The Sheriff Crosses the Atlantic

When English settlers began to travel to the New World, the office of sheriff traveled with them. The first American counties were established in Virginia in 1634, and records show that one of these counties elected a sheriff in 1651. Although this particular sheriff was chosen by popular vote, most other colonial sheriffs were appointed.

Just as noblemen in medieval England had depended upon sheriffs to protect their tracts of land, large American landowners appointed sheriffs to enforce the law in the areas they controlled. Unlike their English counterparts, however, American sheriffs were not expected to pay extraordinary expenses out of their own pockets. Some sheriffs--most of whom were wealthy men to begin with--even made money from the job.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, American sheriffs were assigned a broad range of responsibilities by colonial and state legislatures. Some of these responsibilities, such as law enforcement and tax collection, were carried over from the familiar role of the English sheriff. Other responsibilities, such as overseeing jails and workhouses, were new. Prior to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, the most common punishments for crimes that did not warrant the death penalty had been flogging or other sorts of physical mutilation.

When confinement became favored as a more civilized way to deal with criminals, authorities in medieval England introduced the county jail. They began to experiment with other sorts of facilities as well. Among these was the workhouse, where minor offenders were assigned useful labor; and the house of correction, where people who had been unable to function in society could theoretically be taught to do so.

All three of these institutions were brought to colonial America, and the responsibility for managing them was given to the colonies' ubiquitous law enforcement officer--the sheriff.

As Americans began to move westward, they took with them the concept of county jails and the office of sheriff. The sheriff was desperately needed to establish order in the lawless territories where power belonged to those with the fastest draw and the most accurate shot. Here it is said that sheriffs fell into two categories, the quick and the dead. Most western sheriffs, however, kept the peace by virtue of their authority rather than their guns. With a few exceptions, sheriffs resorted to firepower much less often than is commonly imagined.