Tar Heel History
By
Л1
Stewari
Judicial Climb
As one of only two North Carolinians to serve
on the Supreme Court, James Iredell Sr.’s judicial
career was rapid and distinguished.
Hr came lo America in bis
youth to seek his fortune and
stayed to contribute signifi¬
cantly to the well-being of succeeding
generations.
The individual in question is Janies
Iredell Sr. — 18th century-jurist, states¬
man and patriot. Bom in 1751 in
Sussex County, England. Iredell
moved to North Carolina in 1768
as comptroller of customs for
Port Roanoke in F-dcnton.
/
During bis first seven years
there, the youthful
Iredell sent bis Customs
check home to help 1
supplement bis par¬
ents' meager income.
In 1770. at age 19. be
was licensed to practice
law. Within a few years
Iredell acquired a repu¬
tation as a superior
lawyer in what was then,
in bis own words, “a
much vilified and haz¬
ardous profession."
The industrious
Iredell's climb up the
judicial ladder was rapid. In 1777 he
was appointed a judge of the North
Carolina Superior Court. Two years
later, be was named state attorney gen¬
eral, an office lie held for two years.
Iredell represented tile plaiiltifT in
Bayard vs. Singleton (1787). the first
case to uphold the doctrine of judicial
review, now considered a fundamental
principle of American law.
As a servant of the Crown. Iredell
was reluctant to support the revolu¬
tionary cause. Through bis association
with Samuel Johnston, a colonial gov¬
ernor. Iredell became involved in the
movement for independence, writing
a number of treaties espousing the
need for independence from the
mother country. The young jurist mar¬
ried Hannah Johnston, younger sister
of Governor Johnston. Unfortunately
for Iredell, his political views cost him
a great deal financially. When a
wealthy bachelor uncle in the West
Indies learned of his nephew's advoca¬
cy of the revolutionary cause, he
promptly disinherited him.
Too poor to represent
__ \ North Carolina as a dele¬
gate to the Philadelphia
constitutional conven¬
tion in 1787, Iredell
took an active role in
his state's ratification
of the United Stales
Constitution. The
following year he was
the floor leader for
Federalists in argu¬
ing for ratification,
ably defending each
section of the
Constitution at the
state's Hillsborough
с о
n v c n t i
о
n .
Defeated there, he
again supported ratification of the
document at the Fayetteville constitu¬
tional convention in 1789, this time
successfully. Shortly aftet North
Carolina became the 12th state to rati¬
fy the Constitution. Iredell wrote:
“There are now two governments to
which we owe obedience — to the
government of the Union in certain
defined cases — to our own state- gov¬
ernment in every other case."
Iredell’s legal knowledge, wisdom
and respectable character were among
the reasons for his appointment as an
associate justice of the l’.S. Supreme
Court by President George
Washington in February 1790. He and
his contemporary, Alfred Moore
(1755-1810), are the- only Tar Heels to
serve on oUi nation's highest tribunal.
Perhaps Iredell's most important deci¬
sion as a Supreme Court justice was his
dissenting opinion in Chisholm vs.
Georgia (1793). a case in which a citi¬
zen of one state brought suit against
another state. Although he was alone
in his dissent, Iredell’s view ultimately
prevailed through the adoption of the
Mill amendment to the U.S.
Constitution (ratified in 1798). which
prohibits citizens of one state from
suing another state.
Iredell’s constant travels on the cir¬
cuit assigned to him and the exhaust¬
ing labor he devoted to his duties on
the Supreme Court undermined his
health and was a factor in his untimely
death at age IS in 1799. Had he lived
longer, the probability is high that he
would have been elevated to the posi¬
tion of chief justice.
Iredell and his wife were the parents
of three children, including James Jr.
(1788-1853), a Superior Court judge.
North Carolina governor and U.S. sen-
ami. Tile name-sake ol Iredell County
and his spouse were members of St.
Paul's Episcopal Church in Fdenmn.
Religious in nature, the senior Iredell
thought the Christian religion was "a
divine institution."
Throtighout his career. Iredell
viewed the judicial)- as an active force
in the new republic, an equal with the
other two branches of government —
executive- and legislative.
A believei in the equality of all men,
Iredell wrote, “No man is better than
his fellow citizens, uoi can pretend to
any superiority over the meanest man
in the country."
A portrait of Iredell adorns one wall
of the lawyer's Room adjacent to tile-
courtroom of the North Carolina
Supreme Court in Raleigh, and a set of
Iredell's papers is available for scrutiny
in the court's library.
As Willis P. Whichard. an associate
justice of the current North Carolina
Supreme Court, has observed:
“Iredell's life and work merit the
encomium ‘one of the ablest ol the
Founders.'" f
Л
l Stewart is a firrlanre wriln from
Greensboro.
James Iredell Sr.
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33
