Of Fundamental Importance in Our Constitutional History

(CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY). CHASE, SAMUEL. The Answer and Pleas of Samuel Chase, One of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Cout of the United States, to the Articles of Impeachment, Delivered Against Him...by the House of Representatives. Washington City: William Duane & Son, 1805. 1st ed. 8vo. 84 pp. Removed. Title browned & foxed. $875.00

S & S 8172. Sabin 12203. Chase was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The impeachment partly resulted from his high-handed conduct in 1800 at the Fries trial for treason. After other incidents, in 1803, Jefferson recommended impeachment. "The trial was long, bitter, sensational. Republicans [i.e. Jeffersonians] defected in enough numbers so that Chase was aquitted, by the slimmest of margins. John Marshall and his court were henceforth 'secure.' It was the end of what Alfred Beveridge called 'one of the few really great crises in American history.'" --Friedman, History of American Law. Accompanied by Exhibits, Accompanying the Answer and Plea of Samuel Chase...[Washington City, 1805]. 1st ed. 8vo. 54 pp. Removed. S & S 9521. The two are not often found together.