Joseph HOPKINSON, Congress, PA (1770-1842)

HOPKINSON Joseph , a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Philadelphia, Pa., on November 12, 1770; was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1786; studied law; was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1791 where he practiced his profession, except for the period of one year at Easton, Pa.; wrote the anthem ``Hail Columbia!'' in 1798; was associated with Daniel Webster in the Dartmouth College case; counsel for Justice Samuel Chase in his impeachment trial before the United States Senate in 1804 and 1805; elected as a Federalist to the Fourteenth Congress; reelected to the succeeding Congress (March 4, 1815-March 3, 1819); was not a candidate for reelection in 1818; moved to Bordentown, N.J., in 1820; member of the New Jersey house of assembly; returned to Philadelphia, Pa., in 1823; judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1828-1842; chairman of the State constitutional convention in 1837; secretary of the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in 1790 and 1791; trustee, 1806-1819 and 1822-1842; died in Philadelphia, Pa., January 15, 1842; interment in the old Borden-Hopkinson Burial Ground, Bordentown, N.J.

Bibliography

Konkle, Burton Alva. Joseph Hopkinson, 1770-1842, Jurist-Scholar-Inspirer of the Arts: Author of Hail Columbia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present