Reeve tutored at Princeton from 1767 to 1770. In 1771 he began to study law with Judge Jesse Root of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1772 he moved to Litchfield, situated on the crossroads of important inland trade routes, to open a new law practice. In 1773, he built a six-room, two-story house. Reeve, while a fervent supporter of the patriot cause, did not enter active service early in the Revolutionary War. His wife's poor health held him at home. However, in December 1776, the Connecticut Assembly called upon him to travel the state to drum up volunteers for the Continental Army. He then accepted a commission as an officer and accompanied his recruits as far as New York before returning to his ailing wife. , from a 1906 postcard Reeve took his brother-in-law, Aaron Burr, Jr. as a law student. In the beginning, Aaron Burr lived upstairs and took instruction in the downstairs parlor, adjacent to the gathering room where Reeve held mock court. Also on the first floor was Reeve's private law office. In 1781 Reeve worked with Theodore Sedgwick to represent Elizabeth Freeman, a slave in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in a legal bid for her freedom. Bett had listened to discussions related to the Sheffield Declaration, and to a reading of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, the latter containing the phrase "". She then asked Sedgwick to take her case to a local court. Reeve and Sedgwick successfully secured her freedom on constitutional grounds. The case, Brom & Bett v. Ashley, set a precedent that led to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts. Due in part to notoriety gained from the Elizabeth Freeman case, Reeve's student enrollment began to grow. In 1784, he added a second building to house and instruct his law students. Among the students was John C. Calhoun who, like Aaron Burr, became Vice President of the United States. In 1798, Reeve became a judge of Connecticut's Superior Court. He then hired James Gould, a former student, to assist in running the school. Together, they built up the most prominent law school of its time. Reeve is also noted for bringing Reverend Lyman Beecher to Litchfield in 1810 to serve as a Presbyterian minister for over 25 years, during which time he became notable for his preaching against alcohol and Unitarianism. In 1814, Reeve was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. At this time, Gould took over the law school. Reeve maintained contact with the school until 1820, three years before his death. The school continued to operate until 1833. Reeve's Law of Baron and Femme, first published in 1816, was the preeminent American treatise on family law for much of the 19th century. It underwent revisions and re-publication in 1846, 1867, and 1888.
Personal life and family
Reeve's only child, Aaron Burr Reeve, was born on October 3, 1780. Aaron Burr Reeve went on to graduate from Yale, and became a lawyer in Troy, New York. Sarah Reeve was often in ill health, and died on March 30, 1797. In 1799, Reeve married Elizabeth "Betsy" Thompson, with whom he had no children. Reeve died on December 13, 1823 in Litchfield, Connecticut, at the age of 79. His home, now known as Tapping Reeve House and Law School, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
