Legislative and Judicial Service
In 1782, he was back with the Congress, this time as a delegate for Pennsylvania. He served in the Congress until 1783.
In 1785 he visited England. With the war over, he was seeking a continuance or reconciliation for the Anglican Church in America. His meetings with John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury, ultimately bore fruit. The English hierarchy agreed to a formal separation. In 1786 Parliament passed Consecration of Bishops Abroad Act, and on February 14, 1787 the church consecrated bishops from Philadelphia and New York in what became the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
In 1786 he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he served from 1787 to 1790. He was the Speaker of the House from 1788 onward. In 1791 he entered the Pennsylvania State Senate but served only a year.
On January 12, 1792, Peters was nominated by President George Washington to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania, vacated by William Lewis. Peters was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 13, 1792, and received his commission immediately. He was a party in the Supreme Court cases, United States v. Richard Peters, District Judge, and United States v. Peters On April 20, 1818, the District of Pennsylvania was subdivided, and he was reassigned by operation of law to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which post he held post until his death. His court held sessions in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. During his service on the court, he published Admiralty Decisions in the United States District Court of Pennsylvania (two volumes, 1807).
Read more about this topic: Richard Peters (Continental Congress)
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