Joseph Hiester

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Joseph Hiester

Joseph Hiester (born November 18, 1752 in Bern Township , Province of Pennsylvania , † June 10, 1832 in Reading , Pennsylvania ) was an American politician and from 1820 to 1823 the 5th governor of the state of Pennsylvania.

Early years

Joseph Hiester grew up in colonial Pennsylvania as a member of the influential Muhlenberg-Hiester family of politicians. He attended local schools in his home country and helped out on his father's farm. Before the declaration of independence , he had set up a militia that he himself commanded. In June 1776 he was at the first free congress of Pennsylvania ( Pennsylvania Provincial Conference ), which took power from the colonial government. During the War of Independence he served in various functions in the Continental Army . In the meantime he became a British prisoner of war and was then released again as part of a prisoner exchange. He was promoted to colonel in the army and major general in the Pennsylvania militia in 1807.

Political rise

In 1787 he was a member of the Pennsylvania Delegation that ratified the US Constitution , and in 1790 he was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constituent Assembly. Between 1787 and 1790, Hiester was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives ; from 1790 to 1794 he sat in the State Senate . Between 1797 and 1805 and again from 1815 to 1820 he was a member of the US House of Representatives in Washington . Hiester was originally a member of the Federalists , then he switched to the Democratic Republican Party . There he became a supporter of the so-called "Old School Fraction".

In the years after 1810 there was a power struggle between two factions within the Democratic Republican Party. The "New School" parliamentary group advocated protective tariffs, a Bundesbank and a publicly financed expansion of the infrastructure. The other side, the "Old School" faction, campaigned for a restriction of government powers and was against the programs supported by the "New School". Both sides faced each other bitterly. In 1817, Hiester ran for the "Old School" and, with the help of the former federalists, for the office of governor. But he lost to William Findlay . In the next elections, which took place in 1820, the coalition of former federalists and the "old school" found Findlay and Hiester was elected as their candidate for the new governor.

Governor of Pennsylvania

Joseph Hiester took up his new office on December 19, 1820. In his three-year term, he complied with the demands of his group and reduced the governor's powers. At that time, the new Capitol was completed in the capital Harrisburg . At the end of his three-year term, Hiester decided not to run again. Thus he resigned from his office on December 16, 1823.

After the end of his governorship, Hiester retired to Reading, where he pursued his private interests. There he ran some trading shops and farms.

literature

  • Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 4, Meckler Books, Westport, 1978. 4 volumes.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hiester, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern Township , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1832
Place of death Reading , Pennsylvania