A hotheaded patriot lawyer whose cheeks would become so red when arguing a point, he was nicknamed ‘Old Bacon Face.’[1] An aggressive proponent of independence, thirty-three-year-old Samuel Chase was chosen to represent Maryland in the First Continental Congress, September 5, 1774. In the Second Congress, he rebelled against his conservative colony that favored peaceful concessions for terms with England, dragging them kicking and screaming over the line of no return to declare liberty. Of the fifty-six delegates to sign the Declaration of Independence, Chase was the first signature representing Maryland at number thirty-six. Labeled violent and tediously boisterous, he was also respected for his keen mind and fierce determination. His tenure in the Second Congress ended somewhat abruptly in 1778 when the ardent patriot was caught with his hand in the tiller; accused of enriching himself financially from insider information. Voted out of office and war forgotten, he returned to his prosperous judicial career as a lawyer in Annapolis, Maryland.
After the war, wealthy friends in Baltimore rewarded him with a gift of spacious land in center city and a criminal judgeship. Ruling from the bench with an iron hand, he was denounced as a despot. As such, political enemies fell in line. Further accusations of his continued inappropriate financial dealings became fodder for those wishing his demise. In 1796, after President George Washington selected Chase as the nineth judge to the Supreme Court (at that time six judges served), he was caught up in the emerging and vicious two-party political system. A Federalist, in 1804, Chase became the first and only judge of the Supreme Court to be impeached based on inculpated political decisions from the bench that abused impartiality, favoring one party over another. Though Congress was overwhelmingly Jeffersonian, he was acquitted. Scholars believed the infant country was paving its judicial path and the decision set a precedent for future generations to keep the legislative and judicial branches separate.[2]
Throughout his adult life, Samuel Chase was a passionate defender of the rights of the ordinary citizen. From a lawyer taking on pro bono cases in Annapolis in 1764, to ending on the Supreme Court, he never lost sight of this belief. As an Associate Justice, Chase championed the causes of ordinary citizens. His opinions helped establish the principle that the Supreme Court has the final decision on whether laws passed by Federal or State governments meet the requirements of the Constitution.[3] Corpulent and unhealthy, Chase’s last years on the bench were minimal, dying of a heart attack on June 19, 1811 at age seventy.
Early Life & Education
Samuel Chase (April 17 – June 19, 1811) was born in Princess Anne, seat of Somerset County, Maryland. He was the only child of Reverend Thomas Chase (1703-1779) and Matilda Walker (1705-1741), named for an uncle or his paternal grandfather, Samuel Chase, a prosperous bricklayer in London. His father Thomas studied medicine at Cambridge University and was a practiced physician. He spent time in the West Indies before settling in America around the early to mid-1730’s. He joined his older brother Samuel in Baltimore,[4] who had immigrated to Baltimore by invite of his friend, 5th Lord Baltimore.[5] Well educated and active in the Church of England, Thomas returned to London where in 1740, he was ordained a priest to the Royal Chapal, Whitehall. Soon after he returned to Maryland to accept the Parish at Somerset.[6] That same year he married Matilda Walker, the daughter of a wealthy landowner and merchant. But their time together was short-lived; a year later, Matilda died giving birth to Samuel, leaving Thomas to raise their son on his own.
Samuel’s father was well respected in the community and spent long periods of time traveling to the wilderness to negotiate with Native American chiefs. With six aunts living nearby, Thomas must have had help raising who he affectionately called ‘Sammy.’ In 1745, Thomas moved to the center of Baltimore where he took on St. Paul’s Parish which covered all of Baltimore and its bordering regions. Thomas saw to all of Samuel’s education that a ‘good English gentleman should have,’ centering on the classics to become well versed in Greek and Latin history and literature. At age 18, Samuel was sent to Annapolis where he spent two years studying law under Matthias Hammond and John Hall. The youth was admitted to the bar in 1761 and remained in Annapolis to practice law. This was a critical period of Samuel’s life for Matthias Hammond was among the first to advocate resistance to English rule. As protests grew, especially towards the Stamp Act, Matthias became one of the leading political forces in Maryland. No doubt his fiery rhetoric influenced the young Samuel during studies and beyond as they both resided in Annapolis and remained friends..
Established Lawyer & Political Aspirations
At the age of twenty, Chase was admitted to practice before the county courts (workhorse of colonial justice), mayor’s court, and the chancery.[7] John Hall, leading attorney for Annapolis, became Chase’s legal mentor and the two worked closely together. It wasn’t long before Chase was considered among the most successful lawyers in the province, taking on cases from all stations in life. Over time he built a long-lasting constituency of the ordinary ‘middling sort’ (middle and lower class) citizens who later formed his political base. He represented these citizens, either pro bono or with paltry compensations, helping them stay out of prison to pay off their debts.
On May 2, 1762, aged 21, he married Anne Baldwin (? – 1776), daughter of Thomas and Agnes Baldwin. “The match was one of love, not convenience, for Samuel’s bride enhanced neither his social standing nor his material prosperity.”[8] They had three sons and four daughters in which four lived to adulthood.[9] A year later, Samuel’s father, at age 59, would marry a young British girl, Ann Birch, with whom they would have five children.[10] Gregarious and impetuous, Chase was a social hit and made friends among gentlemen’s social clubs. This included a life-long friendship with fellow lawyer, and son of a wealthy family, William Peca; next in line after Chase to sign the Declaration of Independence and future Governor of Maryland. Though financially struggling, Chase lived beyond his means and established an air of wealth equal to his associates. He replicated his father’s desire for social recognition whose church stipend barely sustained he and his son. In 1769, he began construction of an elaborate mansion that would later become known as the Chase-Lloyd House. But Chase and his family would never live there; indebtedness forced him to sell it unfinished two years. Later.
With the support of wealthy friends and the lower classes, Chase formed a political base that eventually propelled him to the forefront of Maryland politics during the buildup to revolution. Anne Arundel voters chose Chase as their representative to the House of Delegates in 1765 and selected as a member of the Provincial Assembly.[11] He began to flex his legislative muscles in time to become embroiled in the dispute over England’s Stamp Act,[12] passed in March of 1765. Joining his fiery mentor Hammond, he was among the first in Maryland who lifted their voice against England’s attempts to raise revenue to help pay for the previous war. He and a band of youthful patriots, described as ‘common ruffians,’ violently assaulted public offices, seized and destroyed stamps, and burned the stamp distributers in effigy. Chase’s main objection to the act, as was the case of many lawyers, was financial, for his profession dealt heavily in paper trails.
But Chase’s heavy-handed methods offended many long-serving legislators annoyed by the independent ‘upstart.’ His ‘radical’ rhetoric and ready use of violence to achieve ends was too much for the more conservative legislators who sought negotiations to deal with England. Annapolis’ Mayor Walter Dulany, along with George Steuart, John Brice, and other legislators, published an article on June 19, 1766 in the Maryland Gazette Extraordinary that favored cooler heads prevail. Chase attacked Dulany and other signatories of the article in an open letter dated July 18, 1766. Dulaney responded calling Chase a “busy, restless incendiary, a Ringleader of Mobs – a foul-mouth’d and inflaming son of Discord and Faction – a common Disturber of the public Tranquility, and a Promoter of the lawless excess of the multitude.”[13] Chase shot back, accusing Dulany, Steuart, and others of “vanity…pride and arrogance,” and of being brought to power by “proprietary influence, court favour, and the wealth and influence of the tools and favourites who infest this city.” Chase was paving a path to power littered with enemies who would come back to haunt him.
After word of the hated Stamp Act’s repeal reached America around May, 1766, things calmed down for a while. But after the Declaratory Act,[14] signed the same day as Stamp Act’s repeal, and the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767,[15] protests slowly began to heat up. At the forefront was the young hothead Samuel Chase. He refused attempts to placate England and objected to negotiations. He began to preach a radical idea that his colleagues and fellow legislators wanted no part of; rebellion from England and total independence. He was soon being called the ‘Samuel Adams[16] of Maryland,’ and later, ‘The Torch that Lit the Revolutionary Flame in Maryland.’ In 1773, he joined the patriot movement Sons of Liberty and soon after was Maryland’s Founding member of the Committee of Correspondence.[17]
A Bold, Voluble, and Overbearing Man
By 1774, when the Maryland provincial convention endorsed a boycott of British goods, Chase was solidly in opposition to continued British rule. He pushed extremes in dealing with England that did not conform to his overall colony’s take on the growing rebellion. Even so, his ‘radical’ voice was represented among the five Maryland delegates chosen to the First Continental Congress. Most in this first Congress that met from September 5 – October 26, 1774, wished to negotiate terms to solve disputes with England; however, Chase was one of the earlier delegates to argue for complete independence. He quickly formed alliances with men who matched his fiery determination; like Samuel and John Adams, the later becoming a lifelong friend.
But Chase quickly proved as an orator, he left much to be desired. On September 15, 1775, ten days into the First Continental Congress, John Adams summed up his future friend, writing in his diary “…there appears to me a remarkable Want of Judgement in some of the Members of Congress. Chase is violent and boisterous, asking his Pardon. He is tedious upon frivolous Points.” Three days later Adams recorded, “…Chase is ever social and talkative…”[18] Others among Congress who sat through meetings whereupon the boisterous lawyer from Maryland took the podium agreed. William Williams of Connecticut and signer of the Declaration of Independence wrote to his brother Ezekiel on August 23, 1776, describing Chase’s perchance to speak rapidly and at great length; “[Chase is] a most bold, voluble and overbearing man.”[19] Benjamin Rush mentioned Chase in his 1800 “Sketches” that “…his speeches were more oratorical than logical.”
Adams’ opinion of Chase would soften towards the end of the First Congress, writing on October 10th, “Chase speaks warmly,” and some months later, writing on February 11, 1776 that “Chase is a Man of common sense.” [20] Adams also commented on Chase’s participation in the Canada mission, that he was “…deeply impressed with a sense of the Importance of securing Canada, very active, eloquent, spirited, and capable.” But Charles Carroll of Carrollton,[21] fellow delegate from Maryland, hinted of future adversity when he wrote to his father on November 25, 1777, “Chase is too impetuous & gives his adversaries by this a great advantage over him.”[22]
American Revolution
I hope America will never submit to the Tyrant of Britain. I declare as an Individual I would rather become a Subject of France…Monarch of Britain…I despise, I hate, and wish to destroy him, and all such Tyrants.
Samuel Chase to General John Sullivan, December 24, 1776.
Chase once more represented Maryland in the Second Continental Congress starting May 10, 1775. He and other firebrands who advocated for an entire break with England immediately pressured their fellow congressmen to join them. Since the previous month’s outbreak of violence at Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, the likelihood for a negotiated peace became more remote. However, Chase’s home colony’s legislature was still not sold on the idea. He and other delegates from Maryland were ordered not to vote for independence. Chase will be remembered in the Continental Congress for his diplomatic mission to Canada, his continued intense support of independence from England and convincing his colony’s legislature to follow suit, and losing his seat in Congress, November, 1778, for financially benefiting from insider trading information.
Canada Diplomatic Commission
On February 15, 1776, Congress authorized Chase and two other delegates, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Carroll, on a diplomatic commission to Canada. In the summer of 1775, Congress launched an invasion of Canada, hoping to defeat British forces and win over what was called England’s 14th colony in North America.[23] On December 31, 1775, after long and grueling treks to Quebec, on December 31, 1775, Major General Montgomery was killed and Colonel Benedict Arnold wounded in a devastating defeat. Early 1776, with the Continental Army deteriorating from disease and a lack of provisions and anticipated British reinforcements, something had to be done to sustain the patriot conquest of Canada.[24] Congress wanted the military situation personally assessed and an experienced negotiator to win over the hearts and minds of Canadians; therefore, Franklin was chosen to head up the three-man delegation.
The Canadian delegation was to assess the military situation and to sway the hearts and minds of Canadian authorities and Catholic leaders. They left on the arduous winter journey on March 20, 1776, and arrived on April 29th. Their task was undaunting for the British Parliament had passed the Quebec Act of 1774 that granted Canadian Catholics total religious freedoms. This was something the lower thirteen colonies, predominantly Protestant with restrictions on Catholics, could not guarantee. Charles Carrol was chosen to accompany Franklin for he was fluent in French and a devout Catholic of enormous wealth.[25] Chase was selected to demonstrate that Protestants and Catholics could live harmoniously, representing Maryland where the two religions prospered side by side. But even before the commission arrived, it was ‘dead in the water.’
Colonel Moses Hazen, leading a regiment of Canadian patriot refugees, wrote to General Philip Schuyler[26] in the spring of 1776, summing up the Canadian situation: “…we no longer look upon them as friends, but, on the contrary, waiting an opportunity to join our enemies….who would wish to see our throats cut, and perhaps would readily assist in doing it.” A dismal display of military, poor treatment by protestant troops, broken promises, and worthless Continental currency,[27] were all contributing factors that led to Canadian’s distrust of Americans bearing gifts. As to the commissioners assessing the military position; smallpox had decimated the ranks while the army’s positions in Canada were not defensible given the expected large number of British reinforcements due to arrive. On May 6, the commissioners recommended that the Continental Army be withdrawn from Quebec and Montreal to defend the northern entrance of Lake Champlain. Unfortunately, their recommendation fell on deaf ears. Thousands more American troops marched north, only to be defeated in battle. With the shattered troops plagued by disease, by the summer of 1776, what was left of the Northern Continental Army was forced south to Crown Point, New York where defenses were erected for an expected Canadian invasion.
Leads Delegation to Maryland
When Chase returned from Canada, the Maryland legislature restricted any vote for a complete break with England. Chase and fellow delegates went on a whirlwind tour of home districts to drum up support to pressure the provincial government to change their stance. After a unanimous to sever from the mother country, the delegates returned to Philadelphia in time to cast their vote, Chase becoming the first of the Maryland delegation to sign the Declaration of Independence. But by late 1777, colleagues began to grumble over Chase’s financial underhandedness.
Accused of Corruption and Loses Seat
In 1778, while still in Congress, Chase was charged with using privileged information to corner the flour market. He had participated in several entrepreneurial ventures that included one of a group of investors operating a saltworks on West River. But Chase was not alone in seeking to use his position to take advantage of financial gains. Financier Benjamin Rush included in his 1800 Sketches that Chase’s “spirit of speculation…pervaded nearly all ranks of citizens of the United States.” The only difference, Congressman Chase was caught with his hand in the piggy bank. From May 1778, he was a partner in John Dorsey and Company. As Congress was acting to relieve a shortage of wheat and flour for the troops, Chase used this knowledge and arranged for Dorsey’s firm in August and September of 1778 to purchase large quantities of wheat and flour, basically cornering the market. Once Congress authorized payment for wheat, Chase made a killing, setting the price for the flour. Chase was charged with insider information, but countered that the shortage of wheat was common knowledge. But his critics and enemies ran with the news and his reputation was tarnished. In November, 1778, he lost his seat in Congress.
Some historians argued that while in Congress, he was forced to seek other means of support, regardless if it was clouded in suspicion. As a member of Congress and focused on the war, he could not practice law. The financial loss was critical. In 1776, after returning from Canada and putting all his efforts in pursuing a vote for liberty, tragedy had struck; his beloved Anne died.[28] This left Chase alone to raise his children, further straining household finances. Matthew Ridley wrote later to John Jay in 1789, referring to Chase’s difficulties while in Congress, “He has a large Family – has met with many hared Rubs…feels heavily the weight of his Family from the difficulty of making such a provision for them..” Later, with the death of his father in 1779, leaving him responsible for raising four young step-siblings, the weight of responsibility only increased.
Moral Character in Question
Charges of unscrupulous behavior was nothing new to Chase who also had a knack for making enemies. Like his father, Chase had lived a life style far beyond his means. As before noted, he built a mansion in Annapolis which he sold before it was finished due to lack of funds. While a lawyer, he was known to seek opportunities for extra income; some were deemed ethically questionable. Charles Carroll of Annapolis, father of Charles Carroll who accompanied Chase to Canada, had known the Annapolis lawyer throughout his career. He wrote to his son on November 7, 1777. “I do & must continue to look upon Him [Chase] as a Rogue unworthy the Society of Honest Men unless He acknowledges His fault & endeavors Sincerely to Atone for it.” John Adams wrote years later to his wife Abigail, Feb. 6, 1796: “…although a good 1774 Man his Character has a Mist about it of suspicion and Impurity…” And Oliver Wolcott Sr. (signee of the Declaration of Independence) simply wrote to his son in 1788: “I knew Samuel Chase, and to you I will say, that I have but an unworthy opinion of him.”[29]
Throughout his career, Chase would have difficulties dealing with political confederates and opponents; often producing lifelong adversaries. John Adams described Chase’s somewhat ignorance with colleagues when he wrote to General Horatio Gates from Philadelphia on August 13, 1776: “He [Chase] had the good of the Service at Heart, but was too Sanguine, and had too little Experience in such Scenes, and too little Penetration into the Characters of Men.”[30] Years later, after President George Washington named Chase as an associate judge to the Supreme Court, past colleagues spoke of his limited ‘people skills’ and lack of financial scruples:[31]
- Early biographer Louis Guillaume Otto wrote about Chase is 1788: “…Man of superior talents…but whose mental character has often been attacked, without his excuses ever fully justifying himself.”
- Washington on Chase to Alexander Hamilton, Oct. 29, 1795, questioning if Chase should be attorney general: “…a man of abilities…has been accused of some impurity in his conduct.”
- Abigail Adams in a letter to her husband on Feb. 21, 1796: “Chase is not a man from all I have heard…How can a judge enforce that Law against some poor elf Which conscience tells him, he hat broke himself?…The Laws can neither be administered or respected, if the minister of them is not unspotted.”
- And Benjamin Rush hit the nail on the head when he spoke of Chase’s character in his 1800’s Sketches: “This man’s life and character were a good deal checkered. He rendered great services to his country…in the first years of the Revolution…he possessed more learning [and] knowledge…than judgment…In the year 1778, he made his public station subservient to his private views, and exhibited marks of a mind tainted with that spirit of speculation…”
Alexander Contee Hanson, Maryland lawyer who was a delegate to the 1788 Constitutional Ratification Convention summed up Chase and his difficulties dealing with others: “…as vile as Chase has been held by most of the better kind of his fellow Citizens, he has been the mover of almost ever thing, this State has to boast of…I have viewed him with admiration and with horror, with kindness and with detestation…In the main I always like tho’ never would I trust him for more than a single turn.”[32]
Returns to Maryland
After voted from Congress in November, 1778, Chase left the war behind and resumed his law practice, doing nicely for himself financially. In 1783, just as Peace Negotiations were finalizing in Paris, Chase traveled to England to seek Maryland stock entrusted to the Bank of England. Though a fierce enemy of England in 1776, eight years later he thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of British aristocracy. Chase eventually was guaranteed $650,000 for the state of Maryland, but of a more personal value, he met and married a second time. Hannah Kilty Giles (1759-1848) was the 25-year-old daughter of Dr. Samuel Giles of Kintbury. They married in 1784 and returned to Annapolis where the two had two daughters; Hannah and Elisa.
Chase did not remain long in his old town. In 1786, at the advice of his wealthy friend and war hero of the Maryland Line, Colonel John Edgar Howard,[33] he moved his family and law practice to Baltimore Town.[34] Howard sweetened the deal for Chase by offering the former Congressman ten plots of prime land within the city square of the growing city; upon which Chase built his home. N 1788, Chase was appointed the presiding judge of a court of criminal jurisdiction, for the county and town of Baltimore. He was also selected to attend the Maryland State Constitutional Convention to decide on the U. S. Constitution, which Chase voted against. In 1791, Chase was selected as Chief Justice of the Maryland General Court; a position he held until 1796 when he was chosen by President George Washington to serve as an Associate Judge in the US Supreme Court.
Supreme Court and Impeachment
Judge Chase [is] an Unprincipled tyrant, totally unfit to be entrusted with any power over the lives or liberties of the free citizens of America.
Philadelphia Aurora June 20, 1800
By the time he was selected as a judge to the Supreme Court, January 26, 1796, the country had split into two parties; Federalists who favored renewing relations with England, and the Democrat-Republicans, also called Jeffersonians, who preferred closer ties to France. The division gained a volition of its own that during the years of Federalist John Adam’s presidency, morphed into vicious rhetoric which intensified into partisan warfare. Chase was Adam’s friend and a Federalist whose enemies were among the Jeffersonians. In 1794, they had held offices in both the Maryland criminal and general courts and had censured the outspoken judge who just shrugged it off, further maddening his opponents.
When President Thomas Jefferson took office in 1800, the Democratic Republicans decided to weaken the Federalist’ hold on the federal courts and sought replacing select judges. Jefferson, alarmed at the seizure of power by the judiciary through the claim of exclusive judicial review, led his party’s efforts to remove the Federalists from the bench. Chase was selected by Jefferson for impeachment and accused of bias based on his forthright support of Federalist’s legislation such as the Sedition Act of 1798.[35] Chase was also a prime target because he had many enemies within Congress; a majority of the House was needed to press charges and two thirds of the Senate was required to remove Chase from the court.
The House passed eight articles of impeachment on December 4, 1804; all centered on Chase’s alleged political bias. The trial began on February 9, 1805. Though the Senate was heavily in control by the Jeffersonians (25 to 9 Federalists), enough Democratic Republicans joined the Federalists and the two thirds needed for removal was never reached. On March 1, 1805, Chase was acquitted on all charges.[36] Chase has been the only Supreme Court Justice to face impeachment, setting a precedent throughout history regarding the court’s independency.
Death
As early as 1796, Adams wrote to Abigail that Chase was so corpulent, he figured he was already on his death bed: “His Corpulency…is against his riding Circuit [judge] very long.” Four years later, he was of the same opinion: “…The Old Gentleman will not probably last very long…”[37] But Chase maintained his forceful presence from the bench. On June 10, 1807, four years before death, Joseph Story, fellow judge and future Supreme Court judge, visited Chase and wrote to Matthew Bramble of Philadelphia, “I paid a visit to Judge Chase who is a rough but sensible man…and not unlike [Theophilus] Parsons [i.e. corpulent]. I suspect his is the American Thurlow…[British statesman Edward Thurlow known as the dictator of the House of Lords].”[38]
Though of clear mind, his health continued to fail with a body that “age and infirmity have in some degree impaired them.” Story paid him another visit a year later writing to Samuel Fay in Washington D.C., February 25, 1808, that Chase appeared physically on his death bed writing, “His manners are coarse, and in appearance harsh; but in reality he abounds with good humor…His first approach is formidable, but all difficulty… vanishes…In person, in manners, in unwieldy strength…in real tenderness of heart; and above all in intellect, he is the living…”[39] Samuel Chase died on June 19, 1811, age seventy, of a heart attack. He was interned at St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore, where as a boy, his father was the pastor in charge.
If You Would Like to Read More, We Recommend the Following Books:
Of Similar Interest in Revolutionary War Journal
Reference
Berine, Rosamond Randall. “The Reverend Thomas Chase: Pugnacious Parson.” Maryland Historical Magazine. Vol. 59 (March 1964) No. 1.
Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. “Samuel Chase.”
Dwight, Nathaniel. The Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 1852: A. S. Barnes & Co., New York, NY.
Goodrich, Rev. Charles A. Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence. 1836: Thomas Mather, New York, NY.
Hand, Tom. “American Judiciary, Part 1: Courts in Early America.” Americana Corner.
Haw, James, Francis F. and Rosamond R. Beirne, and R. Samuel Jett. Stormy Patriot: the Life of Samuel Chase. 1980:: Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Maryland.
Kaminski, John editor. The Founders on the Founders: Word Portraits from the American Revolutionary Era. 2008: University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA.
Lossing, Benson John. Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 1870: Evans, Stoddart & Co., Washington DC.
Papenfuse, E. C., A. F. Day, D. W. Jordan, and G. A. Stiverson, eds., A biographical dictionary of the Maryland legislature, 1635-1789, Baltimore, Maryland (1979)
Procknow, Gene. “Franklin’s Failed Diplomatic Mission.” January 27, 2015. All Things Liberty.
Ross, George E. Know the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 1963: Rand McNally, Chicago, IL.
Waln, Robert Jr., John Sanderson Editor. Biography of Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Vol. 6. 1823: R. W. Pomeroy, Philadelphia, PA.
Whitney, David. Founders of Freedom in America; Lives of the Men who Signed the Declaration of Independence…, Vol 1. 1971: James G. Ferguson Publishing, Inc., Chicago, IL.
Endnotes
[1] Some ascertained that he was called Old Bacon Face because of his ruddy complexion. However, his face would redden as a beat whenever in disagreement.
[2] Over the generations, many would question if judicial impartiality ingrained in the US Constitution by our forefathers was just a pipedream when bucked up against human nature for power and control.
[3] Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. “Samuel Chase.”
[4] Maryland was chartered and named by the 2nd Baron Baltimore for Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King James I.
The city of Baltimore was established in 1729 and laid out in 1730, named Baltimore Town after the 2nd Baron Baltimore. By 1752, there were only 27 homes. The city’s first printing press did not arrive until 1765 and first newspaper was not printed until 1774.
[5] Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore (1699-1751), was the Lord Proprietor of Maryland during the 1730’s; however, he did not live in Maryland, but resided in England.
[6] As Roman Catholics faced persecution in England, the Calverts (First and Second Lord Baltimore) established Maryland to allow Catholics and Protestants to coexist. Cecilius (2nd Lord Baltimore) authored the “Act of Toleration” (1649), protecting the free exercise of Christianity in which the Church of England flourished.
[7] A Chancery Court (or court of equity) is a judicial body that resolves disputes based on fairness, justice, and conscience rather than strict, rigid common law rules. Originating from English law, these courts provide specialized remedies—such as injunctions (orders to stop actions), specific performance, or fiduciary oversight (involving trust)—when traditional monetary damages were inadequate. Common matters included divorce, child custody, adoption, probate, estates, land disputes, and corporate governance.
[8] Haw, pg. 12.
[9] Sources differ on the children and how many survived to adulthood. Common among sources are Thomas, Richard, Samuel, Bridget, Mary, while others list three that survived the parents: Matilda Thomas and Samuel.
[10] Thomas Chase’s young bride Ann would also die early, in 1772, after nine years of marriage. Tragedy struck twice as the same fever who took Ann, took their son Tommy, age 8. With the coming war with England, Thomas’ church stipend was cut off, leaving him at the mercy of parishioners’ donations. To support his surviving four young children, he opened a school until his death in 1779. What was left of his estate, that included possessions, some furniture, and seven slaves, was left to his orphaned children, leaving Samuel their guardian and responsible until they were of age. To Samuel, he left a magnifying glass and memories.
[11] Some sources give this date as 1766. He would serve the Maryland legislature in 1765-66, 1768-71, 1773-1777, and 1777-1778.
[12] The Stamp Act was a form of revenue passed to help pay for British troops stationed in America during the Seven Years’ War, or French and Indian War that ended in 1763. A stamp was affixed to all paper upon which a fee was paid.
[13] Kaminski’s Founders on Founders, pg. 102.
[14] Declaratory Act confirmed Parliament’s right to tax the colonies.
[15] Townsend Act which placed duties on tea, glass, lead, paper, and paint.
[16] Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, was called the father of the American Revolution. A failed brewer and overall businessman, he found his calling in rebel rousing and propaganda. He spearheaded patriot organizations such as the Sons of Liberty and Committees of that became early provincial governments that favored rebellion.
[17] Committees of Correspondence organized activities and information with other colonies, acting as early state governments – they also set up committees of safety – the military arm of provincial governments that prepared for possible war.
[18] Kaminski, pg. 101.
[19] Ibid, pg. 102.
[20] Ibid, pp. 101-102.
[21] Charles Carroll added to his signatory ‘of Carrollton’ to distinguish himself from his wealthy patriarch father Charles Carrollton of Annapolis. Charles Carroll of Carrollton was the oldest surviving signee of the Declaration of Independence, dying on November 14, 1832 at age 95.
[22] Kaminski, pg. 103.
[23] Prior to the American Revolution there were thirty British colonies, stretching from Guiana on the South American coast to the Hudson Bay. Many people in England regarded the Caribbean as the most valuable portion of Britain’s New World empire. T
[24] Procknow.
[25] The Carroll family had long ties to Maryland. By the 1770’s, they were considered the wealthiest family of the Americas.
[26] Commander of the Northern Continental Army, stationed in Albany, NY.
[27] When Benjamin Franklin arrived at Montreal, he had to trade his Continental Currency for silver just to hire a coach into the city for the American currency was worthless and generally not accepted.
[28] The exact date of Anne Baldwin Chase’s death was never recorded – only that it was in 1776. However, a few sources give 1779, but this was the date Chase’s father died and the two may have been confused.
[29] Kaminski, pp. 103-104.
[30] Kaminski, pg. 102.
[31] Ibid, pp. 103-104.
[32] Ibid, pg. 104.
[33] John Edgar Howard was born into wealth; his father was one of the leading plantation owners in Maryland who, in the 1730’s, owned much of the land which became Baltimore. Howard led units in the famed Maryland Line, four regiments who, along with the Delaware Line, were considered the finest equipped and best trained veteran fighters of the American army. Howard would prove to be the best among them. Early in the war, he was with the flying camp in New Jersey and saw little action, recruiting in Maryland during Trenton and Princeton. He fought at the Battles of Brandywine Creek, Germantown, and Monmouth. Howard, leading the Maryland 2nd Brigade, held the line at the defeat at Camden, organizing his men into a retreat. The Marylander’s time came when at the Battle of Cowpens, under General Daniel Morgan, he led all Continental forces; Maryland and Delaware regiments. After ordering a massive volley that stunned the charging British, at the critical moment in the battle upon which victory hung by a string, he ordered a bayonet charge. It decimated the British under Lt. Colonel Tarleton, a victory some scholars believe was the turning point in the war in the south. Howard commanded his Continentals in four more major southern battles. At the last, Eutaw Spring – last and bloodiest major battle of the war – he received a major wound and returned home.
[34] Baltimore was established in 1729 as a tobacco and grain export port. It grew rapidly and when the British forces threatened Philadelphia in the winter of 1776 – 1777, it became the new nation’s capital; Congress evacuated Philadelphia to Baltimore.
[35] The Sedition Act of 1798 was passed during the Adams administration amid tensions with France. It made it a federal crime to publish “false, scandalous and malicious writing” against the government. The act was intensely opposed by the Jeffersonians.
[36] House voted 73 to 32 to impeach Chase sending it to the Senate with Vice President Aaron Burr. There were 34 senators present (25 Democratic-Republicans and 9 Federalists), and 23 votes were needed to reach the required two-thirds majority for conviction/removal from office. Of the eight votes taken, the closest vote was 18 for conviction/removal from office and 16 for acquittal.
[37] Kaminski, pg. 106.
[38] Ibid., pg. 107.
[39] Ibid.