- Richard Potts
Richard Potts (
July 19 ,1753 –November 26 ,1808 ) was an Americanpolitician andjurist .Early life and career
Potts was born in
Upper Marlboro, Maryland , and lived there until he moved with his family to theBarbados Islands in 1757. He returned to Maryland and settled in the state capital ofAnnapolis in 1761, where he studied law. He commenced the practice of law inFrederick County, Maryland in 1775. Potts served as a member of the committee of observation for Frederick County in 1776 and as military aide to theGovernor of Maryland in 1777.Law career
Potts served as clerk of the Frederick County court from 1777 to 1778, and as prosecuting attorney for Frederick, Montgomery, and Washington Counties in 1784. He was appointed by President
George Washington as United States attorney for Maryland, and served from 1789 to 1791Potts also served as a member of the
Continental Congress in 1781, and as member of the Maryland convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States in 1788.From 1791 to 1793 and again from 1796 to 1801, Potts served as chief judge of the fifth judicial circuit of the State. He was later appointed associate justice of the
Maryland Court of Appeals , a position he served in from 1801 to 1804.Political career
Potts' political career included two terms in the
Maryland House of Delegates from 1779-1780, and again in 1787-1788. He declined the nomination to be elected to theMaryland State Senate in 1787, but served as apresidential elector in 1792. He was elected to theUnited States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofCharles Carroll of Carrollton and served fromJanuary 10 ,1793 , toOctober 24 ,1796 , when he also resigned. Potts died in Frederick in 1808, and was interred in All Saints’ Parish Cemetery until his reinterment inMount Olivet Cemetery in Baltimore.References
*CongBio|P000473
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