Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase turned Maryland law and radical protest into congressional leadership in 1774-1778, signed the Declaration, and later defined judicial independence through impeachment.
Born April 17, 1741 / Died June 19, 1811
On April 17, 1741, in Princess Anne, Province of Maryland, Samuel Chase was born and later trained in law at Annapolis. He quickly built a reputation as a fierce political speaker, earning the nickname "Old Bacon Face" in Maryland's contentious public life. Service in the colonial assembly and resistance committees placed him among the colony's most outspoken Patriots.
Chase attended the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and helped press Maryland toward firmer support for the break with Britain. He remained active in state politics, diplomacy, and legal work before joining the United States Supreme Court in 1796. In 1804 the House impeached him, but the Senate acquitted him in 1805, making the episode one of the most important early tests of the federal judiciary.
Chase's acquittal helped establish that judges would not be removed simply for partisan disagreement, a precedent crucial to judicial independence under the Constitution. His earlier Revolutionary work also tied Maryland's radical politics to the national institutions created after independence.
Key Contributions
- Samuel Chase was a Founding Father of the United States, signer of the Continental Association and United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
- As one of Maryland's delegates, Samuel helped tie Maryland to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and to the new republican order that followed.
- On July 4, 1776, Samuel Chase signed the Declaration of Independence as part of the political leadership tied to Maryland.
Related Events
Declaration of Independence adopted
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and ordered the document printed as the public case for separation.
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