James Iredell, Jr.
Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
James Iredell, Jr. 1788 1853. Governor, 1827-28; U.S. Senator; and legislator. Compiler of revisal of N.C. laws. His home two blocks south; grave at Hayes one mile S.E.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
James Iredell, Jr. (1788–1853) served North Carolina as governor in 1827–28, as a U.S. senator, and as a state legislator, the son of a U.S. Supreme Court justice of the same name. Among his lasting contributions was compiling a revisal of the state's laws, an essential task in an era when scattered statutes had to be gathered into usable form. His home stood two blocks south of this marker, with his grave at nearby Hayes plantation.
Why it matters
Figures like Iredell built the legal and governing framework of the early Republic, turning a young state's tangle of laws into an orderly foundation for self-rule.
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