Jonathan Roberts (August 16, 1771July 24, 1854) was an American politician who served as a

United States representative 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 ...

and Senator 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, ...

from 1811 to 1814 and 1814 to 1821 respectively. He was a member of the

Democratic-Republican Party The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the earl ...

Life and career

Roberts was born near

Norristown Norristown may mean: * Norristown, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a municipality with home ...

in the Province of Pennsylvania and was educated by a private

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

. He later worked as a

wheelwright A wheelwright is a craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright", (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker or shaper of wood) as in shipwright and arkwr ...

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

. From 1799 to 1800 Roberts served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1807 to 1811. On March 4, 1811, he began his tenure as a

from

Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district Pennsylvania's second congressional district includes all of Northeast Philadelphia and parts of North Philadelphia east of Broad Street, as well as portions of Philadelphia's River Wards. It has been represented by Democrat Brendan Boyle since 2 ...

, having been elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

. Working through the

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

and

13th United States Congress The 13th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1813 ...

es he resigned on February 24, 1814, having been

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

to replace

Michael Leib Michael Leib (January 8, 1760December 22, 1822) was an American physician and politician from Philadelphia. He served as a surgeon in the Philadelphia Militia during the American Revolutionary War. He served as a Democratic-Republican member of t ...

, who himself had resigned. He started his service in the Senate on the same day. Re-elected to a full term later in 1814, Roberts was the chairman of the Committee on Claims from the 14th through to the 16th Congress inclusive. During the 16th he was also on the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses and the Committee on Public Buildings. He left the Senate on March 4, 1821. From 1823 to 1826 he was again a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and later became the collector of customs at the port of

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 ...

from 1841 to 1842. In 1848, Roberts built a school in Upper Merion for poor children who had to walk some distance from mill workers' houses to their previous school. He died at the age of 82 on his farm, Robertsville, in

King of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

, and was interred in the Roberts family cemetery In Upper Merion township, near Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Footnotes

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Jonathan 1771 births 1854 deaths Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania state senators People from Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania United States senators from Pennsylvania Democratic-Republican Party United States senators Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania