Part 101

Resolved, That in taking the judgment of the Senate upon the articles of impeachment now depending against Samuel Chase, Esq., the President of the Senate shall call on each member by his name, and upon each article, propose the following question, in the manner following: “Mr. ----, how say you; is the respondent, Samuel Chase, guilty or not guilty of a high crime or misdemeanor, as charged in the ---- article of impeachment?”

Whereupon, each member shall rise in his place, and answer guilty or not guilty.

The PRESIDENT rose, and addressing himself to the members of the Court, said:

Gentlemen: You have heard the evidence and arguments adduced on the trial of Samuel Chase, impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors: you will now proceed to pronounce distinctly your judgment on each article.

The Secretary then read the first article of impeachment, as follows:

ARTICLE 1. That, unmindful of the solemn duties of his office, and contrary to the sacred obligation by which he stood bound to discharge them “faithfully and impartially, and without respect to persons,” the said Samuel Chase, on the trial of John Fries, charged with treason, before the circuit court of the United States, held for the district of Pennsylvania, in the city of Philadelphia, during the months of April and May, one thousand eight hundred, whereat the said Samuel Chase presided, did, in his judicial capacity, conduct himself in a manner highly arbitrary, oppressive, and unjust, viz:

1. In delivering an opinion, in writing, on the question of law, on the construction of which the defence of the accused materially depended, tending to prejudice the minds of the jury against the case of the said John Fries, the prisoner, before counsel had been heard in his defence:

2. In restricting the counsel for the said Fries from recurring to such English authorities as they believed apposite, or from citing certain statutes of the United States, which they deemed illustrative of the positions upon which they intended to rest the defence of their client:

3. In debarring the prisoner from his constitutional privilege of addressing the jury (through his counsel) on the law, as well as on the fact, which was to determine his guilt, or innocence, and at the same time endeavoring to wrest from the jury their indisputable right to hear argument, and determine upon the question of law, as well as the question of fact, involved in the verdict which they were required to give:

In consequence of this irregular conduct of the said Samuel Chase, as dangerous to our liberties as it is novel to our laws and usages, the said John Fries was deprived of the right, secured to him by the eighth article amendatory of the constitution, and was condemned to death without having been heard, by counsel, in his defence, to the disgrace of the character of the American bench, in manifest violation of law and justice, and in open contempt of the rights of juries, on which ultimately rest the liberty and safety of the American people.

When the PRESIDENT took the opinion of the members of the Court respectively, in the form following:

“Mr. ----, how say you; is the respondent, Samuel Chase, guilty or not guilty of a high crime or misdemeanor, as charged in the first article of impeachment?”

Those who pronounced guilty, are:

Messrs. Anderson, Baldwin, Breckenridge, Brown, Cocke, Condit, Ellery, Franklin, Howland, Logan, Maclay, Moore, Stone, Sumter, Worthington, and Wright--16.

Those who pronounced not guilty, are:

Messrs. Adams, Bayard, Bradley, Dayton, Gaillard, Giles, Hillhouse, Jackson, Mitchill, Olcott, Pickering, Plumer, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Smith of Ohio, Smith of Vermont, Tracy, White--18.

The second article was read by the Secretary, as follows:

ART. 2. That, prompted by a similar spirit of persecution and injustice, at a circuit court of the United States, held at Richmond, in the month of May, one thousand eight hundred, for the district of Virginia, whereat the said Samuel Chase presided, and before which a certain James Thompson Callender was arraigned for a libel on John Adams, then President of the United States, the said Samuel Chase, with intent to oppress and procure the conviction of the said Callender, did overrule the objection of John Basset, one of the jury, who wished to be excused from serving on the said trial because he had made up his mind as to the publication from which the words charged to be libellous in the indictment were extracted; and the said Basset was accordingly sworn and did serve on the said jury, by whose verdict the prisoner was subsequently convicted.

Those who pronounced guilty on this article, are:

Messrs. Anderson, Breckenridge, Cocke, Condit, Ellery, Giles, Howland, Maclay, Moore, and Sumter--10.

Those who pronounced not guilty, are:

Messrs. Adams, Baldwin, Bayard, Bradley, Brown, Dayton, Franklin, Gaillard, Hillhouse, Jackson, Logan, Mitchill, Olcott, Pickering, Plumer, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Smith of Ohio, Smith of Vermont, Stone, Tracy, White, Worthington, and Wright--24.

The third article was read by the Secretary, as follows:

ART. 3. That, with intent to oppress and procure the conviction of the prisoner, the evidence of John Taylor, a material witness on behalf of the aforesaid Callender, was not permitted by the said Samuel Chase to be given in, on pretence that the said witness could not prove the truth of the whole of one of the charges contained in the indictment, although the said charge embraced more than one fact.

Those who pronounced guilty on this article, are:

Messrs. Anderson, Baldwin, Breckenridge, Brown, Cocke, Condit, Ellery, Franklin, Giles, Howland, Jackson, Logan, Maclay, Moore, Smith of Maryland, Sumter, Worthington, and Wright--18.

Those who pronounced not guilty, are:

Messrs. Adams, Bayard, Bradley, Dayton, Gaillard, Hillhouse, Mitchill, Olcott, Pickering, Plumer, Smith of New York, Smith of Ohio, Smith of Vermont, Stone, Tracy, and White--16.