(1741–1811), U.S. jurist. Born on April 17, 1741, in Princess Anne, Md., Samuel Chase was a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Appointed by George Washington to the United States Supreme Court in 1796, he was impeached for partisanship but not convicted in a case that was important in the history of the nation's judiciary. He later opposed President Thomas Jefferson's administration.