Jeremiah Townley Chase (May 23, 1748 – May 11, 1828) was an American lawyer, jurist, and land speculator from

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

. He served as a delegate for

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

of 1783 and 1784, and for many years was chief justice of the state’s

court of appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

Early life

Chase was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, to Richard and Catherine Chase. When both his parents died in 1757 he was adopted by his uncle Reverend Thomas Chase, who was the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

rector of St. Paul's parish in Annapolis. (St. Paul's later became part of the

American Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...

.) His uncle also took over his education as he had done earlier for his own son,

Samuel Chase Samuel Chase (April 17, 1741 – June 19, 1811) was a Founding Father of the United States, a signatory to the Continental Association and United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland, and an Associate Justice of th ...

.Owen M. Taylor, 2009. The History of Annapolis. Applewood Books. pp. 48–50. . When Jeremiah Chase was a young man, he followed his second cousin Samuel Chase to Annapolis. He

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

in Samuel's office and was admitted to the bar of

Anne Arundel County Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, whi ...

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 B. Taney Roger Brooke Taney (; March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was the fifth chief justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. Although an opponent of slavery, believing it to be an evil practice, Taney belie ...

who was later Chief Justice of the United States. He married Hester Baldwin on June 24, 1779.

Political career

In 1773 Chase was elected to the Colonial House of Delegates. In 1774 he joined the prerevolutionary

Committee of Correspondence The committees of correspondence were, prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, a collection of American political organizations that sought to coordinate opposition to British Parliament and, later, support for American independe ...

'' for Baltimore and was elected to the revolutionary Annapolis Convention that created the state constitution of Maryland. 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 in Baltimore from 1775 to 1777. 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 1783, and later from 1785 to 1788. Chase was also Mayor of Annapolis in 1783 and 1784. Those same years he served as a delegate to the

, which held sessions for those years in Annapolis. It was there he became a friend of David Howell of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. In 1788 Chase was a delegate to the Maryland convention called to ratify the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

. He was among those opposed to its adoption, believing that a

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

should be included. When the Bill of Rights was formally adopted by Congress in 1789, Chase generally became a supporter of the

Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. De ...

. He drafted the

Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...

of 1784 as part of its drafting committee. Jeremiah Chase and his cousin,

John Francis Mercer John Francis Mercer (May 17, 1759 – August 30, 1821) was an American lawyer, planter, and politician from Virginia and Maryland, who served as Maryland's governor, as well as terms in the Continental Congress (representing Virginia), U.S. Hou ...

vehemently opposed the Federal Constitution's ratification. Being elected to the state convention, he became an Antifederalist leader. Chase feared the Federalists would abolish state laws protecting personal rights, and he called for a federal bill of rights at the convention. Having owned 11 slaves, by mid-1780s Chase was of the opinion Maryland's slaves should be freed. At the 1788 state ratification convention he spoke against slavery being supported by a federal Constitution. He was one of 12 leaders who voted against the federal Constitution's ratification.

Judicial career

Chase returned to state politics after the constitutional crisis. Despite his opposition to the Constitution, Chase was named as a justice in the state's General Court in 1789, serving for six years. He held the tax commissioner office of

in 1788. As tax commissioner, together with Charles Ridgely and his cousin Samuel, he speculated in ex-Tory lands in Annapolis and the port of Baltimore. He also served in the

Maryland State Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single- ...

in 1796, where he became a strong Republican in a Federalist state. In 1806 he was appointed chief justice of the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the state supreme court, highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The cou ...

, for the third district, until 1826, retiring that year.

Later life

Jeremiah Chase remained married to Hester Baldwin until her death in 1823 and had five children: Richard, Frances, Hester, Matilda, and Catherine. He rented a wing of the Hammond House from Matthias Hammond as a law office. His residence was on nearby King George Street. In 1811 he purchased the Hammond-Harwood House for his eldest daughter Frances Lookcerman to live in with her husband Richard Loockerman. It was customary for the father-in-law to give the deed to his son-in-law. However, Judge Chase did not trust his son-in-law, and kept the deed in his name. When Chase died at home in Annapolis on May 11, 1828, he was buried in the ''City Cemetery'', or St. Anne's Cemetery in Annapolis. Some of his land was confiscated by the state from former

Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

.Jon L. Wakelyn, 2004. Birth of the Bill of Rights: Biographies. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 42–43. . The Hammond-Harwood House still stands on Maryland Avenue at King George Street in Annapolis. The home is operated as a museum and is open to visitors. The museum interprets the Loockerman family living in the house.

References

External links

*
Hammond House museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Jeremiah 1748 births 1828 deaths Continental Congressmen from Maryland 18th-century American politicians Judges of the Maryland Court of Appeals Mayors of Annapolis, Maryland U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law