Partisan Courts and the American Dream of Justice

The fight for independence in the 1770s was in large part motivated by the struggle between colonists on one side and the King and Parliament on the other side, to control the justice system in the colonies. The very first case for impeachment in America was brought in 1774, against Peter Oliver, the Chief Justice of Massachusetts. John Adams prepared the Articles of Impeachment, which listed corruption, greed, and disloyalty, all indicative of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” as the bases for impeachment.