Following the American Revolutionary War, the state of Rhode Island faced severe economic distress and massive war debts. In response, the populist party dominating the legislature issued £100,000 in paper currency in 1786. To force acceptance of this rapidly depreciating paper money, the state passed radical legal tender laws.
These mandates penalized any merchant who refused to accept paper notes at face value equal to gold or silver coin. To make enforcement swift, the legislature bypassed jury trials, allowing informers to bring non-compliant merchants directly before judges without the right to an appeal or a jury. John Weeden, a Newport butcher, refused to accept paper money from a customer named John Trevett.
Facing heavy fines, Weeden retained attorney James Varnum, who argued that the law violated fundamental constitutional rights, specifically the right to a trial by jury guaranteed by Rhode Island's charter. In the landmark case Trevett v. Weeden (1786), the Superior Court agreed with Varnum, ruling that the statute was unconstitutional and unenforceable.
Although the legislature retaliated by attempting to remove the judges, the case established a foundational American legal principle: the judiciary had the power to invalidate laws that violated constitutional principles, paving the way for Marbury v. Madison in 1803.