James Thompson (October 1, 1806 – January 28, 1874) was a lawyer, politician and jurist 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, ...

. He served in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

and in the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

, where he was

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

in 1835. He also served as a federal judge and as a member of the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme ...

Life and career

Thompson was born in

Middlesex Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania Middlesex Township is a township in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,390 at the 2010 census. Geography Middlesex Township is located in south-central Butler County, with Allegheny County to the south. The unincor ...

on October 1, 1806. After learning the

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

trade, Thompson studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1829 and practiced as a lawyer in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

. Thompson served in the

from 1832–1834 and in 1855 and served as Speaker in 1834. He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1838, and the presiding judge of the sixth judicial district court from 1838 until 1844, when he was elected as a Democrat to the

United States 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 house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Congress

Thompson served in the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses, from March 4, 1845 until March 3, 1851. He was the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary during his second term. In the 31st Congress, Thompson became the first recorded Democratic Caucus Chairman and the first official chairman of any party caucus in either house of Congress.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Thompson did not run for reelection in 1850, but instead returned to practicing law. He became an associate justice of the

from 1857 to 1866, and served as chief justice of that court from 1866 to 1872.

Later career and death

He returned to private practice until his death in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

on January 28, 1874. Thompson is interred in

Woodlands Cemetery The Woodlands is a National Historic Landmark District on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. It includes a Federal-style mansion, a matching carriage house and stable, and a garden landscape that in 1840 was transformed into a ...

References

*
The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, James Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania lawyers Chief Justices of Pennsylvania Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 1806 births 1874 deaths 19th-century American legislators Burials at The Woodlands Cemetery 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers