Joseph Ripley Chandler (August 22, 1792 – July 10, 1880) was a Whig 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, ...

Biography

Joseph R. Chandler was born in

Kingston, Massachusetts Kingston is a coastal town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,708 at the 2020 census. History Before European settlers arrived, Kingston was within the tribal homeland of the Wampanoag people. Several year ...

. He was engaged in commercial work in Boston, Massachusetts, and moved to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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 ...

, in 1815. He founded a young ladies' seminary and worked as editor of the ''United States Gazette'' from 1822 to 1847. He was a member of the Philadelphia City Council from 1832 to 1848, and a member of the State constitutional convention in 1837. For a short time, he was an editorial assistant at ''

Graham's Magazine ''Graham's Magazine'' was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as ''Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine'' (1841–1842, and Ju ...

'' in 1848. Chandler was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first, Thirty-second, and Thirty-third Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in

1854 Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The ...

. He was appointed by President James Buchanan as Minister to the

Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and all ...

and served from June 15, 1858, to November 15, 1860."Joseph Ripley Chandler", Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute
/ref> He served as president of the board of directors 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 ...

. He became interested in

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are impacted by crimes ...

and was a delegate to the International Prison Congress held at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1872. He died in 1880 in Philadelphia, where he was interred in New Cathedral Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

*Gerrity, Frank. "The Disruption of the Philadelphia Whigocracy: Joseph R. Chandler, Anti-Catholicism, and the Congressional Election of 1854." ''Pennsylvania Magazine'', 111 (April 1987): 161–94.

Sources

The Political Graveyard

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, Joseph R. Philadelphia City Council members Ambassadors of the United States to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 19th-century American newspaper editors 1792 births 1880 deaths Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American diplomats