Joseph R. Chandler
Joseph Ripley Chandler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Ambassador to the Two Sicilies | |
| In office June 15, 1858 – November 15, 1860 | |
| President | James Buchanan |
| Preceded by | Robert Dale Owen |
| Succeeded by | Embassy closed |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 2nd district | |
| In office March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1855 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph R. Ingersoll |
| Succeeded by | Job R. Tyson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 22, 1792 |
| Died | July 10, 1880 (aged 87) |
| Party | Whig |
Joseph Ripley Chandler (August 22, 1792 – July 10, 1880) was a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
Early life and journalism
[edit | edit source]Joseph R. Chandler was born in Kingston, Massachusetts. He was engaged in commercial work in Boston, Massachusetts, and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1815. He founded a young ladies' seminary and worked as editor of the United States Gazette from 1822 to 1847.[1] For a short time, he was an editorial assistant at Graham's Magazine in 1848.[2]
Politics
[edit | edit source]Chandler was a member of the Philadelphia City Council from 1832 to 1848, and a member of the State constitutional convention in 1837. He was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first, Thirty-second, and Thirty-third Congresses. He was a leading opponent of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.[3]
In 1854, Chandler, who had recently converted to Catholicism, failed to receive a single vote for renomination at the 2nd District Whig convention, and Job Roberts Tyson was nominated instead. Chandler was nominated by the Independent Whigs of the Second Congressional District, who were opposed to the Know Nothing influence on the Whig Party. Chandler finished a distant third behind Tyson and Democrat John Hamilton. During a lame duck session of the Thirty-third Congress, he delivered an address defending American Catholics against the Know Nothings.[3]
In 1855, Chandler joined the Democratic Party, but never again ran for elected office.[3] He was appointed by President James Buchanan as Minister to the Two Sicilies and served from June 15, 1858, to November 15, 1860.[4]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Chandler's first wife, Mary, died in 1832. On July 3, 1833, he married Anna Maria Holton Jones, a Catholic originally from Baltimore. Raised as a Baptist, Chandler converted to the Catholic Church after the 1852 election. His conversion is cited by Saint Joseph's University professor of history Frank Gerrity as the reason for his failed reelection in 1854.[3]
Prior to joining the Catholic church, Chandler was a freemason and served as grand master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania from 1841 to 1842.[5]
Later life
[edit | edit source]Chandler served as president of the board of directors of Girard College. He became interested in prison reform and was a delegate to the International Prison Congress held at London in 1872. He died in 1880 in Philadelphia, where he was interred in New Cathedral Cemetery.
References
[edit | edit source]- ^
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. The Literary History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).. p. 273
- ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ "Joseph Ripley Chandler", Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]Lua error in mw.title.lua at line 392: bad argument #2 to 'title.new' (unrecognized namespace name 'Portal').
- Works by Joseph R. Chandler at Project Gutenberg
- Joseph R. Chandler at Find a GraveLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- 1792 births
- 1880 deaths
- 19th-century American diplomats
- 19th-century American newspaper editors
- 19th-century United States representatives
- 19th-century people from Pennsylvania
- Ambassadors of the United States to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
- Converts to Roman Catholicism from Baptist denominations
- Grand masters of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia City Council members
- Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania