Background
Lambert Cadwalader was born in 1743, a native of Trenton, New Jersey, United States and was descended from Welsh and Quaker ancestry, being the son of Dr. Thomas Cadwalader and Hannah (Lambert) Cadwalader.
Lambert Cadwalader was born in 1743, a native of Trenton, New Jersey, United States and was descended from Welsh and Quaker ancestry, being the son of Dr. Thomas Cadwalader and Hannah (Lambert) Cadwalader.
He was well educated, studying at the College and Academy of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania).
Prior to the Revolution he engaged in business with his brother, John Cadwalader (1742-1786), under the name John & Lambert Cadwalader. When the conflict with England began, he was actively patriotic. He signed the non-importation agreement in 1765. Like his brother, he was captain of an aristocratic company in Philadelphia, the Greens. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel, 3rd Pennsylvania Battalion, January 4, 1776, and colonel, 4th Pennsylvania, later in the year.
After performing his part well in the battle of Fort Washington, he was taken prisoner, November 16, 1776, but was released, and resigned from the army in 1779. He held no further command in the war, but was a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1784-87, and a member of Congress in the lower house, 1789-91, and 1793-95.
He owned a large estate at Greenwood, near Trenton, where he died in 1823.
He was a member of the Committee of Correspondence, of the Provincial Convention of 1775, and of the state constitutional convention of 1776; a member of Congress in the lower house. In the Continental Congress he was a member of the Grand Committee which received the report of the Annapolis Convention.
As a politician he was not marked as a debater, but was an efficient worker.
In 1793 he was married to Mary, daughter of Archibald McCall of Philadelphia.