Ellsworth, Oliver (1745–1807)

US jurist and chief justice of the US Supreme Court 1796–1800. As a Connecticut delegate to the Constitutional Convention 1777, he was instrumental in effecting the ‘Connecticut Compromise,’ which balanced large and small state interests. He was selected as US senator for Connecticut in 1787. Appointed chief justice by President Washington, his opinions shaped admiralty law and treaty law.

Born in Windsor, Connecticut, he attended Yale College and graduated from Princeton University 1766. After establishing himself as a lawyer he served concurrently in a number of political posts in Connecticut. He became a judge of the new state court of appeals in 1785, moving to the new state superior court as a judge in the same year.