Archibald McAllister (October 12, 1813 – July 18, 1883) was a Democratic member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Early life and education

Archibald McAllister (grandson of

John Andre Hanna John Andre Hanna (1762July 23, 1805) was a United States representative from Pennsylvania. Biography Born in Flemington in the Province of New Jersey, he received a classical education and graduated from Princeton College in 1782. He was a s ...

, and the paternal nephew of the George Washington McAllister, the owner of Strathy Hall) was born at

Fort Hunter, Pennsylvania Fort Hunter is an unincorporated community in Middle Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Six miles north of Harrisburg, on the south bank of Fis ...

, near present-day

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

. He attended the common schools and

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. He moved to

Blair County, Pennsylvania Blair County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 122,822. Its county seat is Hollidaysburg. The county was created on February 26, 1846, from parts of Huntingdon and Bedford counties. Blai ...

, in 1842 and engaged in manufacturing charcoal iron at Springfield Furnace, Pennsylvania.

Career

McAllister was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress. Although he was a Democrat, he supported the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. During the congressional debate, McAllister justified his new stance because he saw destroying "the corner-stone of the Southern Confederacy" as the only path to peace. He was not a candidate for renomination in

1864 Events January–March * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song " ...

Later life and death

He resumed the manufacture of iron and died in

Royer, Pennsylvania Royer is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Blair County, Pennsylvania, Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. He is interred in Mountain Cemetery.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
1813 births 1883 deaths Politicians from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub