John Benton Sterigere (July 31, 1793 – October 13, 1852) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a

Jacksonian Democrat Jacksonian democracy was a 19th-century political philosophy in the United States that expanded suffrage to most white men over the age of 21, and restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, Andr ...

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 ...

for Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district from 1827 to 1831. Sterigere was born in

Upper Dublin Township, Pennsylvania Upper Dublin Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,569 at the 2010 census. Until the 1950s, Upper Dublin was mostly farmland and open space, but transitioned to a residential suburb durin ...

, near what is today Ambler, to Peter Sterigere (1760–1806) and Ann Elizabeth Sterigere (née Haupt) (1770–1853). He worked on a farm and attended school. He was appointed

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in 1818 and was elected a member of 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 ...

, serving from 1821 to 1824. He studied law, was admitted to the bar on November 17, 1829, and commenced practice in

Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a municipality with home rule status and the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the 7 ...

. Sterigere was elected to the

Twentieth 20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score. In mathematics *20 is a pronic number. *20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. *20 is the ...

Congress and reelected as a Jacksonian to the

Twenty-first Congress The 21st 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, 1829, ...

. He served as the chairman of the United States House Committee on Private Land Claims during the Twenty-first Congress. He was a delegate to the state convention to revise

the constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

in 1838 and a member of the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

for the 3rd district in 1839 and for the 2nd district from 1843 to 1846. At the 1838 PA Constitutional Convention, he proposed an amendment inserting the word "white" into the suffrage law, which passed, thus disenfranchising African Americans in Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the

1852 Democratic National Convention The 1852 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met from June 1 to June 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1852 electio ...

. He edited the ''Register'' and was appointed by the State assembly as chairman of a commission to improve the town of Norristown. He died in Norristown in 1852. He is interred in Upper Dublin Lutheran Church Cemetery in Ambler, Pennsylvania.

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The Political Graveyard
1793 births 1852 deaths People from Upper Dublin Township, Pennsylvania American Lutherans Democratic Party Pennsylvania state senators Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub