He was born on his family's farm near North East, Maryland, attended the Philadelphia Academy at New London and studied law. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1753, and established a practice at New Castle, Delaware in 1754. He joined the Delaware Committee of Correspondence. He was appointed Attorney General to three Delaware counties, and was elected to the first Continental Congress in 1774. He voted against Lee's Resolution for Independence but joined with the majority in seeking independence once it had been adopted. He was president of the committee that drafted Delaware's constitution in 1776. In 1777 he replaced John McKinly, captured by the British, as Delaware's governor. He became Judge in Court of Appeals in admiralty cases and was elected State Senator under the new constitution. Read was elected to the United States Senate in 1789. He then became Chief Justice of the State of Delaware in 1793, serving until his death.
GeorgeRead was a United States Senator from the beginning of the new government until 1793, when he resigned to become Chief Justice of Delaware, which post he filled until his death.
Read was a delegate to the Annapolis convention in 1786, which gave rise to the convention that met in Philadelphia in 1787 and framed the constitution of the United States.
General Read was president of the Social science congress at Albany, New York, in 1868, and vice-president of the one at, Plymouth, England, in 1872.
GeorgeRead was described by a contemporary as tall, slight, agreeable, austere, and sternly moral.
Read established a legal practice in New Castle in 1754 and quickly developed a local reputation as an honest lawyer and a clientele that extended beyond the boundaries of his colony.
Reflecting the views of the smaller states, Read argued that taxes levied by Congress should be based on the population of the states, rather than on the value of lands and improvements, and that the title to western lands should be held jointly with specific limits placed on the claims of individual states to them.
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