William Jessup (June 21, 1797 – September 11, 1868) was a Pennsylvania judge and father of the missionary Henry Harris Jessup. A member of the Republican party, he is best known for being the chairman of the platform committee that crafted and reported the political platform adopted by the 1860 Republican National Convention and accepted by

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, the party's nominee.

Jessup, Pennsylvania Jessup is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,532 at the 2020 census. Geography Jessup is located at (41.471131, -75.562171). According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total ar ...

is named in his honor.

Biography

William Jessup left his native home, Long Island, in early adulthood to study at

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, graduating in 1815. He moved in 1818 to

Montrose, Pennsylvania Montrose is a borough in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, south-southeast of Binghamton, New York and north by west of Scranton. The land is elevated approximately 1,400 feet (427 m) above sea level. It is the Susquehanna Cou ...

, and made it his lifelong home. He read law with an established firm, and was admitted to the bar. He married and fathered two sons, Henry Harris and Samuel Jessup, born in 1832 and 1833. In 1838 Jessup became the presiding judge of the Eleventh Judicial District of Pennsylvania, in which capacity he rode circuit from 1838 until 1851. In 1858, Jessup was the Vice President of the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

. A staunch

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, Jessup was named as one of the Pennsylvania delegates to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago. Upon arrival, he was selected to chair the platform committee to write the party's statement of political principles. The platform adopted by Jessup's committee was approved by the convention by a unanimous vote. In November 1860, the Republican ticket of Abraham Lincoln and

Hannibal Hamlin Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 15th vice president of the United States from 1861 to 1865, during President Abraham Lincoln's first term. He was the first Republican ...

was elected to lead the new national administration, and soon thereafter, the Civil War broke out. In 1861, the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

appointed Jessup to serve as a liaison with the White House, naming him as their emissary to a high-level conference in early 1861 on how to implement Lincoln's call for the enlistment of 75,000 members of the Northern state militias into the new Federal army. Liaison work like this led to Pennsylvania over-fulfilling its quota and the creation of the

Pennsylvania Reserves The Pennsylvania Reserves were an infantry division in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Noted for its famous commanders and high casualties, it served in the Eastern Theater, and fought in many important battles, including Antietam ...

. The retired judge died in September 1868, having seen the abolition of slavery and granting of citizenship to freedmen. William Jessup is the 3x great-grandfather of American television writer Ted Jessup.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jessup, William 1797 births 1868 deaths Judges of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Republicans Yale College alumni People from Long Island 19th-century American judges