John Cadwalader (April 1, 1805 – January 26, 1879) was an American lawyer, jurist, and 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 ...

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, ...

and a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, E.D. Pa.) is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Phila ...

Education and career

Born on April 1, 1805, in

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 ...

, Cadwalader received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1821 from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

in 1825. He entered private practice in Philadelphia from 1825 to 1855. He was Solicitor for the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836.. The Bank's formal name, ac ...

in Philadelphia in 1830. He was Vice Provost of the Law Academy of Philadelphia from 1833 to 1853. He was a Captain in the Pennsylvania State Militia in

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

, Pennsylvania in 1844, which was called out for the Philadelphia Nativist Riots. He was elected as 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 ...

in 1867.

Congressional service

Cadwalader 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 ...

from

Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district Pennsylvania's fifth congressional district encompasses all of Delaware County, an exclave of Chester County, a small portion of southern Montgomery County and a section of southern Philadelphia. Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon represents the distri ...

to the

United States 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 house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

of the

34th United States Congress The 34th 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, 1855, ...

, serving from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1857. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1856. He briefly resumed the practice of law in Philadelphia.

Federal judicial service

Cadwalader was nominated by President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

on April 19, 1858, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

John K. Kane John Kintzing Kane (May 16, 1795 – February 21, 1858) was an American lawyer who served as the 21st Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1845 to 1846 and a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States Distri ...

. He was confirmed by 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 ...

on April 24, 1858, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on January 26, 1879, due to his death in Philadelphia. He was interred in

Christ Church Burial Ground Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, ...

at the old Christ Church in Philadelphia. He was succeeded by Judge William Butler, who was nominated by President

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor ...

Personal life and family

Cadwalader was the son of Mary (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Biddle) Cadwalader (1781–1850), of the Philadelphia Biddle family, and military leader Thomas Cadwalader (1779–1841). Among his siblings was General

George Cadwalader George Cadwalader (May 16, 1806 – February 3, 1879) was a general in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War and American Civil War. Biography Cadwalader was born and raised in Philadelphia. He studied law and was admitted to th ...

. His paternal grandfather was General John Cadwalader and his great-grandfather was Dr. Thomas Cadwalader. His maternal grandfather,

Clement Biddle Colonel Clement Biddle (May 10, 1740 – July 14, 1814) was an American Revolutionary War soldier. Life Biddle was born May 10, 1740, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to John Biddle (1707–1789) and Sarah Owen (1711–1773). He was the younger ...

, was also a military leader, having served under

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

during the Revolutionary War. Cadwalader first married Mary Binney (1805–1831), daughter of Horace Binney, an

Anti-Jacksonian The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States that evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Qu ...

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 ...

known for his public speeches; he founded the

Hasty Pudding Club The Hasty Pudding Club, often referred to simply as the Pudding, is a social club at Harvard University, and one of three sub-organizations that comprise the Hasty Pudding - Institute of 1770. The club's motto, ''Concordia Discors'' (discordant h ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Together, Mary and John had two daughters, Following his first wife's death from complications of childbirth, he married Henrietta Maria Bancker (1806–1889) with whom he had six children. Through his eldest daughter Mary, Cadwalader was the grandfather of Mary Cadwalader Rawle (1850–1935), who was married on March 24, 1870 to Frederick Rhinelander Jones, the brother of

Edith Wharton Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...

; their daughter in turn was landscape architect Beatrix Cadwalader Jones Farrand (1872–1959). Cadwalader's grandson, John Cadwalader III (1874–1934), became trustee of the estate of his aunt Sophia Georgiana (née Fisher) Coxe (1841–1926) which funded the

MMI Preparatory School MMI Preparatory School (simply referred to as MMI) is an independent, non-sectarian, co-educational 6-12 college preparatory day school in Freeland, Pennsylvania, United States. MMI is short for Mining and Mechanical Institute and was founded in ...

References

External links

* Th
Cadwalader Family Papers
documenting the Cadwalader family through four generations in America, 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:Cadwalader, John 1805 births 1879 deaths Biddle family Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania United States federal judges appointed by James Buchanan 19th-century American judges Politicians from Philadelphia American people of Welsh descent Members of the Philadelphia Club Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Burials at Christ Church, Philadelphia 19th-century American politicians United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law University of Pennsylvania alumni