Henry Marchant was an American jurist and delegate to the Continental Congress.
Background
Henry Marchant was born on 9 Apr 1741 on Martha's Vineyard, the son of Hexford Marchant, a sea captain. His mother, whose maiden name was Butler, died when the boy was four, shortly after the family had removed to Newport. His father's later marriage to a daughter of Samuel Ward gave young Marchant a useful connection with a leading Rhode Island family.
Education
He studied at the College of Philadelphia (later the University of Pennsylvania) from 1756 to 1759, but did not graduate. In 1762, however, he received the degree of A. M.
Career
Marchant was reading law with the greatest common lawyer and preceptor in New England, Edmund Trowbridge of Cambridge. This conservative judge hatched a numerous brood of young patriot barristers, among them Francis Dana, a fellow student of Marchant and his close friend. After settling in Newport Marchant rose rapidly in his profession and in politics. He had stimulating contacts with the Redwood Library circle and was strongly influenced intellectually by his intimate friend and pastor, the erudite Dr. Ezra Stiles, whom he assisted in 1769 in observing the transit of Venus. An ardent Son of Liberty from Stamp Act days he was chosen attorney-general of Rhode Island in 1771 and each year thereafter through 1776. In 1771 when he went to England on private legal business before Privy Council he was designated joint colonial agent to press for compensation for the expenses of the 1756 campaign against Crown Point. He traveled widely in England and was Benjamin Franklin's companion on a visit to Scotland. Stiles noted with pride that his protégé "was personally acquainted with the Men of the first Eminence for Literature in Scotland and England". He was also in close touch with the merchants, nonconformists, and radicals who made up the "friends of America" in Great Britain. After his return in 1772 he fell under suspicion for accepting a retainer from the collector of customs, but he soon took his place in the leadership of the Revolutionary movement in the colony. In May 1773 he was named on the Rhode Island committee of correspondence, and in December 1774, on the committee to instruct the delegates to the first Continental Congress. At the outbreak of war he removed from Newport to his farm in South Kingstown. He was chosen delegate to Congress, 1777-79, and served on the standing committees on marine, appeals, treasury, and the southern department. He was elected again in 1780 and in 1783, but did not attend in either year, and in 1784 he resigned after reelection. From 1784 to 1790 he sat for Newport in the General Assembly and was a vigorous exponent of the commercial interests in those troubled times. He was associated with Varnum as counsel in Trevett vs. Weeden. In 1787 he signed the minority protest against Rhode Island's abstention from the Philadelphia Convention; in 1790 he introduced the bill for a ratifying convention. He died on August 30, 1796 in Newport County, Rhode Island.
Achievements
Connections
Marchant married Rebecca Cooke, January 8, 1765. His son, William, was graduated from Yale in 1792 when Marchant himself received the degree of LL. D. from his old mentor, President Stiles.