Joseph Reed Ingersoll

Joseph Reed Ingersoll (June 14, 1786 – February 20, 1868) was an American lawyer and statesman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1835 he followed his father, Jared Ingersoll, and his older brother, Charles Jared Ingersoll, to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. House.

Joseph Reed Ingersoll
United States Minister to Great Britain
In office
August 21, 1852  August 23, 1853
PresidentMillard Fillmore
Preceded byAbbott Lawrence
Succeeded byJames Buchanan
Chair of the House Judiciary Committee
In office
March 4, 1847  March 4, 1849
Preceded byGeorge O. Rathbun
Succeeded byJames Thompson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 2nd district
In office
October 12, 1841  March 4, 1849
Preceded byJohn Sergeant
Succeeded byJoseph R. Chandler
In office
March 4, 1835  March 4, 1837
Serving with James Harper
Preceded byHorace Binney
Succeeded byJohn Sergeant
Personal details
Born
Joseph Reed Ingersoll

(1786-06-14)June 14, 1786
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedFebruary 20, 1868(1868-02-20) (aged 81)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political partyWhig
Spouse(s)
Ann Wilcocks
(m. 1813)
ParentsJared Ingersoll
Elizabeth Pettit
EducationPrinceton College
Signature

Biography

He graduated from Princeton College in 1804. He studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Philadelphia. He was elected in 1834 as a Whig anti-Jacksonian candidate to the Twenty-fourth Congress. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1836, serving 1835–1837. He resumed the practice of law.

Ingersoll was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Sergeant. He was reelected as a Whig to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses. He declined to accept the nomination as a candidate for reelection in 1848. In all, his second stay in office lasted from 1841 to 1849.

He was the chairman of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary during the Thirtieth Congress. He was an advocate for protection and a firm supporter of Henry Clay. One of his noted efforts in the House was a defense of Clay's tariff of 1842.

In 1852, President Millard Fillmore sent him to the United Kingdom as the U.S. Minister. He served about a year, and then retired to private life, devoting himself to literary pursuits. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Lafayette and Bowdoin in 1836, and that of D.C.L. by Oxford in 1845.

He died in Philadelphia in 1868. Interment in St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Churchyard.

Works

He was a warm adherent of the Union, and at the time of the American Civil War prepared an essay entitled "Secession, a Folly and a Crime." He published a translation from the Latin of Roceus's (Francesco Rocco's) tracts "De Navibus et Naulo" and "De Assecuratione" (Philadelphia, 1809), and was the author of a Memoir of Samuel Breck (1863).

Notes

    Sources

    • United States Congress. "Joseph Reed Ingersoll (id: I000019)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
    • The Political Graveyard

    Attribution

    U.S. House of Representatives
    Preceded by
    Horace Binney,
    James Harper
    Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
    from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district

    1835–1837
    alongside James Harper
    Succeeded by
    John Sergeant and George Washington Toland
    Preceded by
    John Sergeant
    Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
    from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district

    1841–1849
    alongside George Washington Toland (1841–1843)
    Succeeded by
    Joseph R. Chandler
    Diplomatic posts
    Preceded by
    Abbott Lawrence
    U.S. Minister to Britain
    1852–1853
    Succeeded by
    James Buchanan
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