John Richards (politician, 1753)

John Richards (born April 18, 1753 in New Hanover , Montgomery County , Province of Pennsylvania , †  November 13, 1822 ibid) was an American politician . Between 1795 and 1797 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives .

Career

John Richards was the older brother of Congressman Matthias Richards (1758-1830). He enjoyed a private school education. In the 1770s he joined the American Revolution . During the War of Independence he acted as a judge ( magistrate ). In 1777 he became a Justice of the Peace in Philadelphia County . He held this office alongside his other activities until his death. In 1784 he was an appellate judge in Montgomery County, and in 1787 he was a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention . Politically, he became a member of the Democratic Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson in the late 1790s .

In the congressional elections of 1794 Richards was elected in the fourth constituency of Pennsylvania to the US House of Representatives, which was then still in Philadelphia, where he took up his new mandate on March 4, 1795. Since he renounced another candidacy in 1796, he could only complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1797 . After serving in the US House of Representatives, Richards worked in iron processing, trading and agriculture. Between 1801 and 1807 he was a member of the Pennsylvania Senate . He died on November 13, 1822 in New Hanover.

Web links

• John Richards in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• John Richards in the database of Find a Grave (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
New constituency established	United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania (4th constituency) with Samuel Sitgreaves March 4, 1795 - March 3, 1797	Robert Brown