A Brief History
On March 1, 1805, the United States government was reeling from a never to be repeated political power play!
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase acquitted by the US Senate at the conclusion of his impeachment trial. No Supreme Court justice had been impeached before nor has any since.
Samuel Chase, appointed by George Washington to the Supreme Court, was known as “Old Bacon Face” back in his law practicing days in Maryland. Apparently his views on the way the US should be governed differed from the opinions of President Thomas Jefferson and Chase made the mistake of expressing those opinions during cases he tried as a US circuit judge. Chase feared the Jeffersonian model would lead to “mobacracy” (his term).
Part of the angle to this story is that both Jefferson (who wrote it) and Chase were signers of the Declaration of Independence, pretty good credentials. But wait, you also get (at no extra charge!) Vice President Aaron Burr presiding over the impeachment trial by the Senate. Why is that cracked? Burr later killed Alexander Hamilton (the guy on our $10 bill) in a duel and was charged with treason!
Chase was acquitted largely because the accusations against him stemmed from his performance as a Circuit judge and not as a Supreme Court Justice. In those days, Supreme Court Justices also had to serve as Circuit judges (probably to save tax dollars and because the courts were not as busy as they are now).
Although the margin of acquittal on each charge was large, the message to federal judges at any level was clear, no partisan speeches or bias in their courts. Chase himself knocked off his political rants and became a model of impartiality. This strict adherence to all appearances of impartiality is today taken for granted, but it finds its origins in this case.
As stated above, no other Supreme Court Justice has faced impeachment, though other federal judges have. Those trials have concerned only corruption and none of them dealt with actual performance on the bench.
A final note to avoid any misunderstandings; the Samuel Chase talked about in this article is NOT Salmon P. Chase, the former senator and governor of Ohio who also served on the US Supreme Court, and who’s picture graces the $10,000 bill, the largest bill ever printed by the US. (He was also Secretary of the Treasury.)
Question for students (and subscribers): What do you consider to be an impeachable offense? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Connolly, D. J. Grand Larceny: An Unexpurgated History Of The Supreme Court. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010.
Ely, James W., Kermit L. Hall, et al. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. Oxford University Press, 1992.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1285 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1285">23 Comments
Although the article articulates the impeachment well, I found that “The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States” summarized the case much better. The book also provided more evidence as to why Samuel Chase was impeached.
This case was very important in the way that it resulted in keeping bias out of the courtroom, which is a very important thing to do. The 6th Amendment to our Constitution guarantees the right to a trial by an impartial jury, and so for Samuel Chase to bring his bias into the courtroom would be a violation of this Amendment.
N.W.
I did not know that Burr killed Hamilton, that was an interesting thing to read.
AM
I think that this article was one of my favorites to read. The way that they kept bias views out of the courtroom was really interesting, and important to read about. I had no idea that Burr killed Hamilton, that was new to me. It is cool to still learn about things in history that I thought I already knew most about.
I was also unaware that Burr killed Hamilton. Bias is so easily slipped into the courtroom, so the fact they kept bias away was important to read and learn about.
Seems like yet another occurance of Jefferson getting rid of someone who didn’t agree with him. GW
I’m not going to lie, I just like the name “Old Bacon Face.” Also, I guess I never realized there was a $10,000 bill.
I had no idea that there was a $10,000 bill that was printed by the United States. It seems almost foolish to have had it printed in the first place.
As mentioned below, I did not know that a $10,000 bill even existed. It is interesting how back in the day, everyone seemed to somehow be connected in weird ways, especially politics. Everyone seemed to somehow link to someone else in a weird way, yet it keeps learning and reading about them interesting.
It’s interesting that in those days, Supreme Court Justices also served as Circuit judges.
A $10,000 bill. That’s extremely interesting. Why would anyone need such a large amount of money on one piece of paper? Especially in those days!
I never knew that Burr killed Hamilton or that Burr was in charge of the only supreme court impeachment. The things that you learn every day will surprise you
It is interesting to learn about the reasonings and people behind the murder of Hamilton. Like Madison said, it is cool to see how connected a lot of the people we learn about are.
I guess being the secretary of the treasury has its perks, like putting your own face on some money. I wonder what actually happened to the $10000 bill that was printed.
that fact that there was a $10,000 dollar bill is kind of interesting the kind of people who would used that in the time would of been the most influential and powerful in the nation
Interesting article. I briefly studied about Aaron Burr in an Ohio history course. He supposedly used an island on the Ohio River to store ammunition and men to lead in his conspiracy.
i find it interesting that they wanted a $10,000 bill. thats a lot of money today, let alone back then.
I always figured Supreme Court Justices would be unbiased
but it’s surprising to find out that that’s because one of them was almost
impeached because they were biased.
First, what a nickname. Second, I don’t believe a bill that large could work because only a small part of the population would use them, but I don’t know.
Being on the Supreme Court is for life. You truly have to be firm in your morals, in your beliefs being in that position. How this system has worked in amazing to me, knowing the basic instincts of man wanting to be more than they are. Is there a back room policy gong on there? Beliefs have to play into decisions and at points in history it is the prevailing winds. Look at the abortion laws that are being challenge today and making there way up the ladder to be presented to the Supreme Court.
Slight correction. Burr was tried for treason, but he wasn’t convicted.
Thank you for pointing that out. The article has been updated accordingly.
Even though Chase was acquitted, it was good to send a message to the judges that they were being watched. Sort of the government’s way of telling the judges that this may have happened during Circuit Court versus Supreme Court time, but be careful of what you’re doing regardless of where you’re serving.