Background
9- 1842), lawyer, congressman, judge, son of Joseph and Ann (Wills) Hemphill, was born in f'hornbury Township, Chester (later Delaware) County, pa
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Joseph pa
Edit Profile
Education
Joseph Attended grammar school at West Chester and rcceived the bachelor’s degree from the Univer- s, ‘y of Pennsylvania in 1791.
He then studied aw and in 1793 was admitted to the bar.
Charging at the Republicans aimed at destroying the Constitution, he predicted that if the act were repealed, “it will become as much a matter of course to remove the judges as the heads of departments, and in bad times the judges would be no better than a sword in the hands of a party, to put out of the way great and obnoxious characters for pretended treasons” (Annals of Congress, 7 Cong. , 1 Sess. , col. 544).
Career
His father, a native of Londonderry, Ireland, was a well-to-do farmer.
From *797 to 1800 he was a member of the state As- Sentbly, where he was active in securing the final adiustment of the Wyoming controversy.
In he was elected to Congress as a Federalist.
‘s first speech, in opposition to the repeal of the Judiciary act (Feb. 16, 1802), earned for him the title, “Single-Speech Hemphill. ”
In 1804 he moved to Philadelphia to continue his growing law practice.
Although he was a Federalist, many of his best friends and clients were Republicans.
In the Constitutionalist victory (1805) he was sent to the state legislature, where he assisted in revising the judiciary.
He was recommissioned in 1817 but resigned in 1819 owing to his delicate health and weak eyes.
From 1819 to 1831, except for two years, 1827-29, Hemphill was again in Congress.
A report on the enormities of the slave trade (House Report 59, 16 Cong. , 2 Sess. )
, which he and Charles Fenton Mercer prepared, evoked favorable comment in England.
An administration man throughout this period, a member of the committee on the judiciary and of that on the Cumberland Road (1822), he advocated internal improvements, the encouragement of domestic manufactures, and relief for war veterans.
His political career ended with a term in the state Assembly, 1831-32.
Having become interested in porcelain manufacturing, after visiting European factories in 1827 he engaged in that business in Philadelphia.
The enterprise failed and was soon abandoned.
Connections
Hemphill married Margaret, daughter of Robert Coleman of Lancaster, on Sept. 11, 1806.
