Serving on the Supreme Court for nearly a decade, Iredell was a supporter of judicial restraint, a strict constructionist, and defender of the Constitution’s original design.

Born in Lewes, England, Iredell spent his childhood in Bristol. The eldest of five sons born to Francis and Margaret McCulloh Iredell, he was forced to leave school after his father suffered a debilitating stroke in 1766. With the assistance of relatives, Iredell came to America in 1768 to accept an appointment as comptroller of the customs in Port Roanoke in Edenton, North Carolina. The young man’s salary was sent directly to his parents. A gregarious person, Iredell quickly made friends, including many of the most talented citizens of Edenton. He began legal studies under the tutelage of Samuel Johnston, who would later serve as governor of North Carolina. Iredell also married Johnston’s sister, Hannah, in 1773.Washington, George;nominations to the Court

James Iredell

(Albert Rosenthal/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)

In 1770 Iredell was licensed to practice law in the lower courts of the colony, and in 1774 he was allowed to practice law in the superior courts. In 1774 he was also promoted to collector of the port at Edenton. During this period, Iredell published various tracts urging a healing of relations between England and America, while expressing concern about the violation of the colonists’ chartered rights as Englishmen. With great precision and restraint, Iredell presented a series of thoughtful commentaries that served as a defense of the American position. The central problem of the English system, according to Iredell, was a weak judiciary, unable to defend the constitution against the usurpations of Parliament and the Crown.

Iredell was appointed to serve on a committee to revise the statues of North Carolina in 1776 and elected by the general assembly to serve as a superior court judge, the equivalent of a state supreme court judicial post, in 1777. He served in this capacity for six months. After serving as North Carolina’s attorney general, Iredell returned to his law practice and continued to defend colonists’ positions in his speeches and writings. By the time of the Constitutional Convention, Iredell was a highly respected jurist and legal theorist.

Iredell was elected as a delegate to North Carolina’s first ratifying convention. Under the pseudonym “Marcus,” Iredell had already published an essay entitled “Answers to Mr. Mason’s Objections to the New Constitution,” defending the Constitution as a moderate document that would correct the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. He was one of the most articulate and influential of the FederalistFederalists advocates of the Constitution; however, as Iredell had anticipated, the initial attempt at ratification failed. A second convention was held in November, 1789, and the Constitution was ratified. In defense of the Constitution, Iredell stated that “no power can be exercised but what is expressly given.” For Iredell, the adoption of the Constitution was an improvement because it provided for a separation of powers and affirmed state sovereignty. His thoughtful defense of the need for ratification attracted many admirers, including President George Washington, who appointed Iredell to the Supreme Court in 1790.

As an associate justice, Iredell was an original thinker and representative of southern federalism. In his decisions and legal analysis, he differed substantially from his colleagues, including Chief Justice John Jay and Justice James Wilson. In the case of Chisholm v. Georgia[case]Chisholm v. Georgia[Chisholm v. Georgia] (1793), the judiciary’s first reevaluation of the federal arrangement after ratification, Iredell provided the lone dissent, arguing that a citizen of one state could not sue another state in federal court.State sovereignty The other justices claimed the plaintiff had a right to be heard. Iredell suggested that “each state in the Union is sovereign as to all powers reserved.” In 1798 the states ratified the Eleventh AmendmentEleventh Amendment, which overturned the Chisholm decision and affirmed Iredell’s criticism of implied power and defense of state authority. As the first justice to articulate a strict constructionist view of the Constitution, Iredell was a representative of a school of interpretation that continues to influence judicial decision making.

• Bader, William H., and Roy M. Mersky, eds. The First One Hundred Eight Justices. Buffalo, N.Y.: William S. Hein, 2004.
• Bradford, M. E. “James Iredell: An Old Whig in Edenton.” In Against the Barbarians. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1992.
• Graebe, Christopher. “The Federalism of James Iredell in Historical Context.” North Carolina Historical Review 69 (1990).
• Harrington, Matthew P. Jay and Ellsworth, The First Courts: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2007.
• Higginbotham, R. Don, ed. The Papers of James Iredell. 2 vols. Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1976.
• Wexler, Natalie. “James Iredell.” In American National Biography. New York: Oxford, 1999.

Chisholm v. Georgia

Constitutional Convention

Eleventh Amendment

Federalism