Jeremiah Chase
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer and jurist from Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
. He served as a delegate for Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
in the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
of 1783 and 1784, and for many years was chief justice of the state’s court of appeals
Maryland Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals of Maryland is the supreme court of the U.S. state of Maryland. The court, which is composed of one chief judge and six associate judges, meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building in the state capital, Annapolis...
.
Early life
Chase was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Richard and Catherine Chase. When both his parents died in 1757 he was adopted by his uncle Thomas Chase, who was the AnglicanAnglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
rector of St. Paul's parish in Annapolis. (St. Paul's later became part of the American Episcopal Church.) His uncle also took over his education as he had done earlier for his own son, Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and earlier was a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland. Early in life, Chase was a "firebrand" states-righter and revolutionary...
.
When Jeremiah Chase was a young man, he followed his cousin Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and earlier was a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland. Early in life, Chase was a "firebrand" states-righter and revolutionary...
to Annapolis. He read law in Samuel's office and was admitted to the bar of Anne Arundel County
Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Anne Arundel County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is named for Anne Arundell , a member of the ancient family of Arundells in Cornwall, England and the wife of Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Its county seat is Annapolis, which is also the capital of the state...
in 1771. Chase established a practice in both Annapolis and Baltimore, which he continued in Annapolis until 1791 with interruptions for public service. He never went into practice with his cousin but they made several appearances in court for the same clients, and a few as opponents. There were several young men who studied law with both cousins, especially when one was out of town. This list of men included Roger Taney
Roger B. Taney
Roger Brooke Taney was the fifth Chief Justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. He was the first Roman Catholic to hold that office or sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. He was also the eleventh United States Attorney General. He is most...
who was later Chief Justice of the United States
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
.
Political career
In 1773 Chase was elected to the Colonial House of Delegates. In 1774 he joined the Committee of CorrespondenceCommittee of correspondence
The Committees of Correspondence were shadow governments organized by the Patriot leaders of the Thirteen Colonies on the eve of American Revolution. They coordinated responses to Britain and shared their plans; by 1773 they had emerged as shadow governments, superseding the colonial legislature...
for Baltimore and was elected to the revolutionary Annapolis Convention. In 1776 he attended the state's Constitutional Convention for Anne Arundel County. Under the new constitution he was elected to the House of Deputies.
Chase's adopted father, Rev. Chase, died in 1779 and after that Jeremiah moved fully to Annapolis. That same year he was named a member of Maryland's Executive Council, which functioned as the upper house of the legislature, and he would serve there until 1788. Chase was also Mayor of Annapolis in 1783 and 1784. Those same years he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
, which held sessions for those years in Annapolis.
In 1788 Chase was a delegate to the Maryland convention called to ratify the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. He was among those opposed to its adoption, believing that a Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
should be included. When the Bill of Rights was formally adopted by Congress in 1789, Chase generally became a supporter of the Federalist Party
Federalist Party (United States)
The Federalist Party was the first American political party, from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801...
.
Judicial career
Despite his opposition to the Constitution, Chase was named as a justice in the state's General Court for Anne Arundel County in 1789 and served there until 1805. In 1808 he was appointed chief judge to the state's supreme court, the Maryland Court of AppealsMaryland Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals of Maryland is the supreme court of the U.S. state of Maryland. The court, which is composed of one chief judge and six associate judges, meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building in the state capital, Annapolis...
, for the third district. He served on that court until he resigned for health reasons in 1826.
Chase had married Hester Baldwin on June 24, 1779. They remained together until her death in 1823 and had five children: Richard, Frances, Hester, Matilda, and Catherine. After his marriage he rented a wing of the Hammond House from Matthias Hammond which served as home for the rest of his life. When Chase died at home in 1828, he was buried in the City Cemetery in Annapolis.
The Hammond-Harwood House
Hammond-Harwood House
The Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, Maryland, United States, is one of the premier colonial houses remaining in America from the British colonial period . It is the only existing work of colonial academic architecture that was principally designed from a plate in Andrea Palladio’s I Quattro...
still stands on Maryland Avenue at King George Street in Annapolis. The home is operated as a museum and is open to visitors, although a fee is charged.