MARCHANT, Henry, member of the Continental congress, born in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, in April, 1741 ; died in Newport, Rhode Island, 30 August, 1796. He was graduated at Philadelphia college in 1762, studied law under Edmund Trowbridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and settled in Newport, Rhode Island He was attorney-general of that state in 1770-'7, and a member of the assembly. He was an ardent patriot, and foremost in the pre-Revolutionary movements, serving as chairman of the committee to prepare instruction to the delegates in congress. He was a member of that body in 1777-'80 and 1783-'4, and afterward of the state convention that adopted the United States constitution. From 1790 until the time of his death he was judge of the United States district court of Rhode Island. Yale gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1792.