Benjamin Chew

Benjamin Chew (November 19, 1722 – January 20, 1810) was a fifth-generation American, a Quaker-born legal scholar, prominent and successful Philadelphia lawyer, slaveowner, and chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania and later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chew was known for precision and brevity in his legal arguments and his excellent memory, judgment, and knowledge of statutory law. His primary allegiance was to the supremacy of law and the constitution.

Trained in law at an early age by Andrew Hamilton, Chew inherited his mentor's clients, the descendants of William Penn, including Thomas Penn and his brother Richard Penn Sr., and their sons, Governor John Penn, Richard Penn Jr., and John Penn. The Penn family was the basis of his private practice, and he represented them for six decades.

Chew had a lifelong personal friendship with George Washington, who is said to have treated Chew's children "as if they were his own." Chew lived and practiced law in Center City Philadelphia, four blocks from the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, and provided ''pro bono'' legal counsel on substantive law to America's Founding Fathers during their creation of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. Provided by Wikipedia