Dane, Nathan, 1752-1835

Nathan Dane (December 29, 1752 – February 15, 1835) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress from 1785 through 1788. Dane helped formulate the Northwest Ordinance while in Congress, and introduced an amendment to the ordinance prohibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory. During his career, he served in both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate. He also wrote a multi-volume treatise that covered the entire subject of American law, which enabled him to help fund the development of Harvard Law School.

Born in Ipswich in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Dane worked on the family farm in Ipswich until he turned twenty. Moving on to college at Harvard, his major interest was in mathematics, and he graduated in 1778. Then he taught school and read for the law. Dane was admitted to the bar and set up a legal practice in Beverly in 1782. That same year, he entered elective office in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he served until 1785. In 1785, Dane became a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress, where he helped draft the Northwest Ordinance, which was enacted on July 13, 1787. In February 1787, Dane proposed a resolution authorizing the Philadelphia Convention to amend the Articles of Confederation, and that resolution was adopted; out of that Philadelphia Convention came the proposed United States Constitution.

Dane was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate from 1790 to 1791 and again from 1794 to 1797. In 1794 he served on a commission that reviewed and codified the laws of Massachusetts. Later, while practicing law, he remained an active reformer, on behalf of vocational education and humane treatment of prisoners. He also helped establish the American Temperance Society to discourage use and abuse of alcoholic beverages. He was a member of the Federalist Party and its Essex Junto. The Massachusetts legislature appointed him as a delegate to the Hartford Convention during the War of 1812, which damaged his reputation, although Dane saw himself as a voice of moderation at the Convention and maintained that he did not have any secessionist intentions.

By 1820, Dane was almost totally deaf, but he continued working long hours in his library, writing two major legal treatises. The first of these was published in 1823, titled A General Abridgement and Digest of American Law. Its eight volumes were supplemented by a ninth in 1829. It became a standard work, and every lawyer of distinction bought a copy. Dane used the substantial proceeds from the Abridgement to provide an endowment for a law school at Harvard University, specifying that the first Dane Professorship of Law would go to his old friend Joseph Story. For a while, Harvard Law School was called "Dane Law School." Dane died at his home in Beverly and was buried in the Central Cemetery there.