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James Iredell
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(b. Lewes, England, 5 Oct. 1751; d. Edenton, N.C., 20 Oct. 1799; interred Gov. Samuel Johnston's private burial ground, Hayes, N.C.); associate justice, 1790–1799. The son of Francis and Margaret McCulloch Iredell, James Iredell was reared in England. Upon his father's illness and ensuing poverty, Iredell sailed to North Carolina in 1768 to become comptroller of His Majesty's Customs at Edenton, a position purchased for him by his mother's wealthy relatives. His official responsibilities allowed him time to study law, which he did under the tutelage of Samuel Johnston, whose sister, Hannah, he married on 18 July 1773. They had three children. He commenced law practice in December 1770, a vocation that he pursued until his appointment to the United States Supreme Court. He also served in various public offices during that period, including collector of the Port of Edenton (1774–1776), judge of the North Carolina Superior Court (1777–1778), and attorney general of North Carolina (1779–1781). He eagerly supported the revolutionary movement.
Impressed by Iredell's eloquent and energetic efforts in behalf of the ratification of the Constitution and desirous to appoint a North Carolinian to a prominent position in the federal government, President George Washington nominated Iredell to the Supreme Court on 8 February 1790 and the Senate unanimously confirmed him two days later. Despite the fierce nationalism that he had displayed during the debate over the new Constitution, some of Iredell's most notable moments on the Court were as a dissenter in the defense of states' rights (see State Sovereignty and States' Rights). When he sided with the majority, which was often, he sometimes did so for reasons independent of his colleagues. Iredell dissented in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), which held that a state could be sued without its consent in a federal court under Article III, section 2 of the Constitution. His dissent argued that English common law was binding on the question and that this law did not give a citizen the right to sue a sovereign state without its consent. The final sentence of his dissent hinted broadly at the firestorm of protest that would greet the majority's ruling and cause it eventually to be rescinded.
Because he had been a member of the circuit court that had tried the case, Iredell did not participate in Ware v. Hylton (1796), which held that the treaty with Great Britain of 1783 invalidated Virginia's confiscation of a debt owed to a British creditor. He did, however, read his circuit court opinion, which argued that the treaty with Great Britain did not apply retroactively to a debt that had been confiscated in 1777. His opinion in Calder v. Bull (1798), which supported the Court's ruling that the Ex Post Facto Clause applied only to criminal cases, represented one of the earliest and most eloquent statements in support of judicial self‐restraint. His opinion in Hylton v. United States (1796), which endorsed the Court's upholding of a federal carriage tax, included a very succinct and practical definition of the term “direct tax.”
The physically taxing duties of riding his federal judicial circuit contributed to his death in 1799 (see Circuit Riding). Had he lived a longer life and continued to serve on the Court during the period of John Marshall, his brilliant legal mind, states rights federalism, and penchant for dissent might have undermined the chief justice's campaign for judicial unanimity and constitutional nationalism.
— Robert M. Ireland
| US Government Guide: James Iredell, Associate Justice, 1790–99 |
• Born: Oct. 5, 1751, Lewes, England
• Education: read law under Samuel Johnston of North Carolina
• Previous government service: comptroller of customs, Edenton, N.C., 1768–74; collector of customs, Port of North Carolina, 1774–76; judge, Superior Court of North Carolina, 1778; attorney general of North Carolina, 1779–81; North Carolina Council of State, 1787; North Carolina Ratifying Convention, 1788
• Appointed by President George Washington Feb. 8, 1790
• Supreme Court term: confirmed by the Senate Feb. 10, 1790, by a voice vote; served until Oct. 20, 1799
• Died: Oct. 20, 1799, Edenton, N.C. James Iredell was an original member of the Supreme Court. President Washington decided to appoint Iredell because of his good reputation as a legal expert and his skill as a political leader in North Carolina, where he had argued decisively against opponents of the 1787 Constitution.
Iredell had attracted Washington's attention during the debates about ratification of the Constitution. Iredell published a pamphlet opposing the “Objections to the New Constitution” by George Mason, a delegate from Virginia. Iredell also stood firm against the majority of citizens in North Carolina who at first opposed the Constitution of 1787. He eventually helped to persuade North Carolinians to ratify the federal Constitution in 1789.
In dissent from the Court's decision in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), Justice Iredell held that a state government could not be sued in a federal court by a person from another state. This position became part of the Constitution in 1795 with ratification of the 11th Amendment.
In Calder v. Bull (1798), Iredell argued that the Court had authority to declare laws null and void if they violated the Constitution of the United States, the supreme law. This position on the power of judicial review was also implied by the Court, including Iredell, in Hylton v. United States (1796). In the Hylton case, the Court upheld the constitutionality of a federal tax law, and the decision implied that the Court could have ruled this federal law unconstitutional. However, the Court did not discuss the power of judicial review in this case. A few years later, in Marbury v. Madison (1803), Chief Justice John Marshall argued compellingly for the Court's power of judicial review to strike down acts of Congress that were in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
See also Hylton v. United States; Judicial review
| Columbia Encyclopedia: James Iredell |
Iredell, James (īr'dĕl), 1751-99, American jurist, b. Lewes, England. He emigrated (1767) to North Carolina, where he entered the customs service at Edenton and was made (1774) collector for the port. He was admitted to the bar in 1771, and after the outbreak of the American Revolution he helped to organize the North Carolina court system. He became (1777) a judge and later (1779-81) was attorney general. His strong support of the proposed U.S. Constitution helped procure its adoption by North Carolina. In 1790, Iredell was made an associate justice of the newly established U.S. Supreme Court. Among his notable opinions was his dissent in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) when the majority holding was that a state might be sued in the federal courts without its consent. The Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (adopted 1798) made that view the law of the land.
Bibliography
See biography by G. J. McRee (1857, repr. 1949).
| Legal Encyclopedia: Iredell, James |
James Iredell was one of the original U.S. Supreme Court justices appointed by George Washington.
Iredell was born October 5, 1751, in Lewes, England. At age seventeen he began working in his family's mercantile business in North Carolina and also undertook the study of law. He was licensed to practice law in 1771. In the next few years, he became active in the Revolutionary cause, arguing that the colonies not separate from England and advocating in his writings that the conflict be resolved through reconciliation rather than war. In 1776 he was appointed to a commission to draft and revise the laws for the governance of North Carolina. A year later he served as a judge on the state superior court, and from 1779 to 1781 he was state attorney general. In 1787 he codified and revised the statutes of North Carolina, a process that resulted in the publication of Iredell's Revisal four years later.
A staunch supporter of the Constitutional Convention, Iredell led North Carolina in the movement for ratification through a series of acclaimed and well-publicized floor debates and speeches. In 1790 he drew the attention of President Washington, who appointed him to the newly formed U.S. Supreme Court. At age thirty-eight, Iredell was the youngest of the original justices.
In addition to hearing cases before the entire Supreme Court, the justices at that time presided over circuit court sessions throughout the United States, which required them to travel extensively to hear arguments. Iredell was assigned to the Southern Circuit and quickly developed a reputation as an exceptional jurist with respect to constitutional law matters. He wrote a number of notable opinions, including a dissent in Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 U.S. (Dall.) 419, 1 L. Ed. 440 (1793), in which he argued that only a constitutional provision could supersede the common-law principle that a state cannot be sued by a citizen from another state. Iredell maintained that the states were sovereign and did not owe their origins to the federal government. Iredell's view of states' rights would prevail in Congress's subsequent adoption of the Eleventh Amendment.
Iredell also authored Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. (Dall.) 386, 1 L. Ed. 648 (1798), in which he argued that a legislative act unauthorized by or in violation of the Constitution was void and that the courts were responsible for determining an act's status in that regard. This principle of judicial review would be amplified five years later in the landmark decision Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 2 L. Ed. 60 (1803), which held that the courts were indeed ultimately responsible for deciding the validity of laws passed by the legislative branch of government.
The strain of the travel required to cover his circuit, in addition to the heavy caseload of the Supreme Court, eventually took its toll on Iredell's health. He died at his home in North Carolina in 1799, less than ten years after ascending to the High Court.
| Wikipedia: James Iredell |
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James Iredell
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| In office May 12, 1790 – October 20, 1799 |
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| Nominated by | George Washington |
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| Preceded by | (none) |
| Succeeded by | Alfred Moore |
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| Born | October 5, 1751 Lewes, England |
| Died | October 20, 1799 (aged 48) Edenton, North Carolina |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
This article is about James Iredell, the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. For his son, the U.S. senator and governor of North Carolina, see James Iredell, Jr..
James Iredell (October 5, 1751 – October 20, 1799) was one of the original Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was appointed by President George Washington and served from 1790 until his death in 1799. His son, James Iredell, Jr., became governor of North Carolina.
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Early life
James Iredell was born in Lewes, England, the oldest of five children of a Bristol merchant. The failure of his father's business (and health) impelled James to immigrate to the Colonies in 1767 at the age of 17. Relatives assisted him in obtaining a position in the customs service as deputy collector, or comptroller, of the port of Edenton, North Carolina.
While working at the customs house, Iredell read law under Samuel Johnston (later governor of North Carolina), began the practice of law and was admitted to the bar in 1771. The grandson of a clergyman, he was a devout Anglican throughout his life and his writings display an interest in spirituality and metaphysics beyond a simple attachment to organized religion.
In 1773, Iredell married Johnston's sister Hannah and the two had four children, yet only 3 survived. The following year (1774) he was made collector for the port.
Roles in the Revolution
Although employed by the British government, Iredell was a strong supporter of independence and the revolution. In 1774 he wrote To the Inhabitants of Great Britain in which he laid out arguments opposing the concept of Parliamentary supremacy over America. This essay established Iredell, at the age of 23, as the most influential political essayist in North Carolina at that time. His treatise Principles of an American Whig predates and echoes themes and ideas of the Declaration of Independence.
After the revolution began, Iredell helped organize the court system of North Carolina, and was elected a judge of the superior court in 1778. His career advanced through a number of political and judicial posts in the state, including that of attorney general from 1779-1781. In 1787 the state assembly appointed him commissioner and charged him with compiling and revising the laws of North Carolina. His work was published in 1791 as Iredell's Revisal.
Iredell was a leader of the Federalists in North Carolina, and a strong supporter of the proposed Constitution. In the 1788 convention at Hillsborough, he argued unsuccessfully in favor of its adoption. (North Carolina later ratified the Constitution after Congress amended it through the addition of the Bill of Rights.)
Supreme Court Justice
On February 10, 1790, George Washington nominated James Iredell to the post of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and he was confirmed by the United States Senate two days later. At the age of 38, he was the youngest of the original Supreme Court Justices.
The case load of the first Supreme Court was light. In fact, the court did not hear its first case until 1791 when it decided West v. Barnes. The decision was unanimous, but Iredell requested that Congress change the harsh statute governing the West decision. The Justices gathered to hear arguments only twice a year, and we have only a handful of opinions written by Justice Iredell in his years on the court. Of those, two of the most significant are:
- Chisholm v. Georgia (1793): At issue was whether the citizens of one state (South Carolina) could sue another state (Georgia) for repayment of Revolutionary War bills. Iredell was the lone dissent from the majority opinion that held that a state may be sued in federal court without its consent to the suit.
- Calder v. Bull (1798): At issue was whether an act of the Connecticut legislature violated the Constitution because it was an ex post facto law, forbidden pursuant to Article I, Section 9, Clause 3.
In the Chisholm case, public and political opinion agreed with Iredell against the other Justices. The outcry and strong reaction of people against the Chisholm decision would lead to its reversal by the adoption of the Eleventh Amendment in 1798.
In the unanimous decision in Calder, the Court held that the Clause applied to criminal cases only, deciding that the legislature's act was not unconstitutional. More importantly, Calder raised the question of whether "principles of natural justice" constituted law. Iredell's opinion indicated that only those actions of a state that explicitly violated a textual provision of the Constitution could be declared void. He stated: "The principles of natural justice are regulated by no fixed standard; the ablest and the purest men have differed upon the subject; and all the court could properly say, in such an event, would be, that the legislature (possessed of an equal right of opinion) had passed an act which, in the opinion of the judges, was inconsistent with the abstract principles of natural justice."
Justice Iredell's opinion in Calder helped establish the principle of judicial review five years before it was tested in Marbury v. Madison (1803). The Supreme Court has followed Iredell's approach throughout its subsequent history.
His charge to the federal grand jury in Fries Case is commonly cited as evidence that the Framers' Intent was to limit the scope of the First Amendment to freedom from prior restraint. He praised Sir William Blackstone's narrow interpretation of freedom of the press, noted that the Framers were very familiar with Blackstone's work, and observed that "unless his explanation had been satisfactory, I presume the amendment would have been more particularly worded, to guard against any possible mistake."
Later years
The Judiciary Act of 1789 divided the United States into 13 districts, each district having a court in one of 13 major cities. It also established three circuits, or appeals courts—one each in the eastern, central and southern United States. The Supreme Court Justices were required to "ride circuit," or travel to the various circuits and hear cases, twice each year. Partially as a result of the heavy travel burden, Justice Iredell's health failed and he died suddenly on October 20, 1799. He was 48. Iredell County, North Carolina, was established in 1788 and was named for him. [1]
Quotations
- It would be not only useless, but dangerous, to enumerate a number of rights which are not intended to be given up; because it would be implying, in the strongest manner, that every right not included in the exception might be impaired by the government without usurption; and it would be impossible to enumerate every one. Let any one make what collection or enumeration of rights he pleases, I will immediately mention twenty or thirty more rights not contained in it.
- Had Congress undertaken to guarantee religious freedom, or any particular species of it, they would then have had a pretense to interfere in a subject they have nothing to do with. Each state, so far as the clause in question does not interfere, must be left to the operation of its own principles.
- [Congress] certainly [has] no authority to interfere in the establishment of any religion whatsoever...Is there any power given to Congress in matters of religion? Can they pass a single act to impair our religious liberties? If they could, it would be a just cause of alarm...If any future Congress should pass an act concerning the religion of the country, it would be an act which they are not authorized to pass, by the Constitution, and which the people would not obey.
- How is it possible to exclude any set of men, without taking away that principle of religious freedom which we ourselves so warmly contend for? ... It is never to be supposed that the people of America will trust their dearest rights to persons who have no religion at all, or a religion materially different from their own...Let religion be permitted to take its own course; the divine author of our religion never wished for its support by worldly authority.
- I think the Christian religion is a Divine institution; and I pray to God that I may never forget the precepts of His religion or suffer the appearance of an inconsistency in my principle and practice.
- Prudence, indeed will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
- The power of impeachment is given by this Constitution, to bring great offenders to punishment. It is calculated to bring them to punishment for crimes which it is not easy to describe, but which every one must be convinced is a high crime and misdemeanor against the government.
- If they were punishable for exercising their own judgment, and not that of their constituents, no man who regarded his reputation would accept the office either of a Senator or President. Whatever mistake a man may make, he ought not to be punished for it, nor his posterity rendered infamous. But if a man be a villain, and wilfully abuses his trust, he is to be held up as a public offender, and ignominiously punished.
- A public officer ought not to act from a principle of fear. Were he punishable for want of judgment, he would be continually in dread. But when he knows that nothing but real guilt can disgrace him, he may do his duty firmly if he be an honest man, and if he be not, a just fear of disgrace, may perhaps, as to the public, have nearly the effect of an intrinsic principle of virtue. According to these principles, I suppose the only instances in which the President would be liable to impeachment, would be where he had received a bribe, or had acted from some corrupt motive or other.
References
Further reading
- Abraham, Henry J. (1992). Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506557-3.
- Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books). ISBN 1568021267.
- Frank, John P. (1995). Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L.. eds. The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0791013774.
- Hall, Kermit L., ed (1992). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195058356.
- Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0871875543.
- Urofsky, Melvin I. (1994). The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland Publishing. pp. 590. ISBN 0815311761.
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Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 1790-1799 |
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Mentioned in
- James Iredell Waddell
- Hylton v. United States (American history)
- Who was the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court? (history)
- Alfred Moore
- George Washington
- Robert Hanson Harrison
- Calder v. Bull (American history)
- Fries's Rebellion (legal term)
- Chisholm v. Georgia
- Income Tax
- Pamphleteering (American history)
- Supreme Court Justices (table)
- Higher Law
- Patent Acts
