High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! George Wythe (1726 – June 8, 1806) was the first American law professor, a noted classics scholar and Virginia judge, as well as a prominent opponent of slavery. The first of the seven Virginia signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence, Wythe served as one of Virginia`s representatives to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. Wythe taught and was a mentor to Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Henry Clay and other men who became American leaders.