Background
He was born on January 6, 1793 near Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of Andrew Porter and Elizabeth Parker and had two brothers.
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He was born on January 6, 1793 near Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of Andrew Porter and Elizabeth Parker and had two brothers.
He received his early education at home and attended the Norristown Academy. They were preparing to enter college when the college building at Princeton was burned during a student "rebellion" and the boys continued their education in their father's library.
In 1809 James Madison Porter took up the study of law, first in an office at Lancaster and then with his brother, Judge Robert Porter, at Reading.
He went to Philadelphia in 1812 as a clerk in the prothonotary's office. In March of 1813 there were rumors that the British fleet was coming up to burn the city. The impetuous young Porter, upon hearing some Federalist merchants in a coffee house denouncing President Madison for leaving the city defenseless, lectured them upon their duty and called a meeting of Democratic young men to raise a volunteer company. This company, in which Porter was second lieutenant, garrisoned Fort Mifflin until relieved by regulars. He continued to serve in the militia, soon rising to the rank of colonel.
Meanwhile he was admitted to the bar, April 23, 1813, and began to practise law. In 1818 he moved to Easton as deputy attorney-general for Northampton County. Within a few years he stood at the head of the bar of the county, with the largest practice in that vicinity. When the redoubtable Mrs. Anne Royall visited Easton in 1828, she included him in her list of "eminent and scientific men" who resided there.
He was a founder of of Lafayette College, president of the board of trustees, 1826-52, and professor of jurisprudence and political economy, 1837-52. In the state constitutional convention of 1837-38 he was the Democratic candidate for presiding officer, losing by a single vote. In June 1839 he was appointed to fill a vacancy as president judge of the twelfth judicial district. He soon presided over cases of Democrats persecuted for their participation in the bloodless "Buckshot War" and discharged the accused on technicalities, thereby gaining much abuse from his political opponents. When his nomination was presented to the state Senate, the Whigs tried unsuccessfully to defeat it by preventing a quorum.
He resigned in 1840 to resume his legal practice. In 1843 President Tyler appointed him secretary of war, ad interim, and he assumed the duties of that office on March 8. The Senate rejected his nomination on January 30, 1844, and he went home just in time to miss the explosion on the steam frigate Princeton which killed two cabinet members. In 1849 he was elected to the legislature, where he became chairman of the judiciary committee, and in 1853 he was elected president judge of the twenty-second judicial district for ten years.
He resigned in 1855 because of ill health, having suffered a stroke of apoplexy which left his mental powers somewhat impaired. Porter's other activities did not prevent his engaging in a series of business enterprises. After an early interest in canals he turned to railroads. He was first president of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill & Susquehanna Railroad, chartered in 1847, and when its name was changed in 1853 to Lehigh Valley Railroad he became president of the new company. He declined reelection when the offices were moved to Philadelphia in 1856. He was also president of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad and of several corporations in Easton.
James Madison Porter was probably more than any other individual responsible for the founding of Lafayette College, chartered in 1826. As its president, he emphasized the importance of teaching military science to prepare young men for war and inspire leadership and also stressed the importance of teaching the German language. Besides, he was the first president of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill & Susquehanna Railroad, during his administration the road from Easton to Mauch Chunk was built. The Porter Society was founded at Lafayette College in 1997 in honor of James Madison Porter.
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He was noted for his retentive memory and wide reading, his unusual capacity for work, and the vigor of his arguments.
Quotes from others about the person
His contemporary Samuel D. Gross described Porter in 1833 as "a shrewd and accomplished lawyer, celebrated for his dexterity as an examiner of witnesses, which, combined with a certain amount of impudence, caused him greatly to be feared".
He married Eliza Michler on September 18, 1821.
