Biography

02/26/1792 - 11/15/1861

Doctor Joel Barlow Sutherland (D2) Philadelphia County 1825-1827

Early Life:

Doctor Joel Barlow Sutherland, born February 26, 1792, Clonmel, Gloucester County, New Jersey; common school education, studied law; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1812; assistant surgeon, Junior Artillerists of Philadelphia, War of 1812; appointed, lieutenant colonel of rifles, Pennsylvania State militia, 1814; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1813-1816; founder, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; abandoned medicine for the practice of law; admitted, Philadelphia Bar, 1819; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1821-1825; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1825-1827; elected, Jacksonian, United States House of Representatives, Twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, Congresses, 1827-1837; reelection, unsuccessful Whig candidate, Twenty-fifth Congress, 1836; unsuccessful candidate, election, Twenty-sixth Congress, 1838; associate judge, court of common pleas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1833-1834; married, Mary Reade Sutherland, children, Mary Sutherland, Thomas W Sutherland, Lydia Ann Sutherland, Caroline Sutherland Prevost, Mary Jane Sutherland, Daniel James Sutherland, Anna Sutherland, Charles Sutherland;  died, November 15, 1861, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interment, Old Pine Street Presbyterian Churchyard, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

Authored:

Sutherland, Joel B. An impartial view of the respective claims of Mr. Shulze and Mr. Gregg to the office of governor of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: N.p., 1823.

Sutherland, Joel B. A Manual of Legislative Practice and Order of Business in Deliberative Bodies. Philadelphia: Printed by P. Hay and Company, 1830.

Sutherland, Joel B. A Congressional Manual: or Outline of the Order of Business in the House of Representatives of the United States. Philadelphia: P. Hay and Company, printers, 1839.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1813-1816.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1821-1825. Elected, 55th Speaker of the House, December 7, 1824. During his Speakership, Sutherland signed Act 53 of 1825, a law which rechartered the Bank of North America, as well as Act 15 of 1825, which incorporated the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2^nd district, Philadelphia County, 1825-1827. Supported legislation that led to the founding of Thomas Jefferson University, then Jefferson Medical College, and he later served on the school’s board of trustees.    

Associate judge, court of common pleas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1833-1834.

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

Elected, Jacksonian, United States House of Representatives, Twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, Congresses, 1827-1837; chairman, Committee on Commerce (Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses); unsuccessful Whig candidate, Twenty-fifth Congress, reelection, 1836.  Unsuccessful candidate election, Twenty-sixth Congress, 1838.

Pennsylvania Speaker of House of Representatives Biography:

Joel B. Sutherland - PA House of Representatives - PA House of Representatives (state.pa.us)

Legacy:

Graduated, University of Pennsylvania Medical School, 1812 with a qualifying thesis on “galvanism in the solution of the urinary calculi.”  

First President, Society of the War of 1812, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (founded, January 9, 1854) Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1854-1861.

"Manual of Parliamentary Practice," for the government of Congress, which was founded upon that of Jefferson, was for many years a great book of reference and authority in parliamentary usages. 

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members S". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

A New Nation Votes (tufts.edu)

Joel Barlow Sutherland (1792-1861) - Find a Grave Memorial