Joseph Jackson Lewis (October 5, 1801 – April 5, 1883) was an American lawyer, civil servant, and author who published the first biography of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

and served President Lincoln as the second U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue from March 1863 to July 1865. He was also a leading

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, ...

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

who represented antislavery figures in court.

Early life and career

Lewis was born in Westtown Township,

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee Chester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, th ...

, to Enoch Lewis, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

who taught mathematics at the

Westtown School Westtown School is a Quaker, coeducational, college preparatory day and boarding school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States, 20 miles west of Philadelphia. Founded in 1799 b ...

. Joseph Lewis followed in his father's footsteps as a teacher at

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 ...

and West Chester schools before reading law under

James Kent James Kent may refer to: *James Kent (jurist) (1763–1847), American jurist and legal scholar * James Kent (composer) (1700–1776), English composer *James Kent, better known as Perturbator, French electronic/synthwave musician *James Tyler Kent ...

in New York and joining the Chester County bar in 1825. He became a noted attorney and antislavery figure in Chester County, serving as deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania in 1844 and as burgess of West Chester in the 1840s. Lewis was one of four lawyers who successfully represented antislavery defendant Castner Hanway, who had fought with pro-slavery raiders, in legal proceedings following the

Christiana Riot The Christiana Riot, also known as Christiana Resistance, Christiana Tragedy, or Christiana incident, was the successful armed resistance by free Blacks and escaped slaves to a raid led by a federal marshal to recover four escaped slaves owned by ...

of 1851. George W. Roberts, who became a

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

colonel and died at the

Battle of Stones River The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was a battle fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the Ame ...

in 1862, read law with Lewis in 1857. So did Henry McIntire, a Union Army officer who was elected Chester County District Attorney in 1862.

Lincoln biographer and politician

In 1860, Lewis's friend and fellow Chester County native

Jesse W. Fell Jesse W. Fell (November 10, 1808 – February 25, 1887) was an American businessman and landowner. He was instrumental in the founding of Illinois State University as well as Normal, Pontiac, Clinton, Towanda, Dwight, DeWitt County and Liv ...

, one of Abraham Lincoln's closest friends who had been urging Lincoln to run for president, persuaded Lincoln to write up a two-and-a-half-page autobiographical sketch. Fell sent the manuscript to Lewis, who adapted it into a biographical article published in February 1860 in the ''Chester County Times''. Widely reprinted in the Northern newspapers, this sketch was Lincoln’s first widely read biography. Later that year, Lewis proved instrumental in securing Pennsylvania's delegates for Lincoln at the

1860 Republican National Convention The 1860 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met May 16-18 in Chicago, Illinois. It was held to nominate the Republican Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election. The conven ...

, collaborating with

Wayne MacVeagh Isaac Wayne MacVeagh (April 19, 1833January 11, 1917) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. He served as the 36th Attorney General of the United States under the administrations of Presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. ...

to arrange for

Simon Cameron Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799June 26, 1889) was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Americ ...

's delegates to vote for Lincoln after Cameron fell short of the nomination.

Internal Revenue Service commissioner

As Lincoln's

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

commissioner tasked with collecting taxes and rigorously enforcing the nation's wartime tax laws, Lewis "framed the financial system which saved the nation in the Civil War." He succeeded Massachusetts politician George S. Boutwell as IRS commissioner in 1863, serving as acting commissioner from March 5 to March 17, 1863, and then as commissioner from March 18, 1863 to June 30, 1865. Lewis's accomplishments included implementing a progressive income tax, introducing

tax withholding Tax withholding, also known as tax retention, Pay-as-You-Go, Pay-as-You-Earn, Tax deduction at source or a ''Prélèvement à la source'', is income tax paid to the government by the payer of the income rather than by the recipient of the income ...

for federal employees, publicly publishing tax returns to pressure taxpayers into accurately reporting their incomes, and establishing a criminal investigation division.

Personal life

Lewis was elected as a member to 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 ...

in 1881. He was married to Mary Miner.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Joseph J. 1801 births 1883 deaths People from Chester County, Pennsylvania Commissioners of Internal Revenue Lincoln administration personnel 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American biographers American male biographers Historians of Abraham Lincoln Pennsylvania lawyers Pennsylvania Republicans Members of the American Philosophical Society Burials at Oaklands Cemetery