Charles Jared Ingersoll (October 3, 1782 – May 14, 1862) was an American lawyer, writer and politician who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for

Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district Pennsylvania's first congressional district includes all of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County in southeastern Pennsylvania. It has been represented by Brian Fitzpatrick (Am ...

from 1813 to 1815,

Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district Pennsylvania's third congressional district includes several areas of the city of Philadelphia, including West Philadelphia, most of Center City, and parts of North Philadelphia. It has been represented by Democrat Dwight Evans since 2019. With ...

from 1841 to 1843 and

Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district Pennsylvania's fourth congressional district, effective January 3, 2019, encompasses the majority of Montgomery County and a small sliver of Berks County in southeastern Pennsylvania. In the 2020 redistricting cycle, the Pennsylvania district ...

from 1843 to 1849. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1830.

Early life and education

Ingersoll was born in

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 ...

Jared Ingersoll Jared Ingersoll (October 24, 1749 – October 31, 1822) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, and statesman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the United States Constitution. He se ...

and Elizabeth Petit. His father served in the Continental Congress and his brother of Joseph Reed Ingersoll served as a member of the U.S. House of Representative for Pennsylvania. His maternal grandfather, Charles Pettit, served as a delegate for Pennsylvania to the

Confederation Congress The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States of America during the Confederation period, March 1, 1781 – Mar ...

. Charles Ingersoll dropped out of the College of New Jersey, later

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, in 1799. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1802 and commenced practice in Philadelphia. He traveled in Europe, accompanied by Rufus King, the United States minister to the United Kingdom.

Career

In 1812, Ingersoll was 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 ...

to the Thirteenth Congress, where he served as chairman of the

United States House Committee on the Judiciary The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administra ...

. He was not a candidate for renomination in

1814 Events January * January 1 – War of the Sixth Coalition – The Royal Prussian Army led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher crosses the Rhine. * January 3 ** War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Cattaro: French garrison ...

, having been appointed

United States district 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 c ...

for Pennsylvania. He served in that office from 1815 to 1829, and was a member of the Pennsylvania canal and internal improvement convention in 1825. In 1829, he was removed from the office of district attorney by U.S. 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 ...

. In 1815, Ingersoll was elected a member of 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 ...

. He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1830, and a member of the State constitutional convention in 1837. He was appointed secretary of the legation to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

on March 8, 1837. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1837 for election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Francis J. Harper in the Twenty-fifth Congress. He was again an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1838. Ingersoll was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the Twenty-seventh and to the three succeeding Congresses. He served as chairman of the

United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs ...

during the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses). He was not a candidate for renomination in

1848 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the polit ...

. He was appointed Minister to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in 1847 but was not confirmed by the Senate. Beginning in 1845 Ingersoll wrote several editions of a history of the War of 1812, including descriptions of the Congressional investigation of the

Burning of Washington The Burning of Washington was a British invasion of Washington City (now Washington, D.C.), the capital of the United States, during the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812. It is the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a ...

in 1814. He died in 1862 in Philadelphia and is interred at

The 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 ...

Personal life

In 1804, Ingersoll married Mary Wilcocks, the daughter of Alexander Wilcocks, and together had six surviving sons and 2 daughters. His son Edward Ingersoll wrote on legal topics.

Bibliography

* “Chiomara,” a poem published in ''

The Port Folio ''The Port Folio'' was a Philadelphia literary and political magazine published from 1801 to 1827. It was first co-published in 1801 by Joseph Dennie and Asbury Dickins. Dickins dropped as co-publisher, and Dennie remained the editor from 1802 t ...

'' (1800) * ''Edwy and Elgira'', a tragedy (Philadelphia, 1801) *
Right and Wrongs, Power and Policy of the United States of America
' (1808) *
Inchiquin the Jesuit's Letters on American Literature and Politics
' (New York, 1810) * “Julian,” a dramatic poem (1831) *
Historical Sketch of the Second War between the United States and Great Britain
' (4 vols., Philadelphia, 1845-'52). *
Recollections, Historical, Political, Biographical, and Social, of Charles J. Ingersoll
'. (Philadelphia: Lippincott & Co., 1861) He also published numerous anonymous contributions to the ''Democratic Press'' of Philadelphia, and to the ''National Intelligencer'' of Washington, on the controversies with England before the War of 1812 (1811–15). He published several “Speeches” concerning that war (1813–15), a discourse before the

on the “Influence of America on the Mind,” which was republished in England and France (1823), a translation of a French work on the freedom of navigation, in the ''American Law Journal'' of 1829, and many other literary and political discourses. At the time of his death, he was preparing a ''History of the Territorial Acquisitions of the United States''.

References

Sources

The Political Graveyard
Attribution *

External links

* Th

including correspondence and writings, are available for research use at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania 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 ...

. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingersoll, Charles Jared 1782 births 1862 deaths 19th-century American politicians American male non-fiction writers American naval historians Burials at The Woodlands Cemetery Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Historians from Pennsylvania Ingersoll family Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania Democratic-Republicans Pennsylvania lawyers Politicians from Philadelphia United States Attorneys for the District of Pennsylvania 19th-century American lawyers