Judge Samuel Chase Justifies His Efforts To Squash A Riot

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/15/2018

Broadside titled, “TO THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE-TOWN”, 7” x 11-1/2”, Baltimore, by James Angell & Paul J. Sullivan, VG. an open letter from Judge Samuel Chase to the citizens of Baltimore in the wake of a riot in 1794. Chase, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a future Supreme Court Justice, defends his actions in detaining the leaders of the mob, and appeals to the citizens of Baltimore to value order and government over their destructive passions. The occasion for the uprising was Congress' declaration of a thirty-day embargo on foreign trade, issued in March 1794. A local shipmaster, Capt. Ramsdell, expressed his displeasure at the end of the embargo, and he and another man, named Stenton (described in the broadside as an "American pirate"), were attacked by a mob. Among the leaders of the mob was Capt. David Stodder, the owner of a local shipyard, and Capt. William Reeves. The mob set upon Ramsdell and Stenton at Fells Point and tarred and feathered them. Chase, who at the time was chief justice of the District Criminal Court in Baltimore and chief justice of the Maryland General Court, ordered that Stodder and Reeves, as the ringleaders, be held in custody pending charges unless they could offer up bail. Stodder and Reeves refused to post bail, and their supporters threatened to tear down the jail and to raze Chase's home. After giving them a day to cool down, the prisoners agreed to post bail and the tense situation abated. In the present broadside Chase describes and justifies his actions, making an eloquent case for the rule of law over the mentality of the mob. He lays out the details of the events, explains his actions in detail, and describes the threats made against him, his family and property, and against public order. Chase concludes by stating that he is doing his duty as a judge and following the oath of his office, and that he is not appealing to the citizens of Baltimore to protect himself, "but that you may determine whether you ought to suffer an outrage to your laws, so fatal to the prosperity of this town, so destructive of all order, and so subversive of your government." This broadside is without an imprint, and the identity of the printers is based on the attribution by Evans. Only one other copy known!

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