THE ANSWER AND PLEAS OF SAMUEL CHASE, ONE OF THE ASSOCIATE JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO THE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT, EXHIBITED AGAINST HIM IN THE SAID COURT, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES. [bound with:] REPLICATION BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, TO THE ANSWER OF SAMUEL CHASE.

Samuel Chase was a member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence and justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who was impeached by the House of Representatives on March 12, 1804, on eight articles alleging misconduct while he served on the Supreme Court. The House was encouraged to impeach Chase by then President Jefferson for Chase's alleged verbal assaults on the government and on the Jefferson administration in relation to specific cases. Included in this work (on the final two pages) is the House of Representatives' Replication, or the plaintiff's response to Chase's plea. The impeachment of Chase and his subsequent acquittal by the Senate is a milestone in Constitutional law that "shifted the balance of power between Congress and the Supreme Court and forever ensured that judicial independence would shield the Court from the use of impeachment as a political solution to a party's discontent with the judiciary" Perlin. There were printings of this text in five different cities in 1805. "Of fundamental importance in our constitutional history" - DAB. SABIN 12203. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 8170. DAB IV, pp.34-37. COHEN 14466. Adam A. Perlin, "The Impeachment of Samuel Chase: Redefining Judicial Independence" in Rutgers Law Review, Vol. 62, no. 3 (Spring 2010), pp.725-89. Contemporary calf-backed marbled paper over scaleboards. Boards rubbed, scuffed, and edgeworn. Light scattered foxing and staining, small closed tear in leaf D, with no loss of text. Contemporary ink notations on free front endpaper and rear pastedown. Very good.…