Edward Shippen (February 16, 1729 – April 15, 1806)Randolph Shipley Klein. "Shippen, Edward IV"; ''

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'', Feb. 2000. was an American lawyer, judge, government official, and prominent figure in colonial and post-revolutionary

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. His fourth daughter, Margaret Shippen, was the second wife of

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...

Early life

Shippen was born in Philadelphia, the son of merchant Edward Shippen III and, his first wife, Sarah Plumley. He learned law from Tench Francis, Pennsylvania's attorney general. He married his mentor's daughter Margaret Francis in 1753, with whom he had nine children. In 1748 he went to

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to complete his law studies at the

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, and, after returning to Philadelphia, was admitted to the bar.

Career

He was appointed judge of the admiralty court in 1755. Three years later, he was elected to the city's common council. In 1762, he was appointed

prothonotary A prothonotary is the "principal clerk of a court," from Late Latin, L.L. ''prothonotarius'' (Wiktionary:circa, c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the Byzantine E ...

of the supreme court, a post retained till the Revolution. He became a member of the

Pennsylvania Provincial Council The Pennsylvania Provincial Council helped govern the Province of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1776. The provincial council was based on the English parliamentary system and was analogous to the Upper House or House of Lords. From the Frame of Govern ...

in 1770. Shippen attempted to stay neutral in the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, hoping that the colonies and the mother country would be reconciled. He did not support the extension of royal authority and was therefore not a

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, but he also opposed the radically democratic

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, which sought to reduce the hold on government by powerful families like the Shippens. He received in 1790 an honorary

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degree from the

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, of which he was a trustee from 1791 until his death. He was also a member of the

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. In 1791, he was appointed to the

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, serving with Jasper Yeates and Edward Burd, both kinsmen and former students. Shippen became chief justice in 1799. Shippen was

impeached Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eu ...

on flimsy political grounds on March 23, 1804 by the Democratic–Republican-led

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alongside the other two

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justices of the Supreme Court, Thomas Smith and Jasper Yeates. The sole Democratic–Republican member of the court, who had been not in attendance on the day the court heard the case central to the impeachment, was not impeached. The justices were not removed, being acquitted in their

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment. Differences exist between governments as to what stage trials take place ...

before the

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in the vote held on January 28, 1805. Multiple sources: * * * The next year the Pennsylvania Senate acquitted him and his associates. Shippen retired to private life and died soon thereafter.

Personal life

On November 29, 1753, Shippen was married to Margaret Francis (1735–1794), a daughter of Tench Francis and Elizabeth Turbutt, at Christ Church in Philadelphia. Together, they were the parents of nine children: * Elizabeth Shippen (1754–1828), who married her cousin Col. Edward Burd, son of Col. James Burd and Sarah Shippen, in 1778. * Sarah Shippen (1756–1831), who married Thomas Lea, son of Eleanor and Thomas Lea of

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, in 1787. * Mary Shippen (b. 1757), who married, as his second wife, Dr. William McIlvaine of

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. * Edward Shippen (1758–1809), a doctor married Elizabeth Juliana Footman, daughter of Eleanor and Thomas Footman, in 1785. * Margaret "Peggy" Shippen (1760–1804), who married, as his second wife, Gen.

V, son of Benedict Arnold III and Hannah Waterman King, in 1779; she died in

, England. * John Francis Shippen (1762–1763), who died young. * James Shippen (1766–1769), who also died young. His wife died at Philadelphia on May 28, 1794. Shippen died in Philadelphia on April 15, 1806, at age 77.

Notes

References

Genealogy at RootsWeb
* Randolph Shipley Klein, ''Portrait of an Early American Family: The Shippens of Pennsylvania Across Five Generations''. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975.

External links

at the University of Pennsylvania
Biography at Virtualology.com (under his great-grandfather, also Edward Shippen)

by Robert Feke at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shippen, Edward IV 1729 births 1806 deaths Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council Lawyers from Philadelphia People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution 18th-century American lawyers Edward Shippen, IV Chief justices of Pennsylvania People from colonial Pennsylvania Members of the American Philosophical Society University of Pennsylvania people Politicians from Philadelphia United States judges impeached by state or territorial governments