Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Memorandum of Votes in Chase Impeachment Trial, 1 March 1805

Memorandum of Votes in Chase
Impeachment Trial

[on or after 1 Mch. 1805]

I II III IV V VI VII VIII
Adams 0 
Anderson + + + + + 5 
Baldwin + + + 3 
Bayard 0 
Bradley 0 
Breckenridge  + + + + + + + 7. 
Brown + + + + 4 
Cocke + + + + + + + 7. 
Condit + + + + + 5 
Dayton 0 
Ellery + + + + + 5 
Franklin + + + + + 5 
Gaillard 0 
Giles + + + + 4 
Hillhouse 0 
Howland + + + + + + + 7 
Jackson + + + + 4 
Logan + + + + 4 
Maclay + + + + + + + 7 
Mitchell 0 
Moore + + + + + 5 
Olcott 0 
Pickering 0 
Plumer 0 
Smith. M. + + + + 4 
Smith. N.Y. 0 
Smith. O. 0 
Smith. V. 0 
Stone + + + + 4 
Sumpter + + + + + + 6 
Tracy 0 
White 0 
Worthington + + + + 4 
Wright + + + + + 5 
+  16. 10 18 18 0 4. 10. 19.
  18  24 16 16 34 30  24  15 
Breckenridge  } 7.
Cocke
Howland
Maclay
Sumpter—— 6.
Anderson } 5.
Condit
Ellery
Franklin
Moore
Wright
Brown } 4.
Giles
Jackson
Logan
Smith M.
Stone
Worthington
Baldwin—— 3 
Bradley } 0 
Gaillard
Mitchell
Smith N.Y.
Smith O.
Smith V.
Adams
Bayard
Dayton
<Gaillard>
Hillhouse
Olcott
Pickering
Plumer
Tracy
White

MS (DLC: TJ Papers, 155:27104); undated; entirely in TJ’s hand; endorsed by TJ: “Chase’s impeachment.”

This table appears to be TJ’s tally of the votes given by senators on 1 Mch. at the close of the impeachment trial of Samuel Chase. Each of the articles is indicated by a roman numeral at the top of TJ’s table. The senators are then listed alphabetically. TJ marked a cross for a vote of guilty and a dash for a vote of not guilty, then took note of the total number of guilty and not guilty votes each article received. He also grouped the senators again according to the total number of guilty votes each gave. The charges against Chase were:

1. That his conduct during the trial of John Fries for treason at Philadelphia in April and May 1800 deprived Fries of a fair trial.

2. That he weighted the jury against James Thomson Callender in May 1800 in Callender’s sedition trial at Richmond.

3. That at Callender’s trial he prevented material witnesses from testifying.

4. That his rulings at that trial were unfair to Callender and partial to the prosecution.

5. That he allowed Callender to be arrested, despite the fact that the laws of Virginia did not permit the arrest of indicted persons for non-capital crimes.

6. That he allowed Callender’s trial to proceed in the same session as the one in which the grand jury’s indictment had been presented, contrary to Virginia law.

7. That he attempted to manipulate a grand jury sitting in New Castle, Delaware, in June 1800 into indicting a local printer for sedition.

8. That he harangued a grand jury in Baltimore in May 1803 in the attempt to disaffect them from both state and federal authority.

Chase was acquitted on all charges. As shown by TJ’s figures, a majority of senators voted to convict on the third, fourth, and eighth articles. As specified by Article 1, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, however, a two-thirds majority of the vote is required for conviction in an impeachment. A tabulation of the votes similar to TJ’s appeared in the National Intelligencer of 4 Mch. (JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820-21, 5 vols. description ends , 3:509-27; Vol. 40:372-3; William A. Burwell to TJ, 18 Jan.).

According to John Quincy Adams, Senator Benjamin Howland of Rhode Island voted not guilty on the sixth article but “took no notice of the error” when the votes were read out for the record (Adams, diary 27 [1 Jan. 1803 to 4 Aug. 1809], 144-5, in MHi: Adams Family Papers).

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