Chester Alan Arthur was born on October 5, 1830 in Fairfield, Vermont. The son of Malvina Arthur and the Reverend William Arthur, a passionate abolitionist, young Chester and his family migrated from one Baptist parish to another in Vermont and New York. The fifth of eight children, Chester had six sisters and one older brother. Before beginning school in Union Village (now Greenwich), New York, he studied the fundamentals of reading and writing at home.In 1845, young Arthur entered Union College in Schenectady as a sophomore. There he studied classical languages, arts, and the sciences. He supplemented his tuition by teaching during winter vacations at various schools in the area. During the school year, Arthur spent a lot of time in campus extracurricular activities. He enjoyed participating in student political demonstrations on issues ranging from abolitionism to school elections, and playing school pranks. Hence, it is understandable that Arthur wasn't an outstanding student. Nevertheless, he graduated in the top third of his class in 1848. After college, Arthur spent several years teaching school and reading law, but he was clear about what he wanted to do with his life. He would be a lawyer, a public servant, a resident of Manhattan, a gentleman, and rich. After passing his bar exam in 1854 he used his father's influence to gain a clerkship in a New York legal firm headed by the prominent Erastus C. Culver.Culver's firm had achieved fame in 1852 when it supported a plea by a group of free blacks to liberate seven slaves. In transport from Virginia to Texas, these slaves had been brought to New York by their master. Known as the Lemmon Case, Erastus D. Culver successfully argued for a writ of habeas corpus, freeing the slaves from incarceration in the city jailwhere their owner had placed them for safe-keepingand thus bondage. This court ruling allegedly violated the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law and called into question ...
