Jonathan Williams (officer)

Jonathan Williams

Jonathan Williams (born May 20, 1751 in Boston , Province of Massachusetts Bay , †  May 16, 1815 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) was an American officer and politician . In 1815 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives . Previously, he was twice director of the United States Military Academy at West Point .

Career

Jonathan Williams was a great-nephew of Benjamin Franklin . He studied at Harvard University , among others . Between 1770 and 1785 he spent most of the time in France and England , where he was temporarily secretary to his great-uncle. He supported its political missions and was also active as a trade agent for the then newly formed United States. During this time he also studied the military. In 1785 he returned to the United States, where he settled in Philadelphia. There he became an appeal judge, which suggests that he had previously studied law. On February 16, 1801, he joined the United States Army as a major . There he was assigned to the pioneers ( engineers ). In December 1801 he was appointed by the new President Thomas Jefferson as the first director of the then established Military Academy at West Point. He held this office between 1801 and 1803 and again from 1805 to 1812.

Williams was also involved in building the fortifications in New York Harbor . During his military service he rose to the rank of colonel. At the outbreak of the British-American War , he expected to be appointed defenses in command of New York City . Annoyed by the failure to appeal to this command, he resigned on July 31, 1812 from his post at West Point and from the US Army. He returned to Philadelphia, where he commanded a group of volunteer pioneers who reinforced the fortifications there. Otherwise he devoted himself to literary, military and scientific topics.

In the congressional election of 1814 , Williams was elected as a candidate for the Democratic Republican Party in the first constituency of Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he succeeded Charles Jared Ingersoll on March 4, 1815 . He died in Philadelphia on May 16, 1815, before the inaugural session of Congress.

Web links

• Jonathan Williams in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Jonathan Williams in the database of Find a Grave (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles Jared Ingersoll	United States House Representative for Pennsylvania (1st constituency) with Joseph Hopkinson , William Milnor, and Thomas Smith March 4, 1815 - May 16, 1815	John Sergeant