CHASE, Samuel, Congress, MD (1741-1811)

CHASE, Samuel, a Delegate from Maryland; born in Princess Anne, Somerset County, Md., April 17, 1741; was tutored privately and pursued an academic course; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1761 and commenced practice in Annapolis, Md.; member of the General Assembly of Maryland 1764-1784; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1778; sent on a special mission to Canada in 1776 to induce the Canadians to join in the revolution against Great Britain; a signer of the Declaration of Independence; went to England in 1783 as agent for the State of Maryland to recover the stock in the Bank of England which had been purchased when the State was a colony of Great Britain; moved to Baltimore, Md., in 1786; judge of the Baltimore criminal court in 1788; appointed judge of the general court of Maryland in 1791; appointed by President Washington an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1796; articles of impeachment were filed against him in 1804 on charges of malfeasance in office five years previous in his conduct of the trials of Fries and Callendar for sedition, and for a more recent address to a Maryland grand jury; tried by the Senate in 1805, he was acquitted of all charges on March 5, 1805; resumed his seat on the bench, and retained it until his death in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 1811; interment in Old St. Paul’s Cemetery, Baltimore, Md.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present