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Samuel Chase

Maryland Historical Society

Samuel Chase, lawyer and politician, was one of Maryland's four signers of the Declaration of Independence and an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chase was born on April 17, 1741, near Princess Anne, in Somerset County. He was the only child of the Reverend Thomas Chase (c.1703-1779) and his wife, Matilda Walker (?-by 1744). His father's second marriage to Ann Birch (?-1772) added four half-brothers and two half-sisters to the Chase family. After receiving a traditional classical education from his father, Chase studied law in Annapolis with attorney John Hall.

Supreme Court Justice Chase

Maryland Historical Society

Chase qualified to practice as an attorney in the early 1760s and soon began an active political career as well. Chase and his close friend William Paca led opposition to the 1765 Stamp Act and founded Anne Arundel County's Sons of Liberty chapter. In 1766 county voters elected Chase to represent them in the House of Delegates and he continued to serve in the legislature into the 1790s. As a delegate to the Continental Congress, Chase signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776.

In May 1762, Chase married Ann (?-776), daughter of Thomas Baldwin (?-762) and his wife Agnes. Samuel and Ann Chase had three sons and four daughters, four of whom lived to adulthood. When Chase traveled to England in 1784 to negotiate the return of Maryland's Bank of England stock, he met and married his second wife, Hannah Kitty (?-848), daughter of Samuel Giles, a Berkshire physician, by whom he had two daughters.

Chase capped his long career in public life with appointment in 1796 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Eight years later he was impeached by the House of Representatives on politically motivated charges of improper judicial behavior. The Senate acquitted him on March 1, 1805,after a defense mounted by three of Maryland's most able lawyers, Robert Goodloe Harper, Joseph Hopkinson, and Luther Martin.

Samuel Chase's career was marked by controversy from his expulsion in 1762 from the Forensic Club, an Annapolis debating society, for "extremely irregular and indecent" behavior, to his impeachment forty years later. Personal and political differences accounted in part for his troubles. At the same time, Chase aspired to membership in the colony's elite but did not possess the family status, marital connections, or wealth to support his pretensions. Chase's attempts to increase his income through questionable business opportunities, land speculation, and multiple officeholding also contributed to his difficulties. Chase is thus remembered as much for the scandals associated with his career as for his considerable legal and political talents.

Samuel Chase died on June 19, 1811, in Washington, DC, and was buried at Old St. Paul's Church cemetery in Baltimore City. Chase left an estate of $15,000 in personal property, about 2,500 acres, and a number of Baltimore City lots. Chase's financial difficulties continued to the end, however, as his personal estate did not cover his outstanding debts.

—Jean B. Russo