Henry Dilworth Gilpin (April 14, 1801 – January 29, 1860) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 14th
Attorney General of the United States under President
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...
from 1840 to 1841. He served as the 2nd
Solicitor of the United States Treasury The Solicitor of the Treasury position was created in the United States Department of the Treasury by an act of May 29, 1830 , which changed the name of the Agent of the Treasury.
Function
The Solicitor of the Treasury served as legal advisor to th ...
from 1837 to 1840 and
U.S. Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for the
from 1831 to 1837.
Early life and education
Gilpin was the son of Philadelphia-born industrialist
Joshua Gilpin and Mary Dilworth, and was born in
Lancaster, England, just before his parents returned to America.
[ His father had been on extended tour of Britain and Europe, lasting from 1795 to 1801, during which he obtained information about the new manufacturing methods used in paper-making for his family paper mills on Brandywine Creek in Delaware.
The family returned to England for another stay in 1812 and Gilpin attended school near London. He returned to the United States in about 1816. He graduated from the ]University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in 1819. He studied law with Joseph R. Ingersoll and was admitted to the bar in 1822.
Career
He served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1831 to 1837, and then as Solicitor of the United States Treasury The Solicitor of the Treasury position was created in the United States Department of the Treasury by an act of May 29, 1830 , which changed the name of the Agent of the Treasury.
Function
The Solicitor of the Treasury served as legal advisor to th ...
in 1837. During this time he joined the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
(elected in 1832)
From 1833 to 1835 he was on the board of the Bank of the United States. Gilpin supported President Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
's belief that the bank had become too powerful and worked to ensure that the banks charter was denied which caused the bank to close in 1836. Jackson nominated Gilpin to be the territorial governor of Michigan in 1835 but the confirmation was blocked by Jackson's enemies in Congress.[
President Martin Van Buren named him 14th Attorney General of the United States in 1840. He served until 1841, during which time he presented the U.S. government's side of the '' Amistad'' case to the ]U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
.
From 7 June 1852 until 13 June 1859 he served as president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...
. He served as vice president and trustee of the Pennsylvania Historical Society
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...
and as an associate member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He served as a director of Girard College
Girard College is an independent college preparatory five-day boarding school located on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school was founded and permanently endowed from the shipping and banking fortune of Stephen Girard upon ...
from 1856 to 1858 and as a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. He worked as secretary of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.[
His position with the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal allowed him to travel throughout the Eastern United States and his writings were later published by his father in a seven volume book titled ''Atlantic Souvenirs (1826-1832)''.][ He contributed articles on politics and literature to several newspapers and journals including the ''American Quarterly'', the '' Democratic Review'' and the '']North American Review
The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived at ...
''. He published several profiles of politicians including Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson and Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison ...
.[ Gilpin died in ]Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
in 1860 and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery
Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts.
The cemetery is ...
.
Legacy
The Henry D. Gilpin Fund was created by his will for the Chicago Historical Society
Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the int ...
to establish the Gilpin library.
Bibliography
*
An Annual Discourse Before the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Delivered in the Hall of the Musical Fund Society, on the 29th of November 1826
', H.C. Carey & I. Lea, Philadelphia (1827)
*
A Biographical Sketch of Thomas Jefferson
', Philadelphia (1828)
*
The Papers of James Madison Purchased by Order of Congress; Being His Correspondence and Reports of Debates During the Congress of the Confederation and His Reports of Debates in the Federal Convention; Now Published From the Original Manuscripts, Deposited in the Department of State, By Direction of the Joint Library Committee of Congress, Under the Superintendence of Henry D. Gilpin
', Langtree & O'Sullivan, Washington (1840)
*
Address Delivered at the University of Pennsylvania Before the Philomathean Society on the Occasion of Their Biennial Celebration, May 23d 1845
', King & Baird, Printers, Philadelphia (1845)
Citations
Sources
*
Further reading
*
Catalogue of the Valuable, Classical, Miscellaneous and Law Library of Henry D. Gilpin, Deceased, Formerly Attorney-General of the United States, to be Sold at Public Sale at the Sales-Room of Thomas Birch & Son, Auctioneers, No. 1110 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, on Monday, February 11, 1878
', Press of Henry B. Ashmead, Philadelphia (1878)
*
*Hall, Benjamin F.,
Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States
', Robert Farnham, Washington (1852)
External links
Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections - Letter from James Buchanan to Henry Gilpin
Historical Society of Pennsylvania - Gilpin family papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilpin, Henry Dilworth
1801 births
1860 deaths
19th-century American male writers
19th-century American politicians
American bankers
American Quakers
Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)
Gilpin family
La Amistad
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Pennsylvania Jacksonians
Pennsylvania lawyers
People associated with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
People from Lancaster, Lancashire
United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
United States Attorneys General
United States Department of the Treasury officials
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Van Buren administration cabinet members