James Iredell, Supreme Court Justice 1790-1799, biographical short

James Iredell (1751-1799)

James Iredell was born in England and immigrated to the United States in 1767. Relatives helped him obtain a position in the customs service at the port of Edenton, North Carolina. Iredell read law under Samuel Johnston (House of Burgesses, Provincial Congress delegate, Governor, Senator) and gained admission to the bar in 1771. In 1773, Iredell married Samuel Johnston's sister Hannah.

A strong supporter of independence, Iredell published a pamphlet "To the Inhabitants of Great Britain" where he argued against the concept of parliamentary supremacy over America.

During the war, he helped organize the court system of North Carolina and served as a judge of the Superior Court in 1778, as North Carolina Attorney General from 1779 to 1782, and as compiler of the laws of North Carolina from 1787 to 1791. He was a leader of the Federalists in North Carolina and a strong supporter of the U.S. Constitution.

On February 8, 1790, President George Washington nominated Iredell as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Senate confirmed his nomination on May 12. He was the youngest of the early Supreme Court justices and served until his death nine years later. In the case of Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), Iredell was the lone dissent from the majority opinion, but public and political opinion agreed with Iredell and led to the passage of the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1795.

His son, James Iredell Jr. (1788-1853), was a Governor of North Carolina 1827-1828 and its US Senator 1828-1831.  He was raised by his uncle US Senator Samuel Johnston following his father's death in 1799.

Further reading:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Iredell
https://www.archives.gov/nhprc/projects/catalog/james-iredell
https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/james-iredell-sr-1751-1799
Life and Correspondence of James Iredell, 2 Vols. (New York, 1857-58)