David Brearley Jr. (often misspelled as ''Brearly'') (June 11, 1745 – August 16, 1790) was an American

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, Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of New Jersey The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases cha ...

, a delegate from

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to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which drafted the

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, a signer of the United States Constitution, and a

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of the

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. gover ...

Education and career

Born on June 11, 1745, to Mary and David Brearely Sr. (1703–1785) in Lawrence Township, New Jersey,

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial history of the United States, Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherla ...

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, Brearley attended the College of New Jersey (now

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) and

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

. He was in private practice in Allentown, New Jersey''Dictionary of American Biography'' Vol. 2 p. 1 until 1776.

Opposition to British colonial rule and military service

Prior to the start of the American Revolution, Brearley was on one occasion arrested for his opposition to the rule of the British Parliament but was freed by a mob. With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Brearley was at first a captain in the Monmouth County

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

after having spent many years speaking out against the Parliamentary absolutism. He eventually rose to the rank of colonel in Nathaniel Heard's New Jersey militia brigade. From 1776 to 1779 he served in the New Jersey Line of the Continental Army, seeing action at Brandywine, Germantown, and

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Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey

Brearley was chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey from 1779 to 1789. He decided on the famous '' Holmes v. Walton'' case where he ruled that the judiciary had the authority to declare whether laws were unconstitutional.

Constitutional Convention

While at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Brearley was Chairman of the Committee on Postponed Parts, which played a substantial role in shaping the final document. The committee addressed questions related to the taxes, war-making, patents and copyrights, relations with Native American tribes, and Franklin's compromise to require money bills to originate in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. The biggest issue they addressed was the presidency, and the final compromise was written by

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

with the committee's input. They adopted the earlier plan for choosing the president by the

Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

and settled on the method of choosing the president if no candidate had an Electoral College majority, which many such as Madison thought would be "nineteen times out of twenty". The committee also shortened the president's term from seven years to four years, freed him to seek re-election, and moved impeachment trials from the courts to the

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. They also created the vice president, whose only role was to succeed the president and preside over the Senate. This also transferred important powers from the Senate to the president, who was given the power (which had been given to the senate by Rutledge's committee) to make treaties and appoint ambassadors. He ultimately signed the finished Constitution.

Federal judicial service

Brearley was nominated by President

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

on September 25, 1789, to the

, to a new seat authorized by . He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on September 25, 1789, and received his commission on September 26, 1789. His service terminated on August 16, 1790, due to his death in Trenton.

Death

He is interred in the churchyard of Saint Michael's Episcopal Church in Trenton, and a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

was placed there in 1924.

Legacy

At the close of the Revolutionary War, Brearley became one of the founding members of the

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...

in the State of New Jersey and served as the state society's vice president from 1783 until his death in 1790. In 1789, he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. David Brearley High School in Kenilworth, New Jersey was named in his honor. Brearly Street in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, is named in his honor. Brearley Crescent in Waldwick, New Jersey, is named in his honor. Brearley Lodge No.2 Masonic Lodge in

Bridgeton, New Jersey Bridgeton is a City (New Jersey), city in Cumberland County, New Jersey, Cumberland County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the county seat of Cumberland CountyBiography

Colonial Hall Biography

External links

Brearley House, Lawrence Historical Society