biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (c.1748–1826)
|
| biography:
| Lawyer, born in New Brunswick, New York, USA. After graduating from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) (1766), he worked as a teacher while reading law, eventually being admitted to the Virginia bar (1771). He served as attorney general of Maryland (1778–1805, 1818–22) and as a delegate from Maryland to the Continental Congress (1785). He went to the Constitutional Convention in 1789, but, as an opponent of a strong central government, he left the convention and then unsuccessfully tried to prevent Maryland from ratifying the new constitution. He entered a legal quarrel with Thomas Jefferson and went over to the Federalist Party, helping Justice Samuel Chase in his impeachment trial (1804) and Aaron Burr in his treason trial (1807). His final years were marked by family problems, his own health problems, and his alcoholism. He ended his days destitute and living with his former client, Aaron Burr. |
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