View source for Jared Ingersoll

{{short description|American Founding Father and politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Jared Ingersoll
| image               = Jared Ingersoll.jpg
| office              = [[United States Attorney]] for the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]
| president           = [[James Madison]]<br />[[James Monroe]]
| term_start          = 1815
| term_end            = 1822
| predecessor         = [[Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)|Alexander Dallas]]
| successor           = [[George M. Dallas]]
| office1             = [[List of Pennsylvania Attorneys General|Attorney General of Pennsylvania]]
| governor1           = [[Simon Snyder]]
| term_start1         = December 13, 1811
| term_end1           = December 21, 1816
| predecessor1        = [[Richard Rush]]
| successor1          = [[Amos Ellmaker]]
| governor2           = [[Thomas Mifflin]]<br />[[Thomas McKean]]
| term_start2         = August 20, 1791
| term_end2           = May 10, 1800
| predecessor2        = [[William Bradford (Attorney General)|William Bradford]]
| successor2          = [[Joseph McKean]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1749|10|24}}
| birth_place         = [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]], [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]], [[British America]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1822|10|31|1749|10|24}}
| death_place         = [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, U.S.
| party               = [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]
| education           = [[Yale University]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}}
| parents             = [[Jared Ingersoll Sr.|Jared Ingersoll]]
}}
'''Jared Ingersoll Jr.''' (October 24, 1749 – October 31, 1822) was an American [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father]], lawyer, and statesman from [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]]. He was a delegate to the [[Continental Congress]] and a signer of the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]]. He served as [[DeWitt Clinton]]'s running mate in the [[1812 United States presidential election|1812 election]], but Clinton and Ingersoll were defeated by [[James Madison]] and [[Elbridge Gerry]].

Born in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], Ingersoll established a legal career in Philadelphia after graduating from [[Yale University|Yale College]]. The son of British colonial official [[Jared Ingersoll Sr.]], Ingersoll lived in Europe from 1773 to 1776 to avoid the growing political conflict between [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] and the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. In 1778, having committed himself to the cause of American independence, Ingersoll returned to Philadelphia and won election to the Continental Congress. Ingersoll became convinced of the need for a stronger national government than what was provided by the [[Articles of Confederation]], and he was a delegate to the 1787 [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Philadelphia Convention]]. Though he was initially seeking amendments for the Articles of Confederation, he eventually came to support the new Constitution that was produced by the convention.

He served as the [[Pennsylvania Attorney General]] from 1791 to 1800 and from 1811 to 1816. He also served as the [[United States Attorney]] for Pennsylvania and as the city solicitor for Philadelphia. He argued the cases of ''[[Chisholm v. Georgia]]'' and ''[[Hylton v. United States]]'', two of the first cases to appear before the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]].

Ingersoll affiliated with the [[Federalist Party]] and was deeply disturbed by [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s victory in the [[1800 United States presidential election|1800 presidential election]]. In 1812, the [[Democratic-Republican Party]] split between President Madison and Clinton. The Federalists decided to support a ticket of Clinton and Ingersoll in hopes of defeating the incumbent president. Madison prevailed in the election, winning Ingersoll's crucial home state of Pennsylvania.

==Life and career==
Jared Ingersoll was a supporter of the Revolutionary cause. His training as a lawyer convinced him that the problems of the newly independent states were caused by the inadequacy of the Articles of Confederation. He became an early and ardent proponent of constitutional reform, although, like a number of his colleagues at the Constitutional Convention, he believed this reform could be achieved by a simple revision of the Articles. Only after weeks of debate did he come to see that a new document was necessary.<ref name="Jared Ingersoll (1749–1822)">{{cite web |url=http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1700s/ingersoll_jared.html |title=Jared Ingersoll (1749–1822) |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=24 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102070552/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1700s/ingersoll_jared.html |archive-date=2 January 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> His major contribution to the cause of constitutional government came not during the convention but later during a lengthy and distinguished legal career when he helped define many of the principles enunciated at Philadelphia.

===Early life===
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Ingersoll was the son of Jared Ingersoll Sr.,<ref name="Jared Ingersoll, National Park Service">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/constitution/bio19.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121107110812/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/constitution/bio19.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 November 2012 |title=Biographical Sketches, Jared Ingersoll, Pennsylvania |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=24 October 2010}}</ref> a prominent British official whose strong Loyalist sentiments would lead to his being [[Tarring and feathering|tarred and feathered]] by radical [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]].<ref name="Jared Ingersoll, Military History">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/ingersoll.htm|title=Jared Ingersoll – Pennsylvania|publisher=Center of Military History-United States Army, 1987|access-date=24 October 2010|archive-date=28 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228181436/https://history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/ingersoll.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Ingersoll family was of English descent.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1sFKAAAAYAAJ&q=Jared%20Ingersoll%20respectable | title=The American Historical Review | date=1898 | publisher=American Historical Association }}</ref> In 1765, the year the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]] was imposed on the colonies in America, the British Crown appointed the elder Jared Ingersoll as Stamp Master, the colonial agent in London, for the colony of Connecticut.  As the next few months passed and animosity over the Stamp Act grew, Ingersoll became the most hated man in the colony. Between August 21 and 29, 1765, the [[Sons of Liberty]] hung his effigy in various parts of the colony.<ref name="Sons of Liberty">{{cite web|url=http://www.connecticutsar.org/articles/scarlet_no6.htm |title=The Story of the Connecticut Sons of Liberty |publisher=Connecticut, Sons of the American Revolution, founded 1889 |access-date=25 October 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725192539/http://www.connecticutsar.org/articles/scarlet_no6.htm |archive-date=25 July 2011 }}</ref>  He wrote an account of [[Isaac Barré|Isaac Barre]]'s speech<ref>[http://pasleybrothers.com/mocourses/texts/Barre.htm Jared Ingersoll to Thomas Fitch], 11 Feb. 1765</ref> made during the Parliamentary debate on the Stamp Act to Connecticut Governor [[Thomas Fitch (governor)|Thomas Fitch]]. He would later be involved in a controversial role as the agent who enforced the resulting Stamp Act in Connecticut.<ref name="Jared Ingersoll (1749–1822)" /><ref name="Jared Ingersoll, Stamp-Agent, Pasley">{{cite web |url=http://pasleybrothers.com/mocourses/texts/Barre.htm |title=Jared Ingersoll to Thomas Fitch, 11 Feb. 1765 |publisher=Prof.Jeffery Pasley, University of Missouri-Columbia|access-date=24 October 2010}}</ref>

The younger Ingersoll completed [[Hopkins Grammar School]] in New Haven in 1762,<ref name="Hopkins Views from the Hill">{{cite news |url=http://www.hopkins.edu/ftpimages/82/misc/misc_71333.pdf |journal=Views from the Hill |publisher=Hopkins School |title=From the Archives |author=Thom Peters |date=Fall 2009 |page=52|access-date=29 December 2010}}</ref> graduated from Yale College in 1766, studied law in Philadelphia, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1773.<ref name="JINGERSOLL, Jared, (1749 - 1822)">{{cite web |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=I000018 |title=Ingersoll, Jared, (1749–1822) |author=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=29 October 2010}}</ref><ref name="Jared Ingersoll, Pennsylvania">{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_pennsylvania.html |title=Jared Ingersoll, Pennsylvania |publisher=The National Archives|access-date=24 October 2010}}</ref>  Although by training and inclination a Patriot sympathizer, the young Ingersoll shied away from the cause at the outset because of a strong sense of personal loyalty to his distinguished father. On his father's advice, he sought to escape the growing political controversy at home by retiring to London to continue his study of the law at the [[Middle Temple]] School (1773–1776) and to tour extensively through Europe.<ref name="Jared Ingersoll, National Park Service" />  He spent more than eighteen months in Paris, where he formed an acquaintance with [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref name="acab">{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Ingersoll, Jared|year=1892}}</ref>

=== American Revolution ===
Shortly after the colonies declared their independence, Ingersoll renounced his family's views, made his personal commitment to the cause of independence, and returned home. In 1778 he arrived in Philadelphia as a confirmed Patriot. With the help of influential friends he quickly established a flourishing law practice, and shortly after he entered the fray as a delegate to the Continental Congress (1780–81). In 1781 Ingersoll married Elizabeth Pettit and in that same year was elected a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref name="Jared Ingersoll, Pennsylvania"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=jared+ingersoll&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2020-12-06|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> Always a supporter of strong central authority in political affairs, he became a leading agitator for reforming the national government in the postwar years, preaching the need for change to his friends in Congress and to the legal community.

At the convention, Ingersoll was counted among those who favored revision of the existing [[Articles of Confederation]], but in the end he joined with the majority and supported a plan for a new federal government. Despite his national reputation as an attorney, Ingersoll seldom participated in the Convention debates, although he attended all sessions.

===Career after the Constitutional Convention===
Once the new national government was created, Ingersoll returned to the law. Except for a few excursions into politics—he was a member of Philadelphia's Common Council (1789), and, as a stalwart Federalist who considered the election of [[Thomas Jefferson]] in 1800 a "great subversion," he ran unsuccessfully for vice president on the Federalist ticket in 1812—his public career centered on legal affairs. He served as attorney general of Pennsylvania (1790–1799 and 1811–1817),<ref name="Jared Ingersoll (1749–1822)"/> as Philadelphia's city solicitor (1798–1801), and as U.S. district attorney for Pennsylvania (1800–01). For a brief period (1821–22), he sat as presiding judge of the Philadelphia district court.

Ingersoll's major contribution to the cause of constitutional government came not during the convention but later during a lengthy and distinguished legal career, when he helped define many of the principles enunciated at Philadelphia. He made his contributions to the Constitutional process through several Supreme Court cases that defined various basic points in Constitutional law during the beginning of the new republic. In one definitive case he represented [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] in ''[[Chisholm v. Georgia]]'' (1793), a landmark case in [[states' rights]]. Here the court decided against him, ruling that a state may be sued in federal court by a citizen of another state. This reversal of the notion of state sovereignty was later rescinded by the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution. In representing Hylton in ''[[Hylton v. US]]'' (1796), Ingersoll was also involved in the first legal challenge to the constitutionality of an act of Congress. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the government's right to impose a tax on carriages.<ref name="Jared Ingersoll, Military History"/>  Ingersoll also served as counsel in various cases that helped clarify constitutional issues concerning the jurisdiction of federal courts and U.S. relations with other sovereign nations, including defending Senator [[William Blount]] of Tennessee against [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeachment]].

== Death and legacy ==
Jared Ingersoll died in Philadelphia at age 73; interment was in the [[Old Pine Street Church]] Cemetery, Fourth and Pine Streets.<ref name="Jared Ingersoll, Pennsylvania"/> Ingersoll was survived by three sons. Two of the sons, [[Charles Jared Ingersoll]] and [[Joseph Reed Ingersoll]] served as members of the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] from Pennsylvania. Ingersoll Street in [[Madison, Wisconsin]], and [[Liberty ship]] [[SS Jared Ingersoll|SS ''Jared Ingersoll'']] are named after him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/002071.asp |title=Odd Wisconsin Archives |website=www.wisconsinhistory.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423205749/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/002071.asp |archive-date=2006-04-23}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
* ''America and its peoples: a mosaic in the making''. [[James Kirby Martin]] ... [et al.] – 5th ed.
* ''This article incorporates text from [https://archive.today/20121212205253/http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/RevWar/ss/ss-fm.htm Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution] written by [[Robert K. Wright Jr.]] and Morris J. MacGregor Jr. Center of Military History United States Army Washington, D.C., 1987. released in the Public Domain.''

==External links==
{{CongBio|I000018}}
* {{Find a Grave}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Charles Cotesworth Pinckney|Charles Pinckney]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Federalist Party|Federalist]] nominee for [[Vice President of the United States]]|years=[[1812 United States presidential election|1812]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Eager Howard|John Howard]]}}
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{{Federalist Party}}
{{1812 United States presidential election}}
{{Unsuccessful major party VPOTUS candidates}}
{{United States Constitution signatories}}
{{Pennsylvania Attorneys General}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingersoll, Jared}}
[[Category:1749 births]]
[[Category:1822 deaths]]
[[Category:American Presbyterians]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:Burials at Old Pine Street Church]]
[[Category:Continental Congressmen from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Hopkins School alumni]]
[[Category:Ingersoll family|Jared]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:Politicians from New Haven, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania attorneys general]]
[[Category:Philadelphia City Council members]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Federalists]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania lawyers]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania state court judges]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Constitution of the United States]]
[[Category:United States attorneys for the District of Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:1812 United States vice-presidential candidates]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Lawyers from New Haven, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Founding Fathers of the United States]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]