Oliver Ellsworth, Third Chief Justice

Abstract

Oliver Ellsworth, Third Chief Justice James M. Buchanan Each year the editors of the Journal of Supreme Court History select for the cover an individual who has played an important part in the history of the Supreme Court. This year we have chosen Oliver Ellsworth, who served as the third Chief Justice of the United States from 1796 to 1800. To most Americans, Ellsworth is associated more with his service in the Constitutional Convention than on the Supreme Court. The story of Ellsworth’s role in creating the Great Compromise that permitted the delegates to go forward to complete the Constitution and, in turn, our government, is taught in high school social studies classes nationwide. His service as Chief Justice, on the other hand, is less well known. The explanation for this in part lay in the short time he actively served on the Bench—a little over three and a halfyears. His judicial obscurity can also be at­ tributed to his service on a Court which histori­ ans tend to describe as merely an overture to the John Marshall period. For the past fifteen years a team of editors and researchers have worked to illuminate the formative years of the Supreme Court. Sup­ ported by grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and private foundations, and organized under the auspices ofthe Supreme Court Historical Soci­ ety, they have amassed a unique collection of over 20,000 documents pertaining to the early years of our highest federal court. To date, their efforts have produced four books in three volumes. More are in the pro­ duction process. When complete, The Docu­ mentary History of the Supreme Court of the UnitedStates, 1789-1800will comprisethemost completerecord assembled of any period in the Court’s two-hundred year history. Published documentswill have been drawn from over 800 repositories in this country and in Europe; annotations andheadnoteswill guidethereader through Court minute books, cases, and other pertinent manuscripts. The most recently published volume com­ prises the last installment of a two-volume series that focuses on the Justices as they rode circuit.1 These two volumes, combined with the two-book record of the Court’s minutes and official and private correspondence pertaining to appointments, give us a unique window from which we can view the professional lives of the early Justices. The fourth volume, especially, is important to those interested in Ellsworth’s judicial ca­ reer. The Chief Justice’s correspondence and writings, including grand jury charges he wrote while on circuit, compiled here for the first Alter graduating from Princeton in 1766, Ellsworth stud­ ied for the ministry at the urging of his father. He soon changed his mind and switched his attention to the law. Ellsworthwas admitted to the bar in 1777 after fouryears of training. OLIVER ELLSWORTH 21 time,will add to whatwe alreadyknow from his biographers.2 This record, combined with the documents contained in the two-part, volume one, helps ourunderstanding ofEllsworth’s life and work during his brief three-year tenure as ChiefJustice. The Court that Ellsworth inherited in 1796 hadbeeninbusinessashort fiveyearsandinthe course ofits half-decade ofexistence docketed a little over 25 cases. The Court had moved its home threetimes: fromNewYork’s Merchants Exchange to Philadelphia’s Statehouse, and then its City Hall. Before the first decade was out it would move once again-this time to the new capitol on the Potomac. It would, however, havetowaituntilthe 1930sbeforefindingaper­ manent home. Ellsworth, the nation’s third ChiefJustice in less than seven years, replaced John Rutledge ofSouth Carolina, an interim appointment. An impolitic speech denouncing the controversial Jay Treaty had caused Senate Federalists—among them Ellsworth-to denyhis appointment. Dis­ traught, Rutledge attempted suicide a few weeks later. Rutledge had been nominated to replace John Jay, the Court’s first Chief Justice, who had resigned after a little over sixyears’ service. In another fiveyears time, Ellsworth and all but one of the original six Justices appointed by Washington would be gone as well. The high turnover of Court personnel—at least by late twentieth century standards--can be explained in part by the nature of political life in late 18th century America. The Senate and the House suffered as...