in the Society website. Tucker’s older brother Henry St. George Tucker, Sr., too, went on to have an eminent career as a law professor and Congressman in antebellum Virginia. His nephew Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, a U.S. diplomat and later secret agent for the Confederacy, was named after him. Beverly Tucker graduated from Willilam and Mary College in 1801, studied law, and practiced in Virginia. After moving with his family to the Missouri territory in 1816, Tucker served as a circuit court judge from 1817 until 1832. He returned to Virginia in 1833 and served as a Professor of Law at William and Mary from 1834 to his death in 1851. There, he wrote the futuristic novel, The Partisan Leader, which foresaw state secession.
Our Review
Written prior to 1838 and set in the future, in the United States of 1849, The Partisan Leader depicts a war between secessionist guerrillas in Virginia and a despotic Federal Government led by President-turned-dictator Martin Van Buren of New York State. In Tucker’s future, the states south of Virginia have already seceded, driven out of the Union by Van Buren’s centralizing government and exploitative tariff policy. While the Old Dominion itself remains under Federal Government control, the plot of The Partisan Leader concerns the efforts of patriotic Virginian irregulars to defeat Federal forces and join the independent Southern Confederacy.
Although we list this as a recommended book, we should state that a prominent Society member cautioned, “I read this years ago. I think it is more of a curiosity than a candidate for reading recommendation, but no harm if somebody wants to write a review.”
Availability of this Book
This book can be obtained as an e-book or a reprint book. We suggest the unadulterated version as published in 1838. For the Barnes a Noble e-book click below:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-partisan-leader-beverley-tucker/1013063549?ean=9781257318933
HRW