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OLIVER ELLSWORTH
was born on April 29, 1745, in Windsor, Connecticut, Ellsworth
attended Yale College until the end of his sophomore year,
and then transferred to the College of New Jersey (now
Princeton University), where he was graduated in 1766.
He read law in a law office for four years and was admitted
to the bar in 1779. Ellsworth was a member of the Connecticut
General Assembly from 1773 to 1776. From 1777 to 1784,
he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and
worked on many of its committees. After service on the
Connecticut Council of Safety and the Governor’s
Council, he became a Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut
in 1785. As a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention
in Philadelphia in 1787, Ellsworth helped formulate the
"Connecticut Compromise," which resolved a critical
debate between the large and small states over representation
in Congress. Ellsworth was elected to the First Federal
Congress as a Senator. There he chaired the committee
that drafted the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established
the federal court system. On March 3, 1796, President
George Washington nominated Ellsworth Chief Justice of
the United States and the Senate confirmed the appointment
the following day. He resigned from the Supreme Court
on September 30, 1800. Ellsworth died on November 26,
1807, at age of sixty-two. |
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