# James Iredell *Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1790–1799* James Iredell (October 5, 1751 – October 20, 1799) sat on the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] as one of its original justices. President George Washington appointed him, and he served from 1790 until he died in 1799.[^1] His son, James Iredell Jr., later became [[governor]] of North Carolina.[^1] Before joining the Court, Iredell was a customs officer at Edenton, North Carolina.[^2] From 1774 he wrote essays supporting independence.[^3] He was elected a superior court judge in 1778 and was attorney general from 1779 to 1781.[^4] At North Carolina's 1788 ratifying convention he was the Federalist floor leader.[^5] On the Court he was the lone dissenter in *Chisholm v. Georgia* (1793), a decision the Eleventh Amendment reversed in 1795.[^6] He held 14 enslaved people in 1786.[^7] ## Early life Iredell was born in Lewes, England. He was the eldest of the five surviving children of Francis Iredell, a merchant of Bristol, and Margaret McCulloch, who came from Dublin.[^2] After his father's business and health both failed, he left for the colonies in 1767, aged 17. With relatives' help he became deputy collector, or comptroller, of the port of Edenton, North Carolina.[^2] At the customs house he studied law under Samuel Johnston, later governor of North Carolina, and he entered the bar in 1771.[^8] He was a clergyman's grandson and remained an Anglican throughout his life.[^8] He married Johnston's sister Hannah in 1773. Their four children were born only after twelve years without children.[^8] In 1774 he was promoted to collector of the port.[^8] ## Roles in the Revolution Iredell backed independence although the British government employed him.[^3] His 1774 essay *To the Inhabitants of Great Britain* argued against parliamentary supremacy over America. Written when he was 23, it made him North Carolina's most influential political essayist of the period.[^3] His treatise *Principles of an American Whig* came before the Declaration of Independence and anticipates some of its themes.[^3] Once the Revolution was under way, he helped build North Carolina's court system. He won election as a superior court judge in 1778 and then held the post of attorney general from 1779 to 1781.[^4] In 1787 the state assembly named him a commissioner to compile and revise North Carolina's laws. The result appeared in 1791 as *Iredell's Revisal*.[^4] Lack of money kept him from attending the Philadelphia convention as a delegate, but he wrote regularly to North Carolina's delegates.[^5] He was a leader of the state's Federalists and served as their floor leader at the 1788 Hillsborough convention, where his case for adopting the Constitution failed.[^5] He kept campaigning after that defeat. With William R. Davie, later founder of the University of North Carolina, he printed the convention debates at their own cost and circulated them around the state.[^5] North Carolina ratified the Constitution only after Congress added the Bill of Rights.[^5] ## Supreme Court Justice Washington nominated Iredell as an associate justice of the newly created Court on February 8, 1790. The [[United States Senate]] confirmed him two days later, on February 10, and he took the oath on May 12.[^9] The early Court had little business. Its first case, *West v. Barnes*, came in 1791. The justices decided it unanimously, but Iredell's seriatim opinion urged Congress to amend the harsh statute that governed the outcome.[^10] The justices heard arguments only twice a year, and Iredell wrote only a handful of opinions.[^10] In *Chisholm v. Georgia* (1793), the question was whether a citizen of South Carolina could sue Georgia to recover Revolutionary War debts.[^6] The majority held that a state could be sued in federal court without its consent, and Iredell was the only justice to dissent.[^6] Public and political opinion agreed with him. Reaction against the ruling led to its reversal through the Eleventh Amendment, adopted in 1795.[^6] *Calder v. Bull* (1798) asked whether an act of the Connecticut legislature was an ex post facto law barred by Article I, Section 9, Clause 3.[^11] A unanimous Court held that the clause reached criminal cases only, and it upheld the act.[^11] The case also raised the question of whether "principles of natural justice" were themselves law.[^11] ## Later years and death Iredell's health worsened in his last years on the Court, and illness kept him away from the February 1794 session.[^12] That August he refused to stand in for Justice [[James Wilson (Founding Father)|James Wilson]] on the Southern Circuit. He pointed out that he had already ridden that circuit five times in the previous four years.[^12] Fewer justices were now required at each circuit court, but illness and substitutions meant the change did not always reduce individual justices' travel as intended.[^12] He died at Edenton, North Carolina, on October 20, 1799, aged 48, while still serving on the Court.[^13] ## Slavery Like contemporaries such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, Iredell condemned slavery openly while holding slaves himself.[^7] He held 14 enslaved people in 1786, and both he and Hannah were slaveholders when they died.[^7] As a lawyer he worked on both abolitionist and pro-slavery matters.[^14] In 1777 the North Carolina General Assembly ordered that more than 40 people freed by Quakers in northeastern North Carolina be seized and resold. Iredell and his friend William Hooper gave those people legal assistance.[^14] In 1769 Iredell helped sell a man who had escaped slavery and asked for herring and red-oak staves as part of the proceeds. The source says he did this for his father, whom it names here as Thomas, although its *Early life* section names his father as Francis.[^14] In 1789 he was listed as the contact for the sale of an enslaved man named Jack, who had belonged to the late Mrs. Nash.[^14] ### Opinions on the Slave Trade Clause George Mason of Virginia objected to the Slave Trade Clause (Article One, Section 9, Clause 1). Iredell answered him on practical grounds. In his view, South Carolina and Georgia would not ratify a Constitution without the clause, and the circumstances made it "necessary to bear the evil as it is."[^15] He wrote that abolition would advance "the interests of humanity" and would be "pleasing to every generous mind, and every friend of human nature." He nonetheless held that ratification offered the long-term path to abolition in states such as South Carolina and Georgia.[^15] ## Legacy Iredell County, North Carolina, created in 1788, bears his name. So did SS *James Iredell*, a ship of World War II.[^16] His home at Edenton, the James Iredell House, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.[^16] ## In popular culture Iredell appears as a character in Natalie Wexler's historical novel *A More Obedient Wife: A Novel of the Early Supreme Court*. The novel centers on his wife, Hannah, and her friend Hannah Wilson.[^17] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, lead section (revision 1370361211, retrieved 2026-10-26) — establishes his dates of birth and death, his appointment by Washington, his 1790–1799 service and his son's governorship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Early life* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his birthplace and parentage, his 1767 emigration and his customs post at Edenton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Roles in the Revolution* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his 1774 essay and his treatise *Principles of an American Whig*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Roles in the Revolution* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his 1778 superior court election, his 1779–1781 attorney generalship and the 1787 revisal commission, published 1791. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Roles in the Revolution* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his Federalist leadership, the 1788 Hillsborough convention, the publication of the debates with William R. Davie and the later ratification. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Supreme Court Justice* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes *Chisholm v. Georgia* (1793), his lone dissent and the Eleventh Amendment (1795). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Slavery* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his slaveholding, including 14 enslaved people in 1786. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Early life* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his legal training, his 1771 bar admission, his religion, his 1773 marriage and his 1774 appointment as collector. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Supreme Court Justice* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his nomination (February 8, 1790), confirmation (February 10) and swearing-in (May 12). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Supreme Court Justice* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes *West v. Barnes* (1791), the Court's twice-yearly sittings and his small number of opinions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^11]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Supreme Court Justice* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes *Calder v. Bull* (1798), its holding and the natural-justice question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^12]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Later years and death* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his February 1794 absence, his August 1794 refusal of the Southern Circuit and circuit travel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^13]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Later years and death* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his death at Edenton on October 20, 1799, aged 48. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^14]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Slavery* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his 1777, 1769 and 1789 legal and sale matters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^15]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Opinions on the Slave Trade Clause* subsection (revision 1370361211) — establishes his response to Mason and the quoted passages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^16]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *Legacy* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes Iredell County (1788), SS *James Iredell* and the 1970 National Register listing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell [^17]: Wikipedia contributors, *James Iredell*, *In popular culture* section (revision 1370361211) — establishes his appearance in Natalie Wexler's novel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iredell