Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Ellsworth, Oliver, 1745-1807

Ll.D., jurist; born in Windsor, Conn., April 29, 1745;

Oliver Ellsworth.

graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1766; was admitted to the bar in 1771; practised in Hartford, Conn.; and was made State attorney. When the Revolutionary War was kindling he took the side of the patriots in the legislature of Connecticut, and was a delegate in Congress from 1777 to 1780. He became a member of the State council, and in 1784 was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court. Judge Ellsworth was one of the framers of the national Constitution, but, being called away before the adjournment of the convention, his name was not attached to that instrument. He was the first United States Senator from Connecticut (1789-95), and drew up the bill for organizing the Judiciary Department. In 1796 he was made chief-justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and at the close of 1799 he was one of the envoys to France. He died in Windsor, Nov. 26, 1807.